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fleet-of-fiction · 2 months

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Jake Kiszka x Narrator & Sam Kiszka x OC.

Chapter Three

Summary: The Jones Family are new additions to the sleepy community of Beech Run. A tight knit scattering of rural houses, where everyone knows everyone. Deeply religious and overbearingly strict, the daughters of the family are kept under lock & key by a fanatical Father and submissive Mother. They watch from bedroom windows as their neighbours, The Kiszkas, draw intense curiosity and desire to be free. Madness of youth , hope & obsession collide to bring the danger of forbidden love to poetic ends. (Era A/U)

Warnings: Religious/ Parental trauma. Penetrative p/v sex.

Summer 1984

The stones always hit the glass after midnight. In the hours where the world seemed to be at it's most quiet. And I would lie awake counting down the minutes, the ticking of the clock on the wall mocking me as it appeared to tick backwards. My hair braided in anticipation, a pair of linen shorts and a blouse under the covers where my pyjamas should have been.

I was a creature of the night, now. Nocturnal. Simmering during the day under a canvas of wanting, letting the sun paint my skin darker and my hair lighter. Staring at him from the front yard as he watered the plants which lined his driveway. I could have had everything taken from me. But not those stolen glances. Those were mine to keep and cherish and I'd have had my eyes gouged out before I ever stopped looking at him.

Ours was a quiet love. With a temperament much more muted than that which unfolded between my sister and Jake's brother. Theirs was unapologetic and a threat to every shred of my Father's control. It didn't wait until the midnight hours, it fornicated in the afternoon when they thought nobody was looking.

Catching kisses at the side of Sam's house as soon as Dad's car pulled out of the drive. My Mother fretting on the porch steps, wringing her hands in her pinafore as Jolene skipped across the gravel towards the Kiszka house. Every word of warning left unheeded.

The way that we loved them was like two sides of the same coin. Hers a tempest and mine a breeze, and yet I knew that somehow we were both locked in something we couldn't escape. And the way that they loved us in return was just as belligerent. Just as forthright and never sorry.

"You better hurry." I insisted, keeping the blanket tightly wrapped around me until Dad had done his nightly checks. "Or you'll be climbing out the window in your night gown."

Jolene was sitting up in bed. Her lamp glowing as she turned the page of a book I knew she wasn't really reading.

"I'm not coming with you tonight." She said soberly, without lifting her gaze.

Her usual impatience at winding down the hours until she could be with Sam again was usually a bubbling cauldron. I shot her a look of confusion from across the room, waiting for her to notice. And when she finally gave credence to it, she rolled her eyes.

"It's different for you and Jake." She sighed. "It's still a secret. Sam and I have to move differently."

"You do well to be more like Jake and I." I pointed out, falling to silence as our bedroom door clicked open.

He walked in as if our space had never been sacred. As if this room wasn't the graveyard of a young girl's hopes and dreams. Desecrating it just by stepping inside with his hands in his pockets and his collar neatly folded over his signature blue sweater.

"It's late, Jolene." He scolded. "Lights out."

"Yes, Dad." She replied without argument, placing her book page down on the nightstand before switching off her lamp.

I pretended to be asleep. Letting my chest rise and fall the way it did in slumber. Keeping my eyes clamped shut, hoping he would bypass me and just close the door behind him.

"I am the all seeing eye, remember that." He said prophetically, with an air of dominance that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I was relieved when he plunged the room into darkness. Leaving only his tyrannical echo for me to let fester in my thoughts. I didn't know much about hate. But I knew that I hated him, in every way a person could hate. I knew that I wouldn't care if anything terrible happened to him. Nor would I stand and weep at his grave.

"The all seeing eye." I mocked, pushing off my blanket. "Can't see what's right under his nose."

She watched me construct my blanket and comforter into a make-shift image of myself asleep underneath. Careful not to turn her lamp back on too quickly, even though I could hear Dad's footsteps descend the stairs.

"You're really not coming with me?" I asked, the sound of gravel at the window breaking a mounting silence.

"It's different for me and him." She continued, a rueful smile on her face, something I would come to regret not questioning her further on. "Dad doesn't watch you like he watches me. He thinks your penance was done. He still thinks I am a whore for having the audacity to love the boy across the street."

I would have spoken but she lifted a hand to protest. "Go and be with Jake, Bonnie. I'm fine. Believe me. I'm just tired."

I wanted to believe her. And even as I began to climb out of the window I sensed that I should remain. A fleeting feeling that left almost as quickly as it had come to me. She smiled and watched me go, her eyes warm and comforting as she switched off the lamp again and snuggled down into her pillow.

He always helped me down from that last jump off the porch trellis. His hands snaking around my hips as he took my weight, always letting me fall back into his waiting arms. Spinning me around as if I were weightless, burying his lips into the crease of my neck as I giggled against the assault of his tickles. And I could finally breathe.

When my feet were planted firmly on the ground, we would always take a moment to admire each other. My arms around his neck, his around my waist. And I would take in the features that I'd yearned for from afar.

"It's just me and you tonight." He said, sweeping a palm over my coiled braids. "So I've got something special in mind."

Everything felt like an adventure with Jake. It didn't matter if we hid in his garage or went for midnight walks down by the creek. It all felt so magical, like I'd been plucked from my life and placed within somebody else's. The tenderness within which he showed me what life could be had me leaning further and further towards complete rebellion.

"Where are we going?" I asked wistfully, letting his eyes fall on me like his gaze was a blanket of nothing but the purest adoration.

He didn't tell me. Instead his smirk let me know that I would enjoy it, his hand taking mine as he led me towards the car waiting in the middle of the street. He opened the door for me like the perfect gentleman that he was, careful not to close it with too much force.

My heart was racing. I looked as the last light in my house went out, and Jake slid into the drivers seat. I knew that I didn't care anymore if I were caught. I was never giving this up.

I knew the direction we were heading in. The road into town was just one long dusty track dotted with houses until you reached the Welcome sign. I'd never seen it in the dead of night. All the shutters up and the roads empty. The street lights flickering and an eerie sense of calm in what was usually a bustling centre.

I'd walked past the Kiszka's music store before. It was the biggest plot on the main street stores, fronted by a row of parking spaces with little meters sitting on the side walk. In the window hung an array of electric and acoustic guitars, and in the shop front was a display of keyboards and saxophones. Vinyl records neatly sat on little holders, each time a new album was released the vinyl in the window was changed. As Jake fiddled with a set of keys to get the front door opened, I noticed the album cover of Purple Rain had been placed front and centre.

Once inside, I knew why he had brought me there. My breath caught in my chest as the overhead lights flickered on. Revealing an almost cave-like menagerie of music paraphernalia. The store was so vast that each section had it's own home. The counter was up front to the side, glass fronted with a selection of chrome harmonica's sat in little boxes on display beneath the cash register. The guitar section extended down the entire left side. Floor to ceiling, hanging on little hooks and sitting on stands between stools ready for potential buyers to come and try them out. There was a drum set in the corner, a selection of wind instruments and key based instruments all on display as if a band were ready to start playing at any moment. On the right side of the store there was row after row of vinyls. All of them coded and in their own genre sections. The wall was covered in posters. Prince and Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen. Some of the faces I didn't recognise, artists I'd never even heard of with music I'd never been given the opportunity to listen to. And in the back of the store there was a listening area. Three beaten up old arm chairs set out with record players and headphones attached. And behind was a booth, glass fronted with a cassette player inside.

He let me peer around the place for a moment. Standing behind me with the most pleased grin on his face, watching my reaction closely. His fingertips grazed the small of my back as he ushered me further inside, switching on a set of cool blue neon lights by the listening area and he waited for me to notice the little picnic he'd set up on one of the side tables.

"You did all this, for me?!" I exclaimed, turning to wrap my arms around him.

"It's just a few chocolate strawberries and cream soda." He replied, caressing my cheek with the swell of his lips.

It didn't matter how insignificant it felt to him. To me it was as if he'd pulled the stars down from the night sky and presented them to me in a crystal bowl and two candy pink glass bottles.

"It's perfect." I remarked, running palms up my arms as a cool chill breezed through from under the door.

He noticed immediately. "Yeah, it can get kinda cold in here. Let me find something."

He shuffled off towards a door at the back of the store with a "staff only" sign emblazoned on the front. It gave me a moment to drink it all in. Fingering the vinyls as they sat in their genre coded boxes, letting them fall forward one after the other. I traced lines across the guitar strings on display, giving the drum set a little flick on the cymbal. My heart warming the rest of my body by a couple of degrees as I looked over at the little arm chairs, his romantic gesture set out between the two which sat side by side beneath the wall light.

He appeared moments later, carrying a couple of knitted blankets and some cups of steaming hot tea. Looking so deliciously domestic, my stomach began to knot itself so tight I knew I'd never be able to pick it apart ever again.

"Reminds me of the night you took my virginity." I lamented, letting him lay the blankets out on the chair which looked the most comfortable, watching him set the needle to something soft and jazzy, getting seated before inviting me to curl up in his lap.

As his arms closed around me, so did the blanket. I felt like I'd been wrapped in a warm cocoon, his soft heart beating a melody against my ear as I laid against him. The blush of my cheeks as he pulled me up for a kiss was radiating almost instantly.

"Nothing will ever compare to that night." He replied, planting his lips against mine so carefully that I almost breathed a little too hard into his mouth.

A part of me would always belong to that night. When I looked at myself in the mirror, entirely changed, I would trace a line down my breasts and imagine that it was his touch. I'd recall the lines of his body on top of mine and my breathing would almost stop. Jake had burrowed his way beneath my skin and was as much a part of me as my own soul now.

"Our wedding night might." I offered, the words tumbling out of my mouth like a running faucet.

I immediately bristled in his arms. My body solidifying against the comfort of his chest and the blanket. The regret was palpable. And I blamed the sweetness of the moment for taking me so far ahead into the future that I hadn't dared to ask if marriage was something he had ever entertained.

He didn't say anything at first. And I didn't dare look up to investigate his expression. There was only a silence that was growing ever more unbearable as he continued to stroke my hair.

"Perhaps." He finally responded, a hopeful little word that was spoken in a pleasing tone.

It was as if he was agreeing with me. Without giving too much credence to the concept. Casual, almost. As if the subject of marriage was absolute and should have never been in doubt and I felt foolish for ever letting myself have a regret with him.

"Bonnie?"

I dared to look up at him. "Yes, Jake?"

There was a strange look in his eye. Serious, and yet I felt as if he was mocking me a little. With the corners of his mouth pulled up slightly, a smirk on the verge of forming.

"You are eighteen. You are free to marry whoever you choose." He said, conjuring a mixture of hope and dread in my stomach.

I didn't quite know what he meant. What his intentions were. I could feel myself begin to stutter, my mouth poised to speak but the words lost before they could make it out.

"Is that what you want?" He asked, that hint of a smirk fading. "If I marry you, he can't stop us being together. You would be my wife."

The rate in which my heart began to excelerate was unprecedented. For a moment we stared at each other. Both of us waiting for the other to say something. And then the needle jumped, sending the music into disarray until it fell to an excruciating silence.

I took my opportunity to break to tension by opening up our warm little cocoon. I slipped off his lap, him keeping his eyes firmly on me as I went over to the record player and lifted the needle. Carefully placing it back on it's little bracket. I picked up the nearest vinyl, not caring to check the cover. Absently, I placed it on the deck and soon the room was filled with the dulcet tones of Ella Fitzgerald.

Let's do it... Let's fall in love...

He rose from his seat. Pulling me into a slow dance. Letting my erratic heart fall into the pattern of the song. I felt his arms come around my waist. My head forever at home against his shoulder, my hand coming to rest against his chest as the other pressed against his back. We swayed in silence, neither of us wanting to break the spell.

I allowed myself to imagine it, though. A wedding in secret, the church far enough away that word would never reach my Father. A simple white dress and a posy of locally picked flowers, our guests only a mere handful of Jake's family who wanted to witness it. The haste in which it would happen. All of us on tenterhooks until the paperwork was signed. I knew how this story unfolded. And it wasn't satisfying. But was is necessary? I didn't want to think about it.

"Forgive me." He whispered, "I didn't mean to suggest something like that..."

My forgiveness was not what he needed. I placed my finger at his lips and let myself fall into a kiss so deep that I moaned salaciously against it. His tongue sliding so deep that the arousal travelled the length of my body and struck lightening at my core. The churn of butterflies ignited, the raw ache of wanting him even when I was in his arms burned.

Sometimes it was like that. When the need was greater than the desire. He could have lit a thousand candles and I would have swept my panties to the side for him in darkness. When time was against us, it felt as if I would have sat upon the window ledge itself and let him suck and tease at me before even climbing out of it.

"I don't want to hurt you, because I love you." He explained, lingering on the precipice of something dark. "But if I don't hurt you while fucking...You'll never know how much I do..."

He drove his tongue back into my mouth, setting off another shattering moan. To him, I was a mere instrument to play. When the fever took hold. The urge to fuck surpassing all reason. When it was like this, that was when I felt the most alive. He didn't need to marry me in moments like these. I would have gone anywhere with him.

The raw intensity of his tongue drew me to the edges of despair. He made me sing the most glorious songs, delicious noises escaping my lips as he sank his teeth into my jawline. I grabbed his hair and pulled him into me closer. The wordless begging forcing his fingertips to dig into my hips. Without any thought behind it, he pushed me back into the arm chair behind us.

"Show me how much you love me." I sinfully requested, hedging my bets on his previous statement that it had to hurt for me to know.

He came and took his place on top of me, reclining the chair slowly until it was almost horizontal. Scrambling to tear off our clothes. The moment would not wait nor did it call for careful romance. We had known these moments in summer fields down by the creek and in candle lit evenings on the pull out sofa bed in his parent's garage.

I ached for penetration. And he was already leaking by the time he ripped off his boxer shorts. I called to him with my legs spread wide, leaning against the arms of the chair. My braids already somewhat falling out as he crawled above. He took the tentative step to uncoil them. Letting the waves out, my hair fall around my face as he leaned down to steal a kiss.

"I fought for this..." He murmured, sweeping his fingertips against the wetness of my labia. "And I'll fight for it until the day I die."

He didn't waste time with his fingers. I was already set to the highest peak of arousal. He took a firm grip of himself, making a few strokes as he centred himself between my thighs. He plunged inside me with such delicious intention that I gasped.

"You feel that?" He asked, motioning back before shooting his hips forward.

"I feel it." I confirmed, my walls stretching against his shaft with each daring thrust. "I feel you inside me..."

My virginity belonged to the past. I'd long since given it to him. I felt like a woman now. My need was slaked only by his caress. The way he pulled out my breast and laid his mouth over the bud of my nipple. The way he licked the curve of it, holding it between his thumb and index finger. The way he sucked hungrily at the flesh until it was dappled pink and almost blood shot. My senses were at odds.

"Still so tight..." He breathed between beating thrusts, his commentary sometimes the thing I hung on to most.

Sex, I had discovered, was not just a feast for the eyes but for the ears too. I often drifted away to the sound of his voice as he made love to me. The way in which he liked to give praise to my body. To the way it made him feel. The incandesce of his gaze like wild flames burning my flesh with each touch.

"Shit, Bonnie..."

Oh, the curses were what I lived for. I knew, always, when the curses slipped out that he was too far gone. About to step off the precipice into orgasm.

He fucked me so hard in that reclined arm chair that I could hear the springs about to break. The hinges about to come apart. I didn't care. Let it crash beneath us, I just needed him to give me that stinging ache I had come to know after he'd fucked me a little too brutally. When he'd let the intrusive thoughts take over.

His hair was saturated in sweat. Tiny droplets of it brushing against my chest. We didn't kiss, it was more like our tongues were dancing and our mouths perpetually open. The kind of sex only experience could bring. The sort of experience I was slowly painting every night with Jake.

"Tell me it feels good." He instructed, pulling away to look at the flush in my face, evening out his pace a little.

"Feels so good." I moaned, still finding my voice a little. "I promise Jake, it's good."

The growl that came afterwards made me almost giggle in satisfaction. He buried his face into my sweat drenched neck. Pounding against my thighs relentlessly. I could hear the sloppy sounds of how wet he'd made me. His careful nature lost, he wasn't making love to me. He was fucking me, hard. The way he liked to, the way he'd been too afraid to before. The way I'd suspected he could that night he had spanked me in the church.

"I love the way you fuck me, oh God..." My voice trailed off into a singular note of pitch.

It was the first time I had ever said anything unprompted. Undiluted and completely catching him off guard. The look of pure unadulterated devotion was enough to complete me. His thumb pressed against my drenched clit. Guiding me closer and closer. He didn't take his eyes off me in that moment. And it felt, for the first time, that we trusted each other to have the kind of sex we could only dream of.

"There's no God here..." He whispered, "Only me."

I knew it was true as he spilled inside me. That shock only a man could feel when he realised his woman was no longer someone he had to covet so gently. That she wasn't a girl anymore. It was like he couldn't believe it. Seeing me beneath him like that. Hot and sweaty from the beast that had bared it's teeth between us.

It took a few moments for us to catch our breath. He remained inside me, slowly softening and swallowing hard as he rested his forehead against mine. Truthfully, I didn't want him to pull away. I was still getting used to the residue, the way I had to navigate myself so that it didn't drip down the inside of my leg. The things nobody talks about when the moment has passed and there is nothing left but his cum nestled away inside you.

"Here." He offered, throwing me the tea towel he'd brought in with the hot cups that were now assuredly luke warm, teasing a smile as he watched me clean up. "If only you could see what a beautiful mess you make."

"You make." I replied, watching him tuck himself back into his pants.

"No." He insisted, taking back the tea towel so that I could dress. "It's not just that you're full of my cum. It's that your hair's all fucked up. And your cheeks are pink. And your flesh is all covered in sweat. Never seen anything more beautiful."

The rhythm of my breathing was still shallow as he pulled me up out of the chair. He placed a chocolate strawberry at my lips and we slow danced a little more. My hips ached and my thighs were raw. And that feeling that could only come after being fucked hard was lingering inside me.

"I meant what I said." He reiterated, "I will marry you, Bonnie. And you'll never have to live under your Dad's control ever again."

It would have been easy to say yes for that reason alone. But I didn't want that.

"I want to marry you, I do." I replied softly, letting him kiss my temple. "But I want you to ask me on a day where nothing else is at stake."

I could hear his chest fall in disappointment. "I'm not asking you to save you. I'm asking you because I love you."

His eyes met mine. I'd never seen him look so serious.

"I know..." I would have said more, but the moment was stolen from us.

The bell which tinkled whenever the front door opened drew us from this reverie. My stomach immediately churned into a sickness as I drew my gaze away from Jake, and dropped him from my embrace.

There was nothing I could do to reverse that night. Not the things Jake and I had said to each other that would have to go unfinished, nor the things I had done to set the wheels in motion that had brought Sam to the store in what I could only describe as a blind panic.

He fell through the door, breathing erratic. Pulling strands of his hair back as he tried to speak. Leaning over the counter, trying to catch his breath. Moaning in pain. Or was it despair? His panic was suddenly mine.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Jake asked, rushing over to his brother. "You're not supposed to be here, Sam."

I sensed that perhaps Jake knew where Sam was supposed to be. But the line of questioning would have to wait. As I approached, I realised the level of trauma already lined in his face would stay with him forever. He was bereft. And I knew, somehow, that Jolene wasn't where she was supposed to be, either.

"Calm down." I tried, placing my palms on either side of his grief stricken face. "And tell me what happened."

I guided him over to the listening area. He didn't want to move. He didn't know what to do. He pulled away at first, scared of my touch. His eyes wide and apologetic. I could see that he wanted to follow, but there was a fear clutching at him that made every step just hard to take.

Once I got him sat in one of the arm chairs, I offered him a swig of cream soda. He declined, pushing it away like I'd offered him poison. Jake pulled out a hip flask and shoved it into his brother's face, forcing him to take a drink.

"You better start talking." Jake said dominantly, not as an older brother, but as somebody who naturally had more power. "Where's Jolene?"

I slumped down onto the arm of the chair, offering my hand at his shoulder for comfort. Jake stood in front, tipping the flask into his mouth until it was drained.

"We were... " He began, his body shaking and his voice unsteady. "You know? We almost made it...and then I realised we were being followed... I sped up and then they sped up...and then Jolene she said we should stop and I didn't listen to her... "

I instinctively moved away. "What do you mean? You didn't listen to her? She's in bed at home. That's where I left her."

Sam shook his head. "No, no... that's what she wanted you to believe. She wanted you to think that she was staying home. She didn't want you to worry. But... we had it all planned out. We were going to drive down to my Aunt's place down in Grand Rapids. They got a farm down there, we were going to help out and get enough money to get our own place. Somewhere your Dad could never get to us."

I couldn't help but steer my attention towards Jake. He was biting his lip nervously. Tapping his heel. Hands on his hips as he stared down at his brother.

"Did you know about this?" I asked. "Is that what bringing me here tonight was all about? A distraction?!"

He looked offended. "No! Fuck, no. I wanted to bring you here because I thought you'd like it!"

The place reeked of sex. The undeniable scent of what we had done lingered, the music was still playing something soft and sexy but the tone of it felt all wrong now. Sam didn't seem to notice, fresh tears streaming down his face as he stared into the void.

"Sam, where is my sister?" I asked bluntly.

I'll never forget the way he looked at me. I never wanted anyone to ever look at me like that ever again. Desperate for forgiveness. On the edge of losing his mind. If he spoke the words out loud that would make it all real. He would cling on to those wasted seconds for as long as he could, before he had to speak it into existence.

"I don't know." He swallowed harshly, "That's the truth. I don't know where she is. But... I think she's dead."

The engine fell silent. The gentle tinkle of Jakes car keys as he pulled them out drew me from my thoughts.

"No." I stopped him, "Don't wait for me."

He began to protest immediately, just as I thought he might. I'd already prepared a speech for him, but it seemed to fall flat as I tried to get the words out without bursting into unwanted tears.

"Of course I'll wait for you." He replied, knuckles against my cheek as he swept my hair back, strands of it sticking to my damp face. "I'd go in there with you if I thought it would do any good."

I tried to imagine it. His hand in mine as we navigated the hospital corridors. Feeling a little more calm than I would have without him. A part of me wanted to walk in there with him by my side. But the other part of me, and it screamed so much more loudly, told me not to bear that cross quite yet.

"No, my Dad will be there. And I'm not ready to face him with all this yet." I sighed, watching the clock on the dash as it turned 4 am. "Will you please tell Sam that she's not dead?"

He nodded gravely. "I love you, you know that, right?"

If nothing else, I knew that. It was hard to get out of the car, to even walk through the hospital doors knowing he'd be out there waiting for me. Even if I got in the car with my parents, he would stay there until he knew I was going home. It gave me some small comfort. The immeasurable toll of seeing my sister laid up in that bed attached to all the beeping wires was something I was not prepared for.

It was like walking into a court room and I was the one on trial. My mother was sat at Jolene's bedside, her hand wrapped around my sisters, holding it tight as she laid there limply. My Dad was standing in the corner of the room like a sentinel, resting his chin against a tightly curled fist with his arms folded neatly across his chest. Staring at her lifeless body as the chest rose and fell with each beep.

"Whore." He grunted, eyes immediately flaring hot like sulphur. "Just like your sister!"

"Not now, please" My Mother begged, using her voice for what felt like the first time.

The wave of emotion that flooded me was overwhelming. The sight of Jolene there like that, so helpless and lifeless. My Mother, in this tentative moment, speaking against my Father for the first time. And him, choosing to use it like some vehicle for his hatred of me.

"I suppose you spoke to your brother." He surmised, "Once you saw fit to come home."

It was strange. Like looking at a stranger.

"You know that Sam thinks that she's dead, don't you?" I almost spat the words out. "Why didn't you just let them go? It's because of you that this happened!"

The blasphemy caught him off guard. The accusation and the way in which I had thrown it at him. All I had to do was stand there and not flinch. To let the wave of anger that was assuredly coursing through his veins wash through him until it was permanently marked on his flesh.

"You've got the devil in you!" He said pointedly, standing close to Jolene's bed side as if I would contaminate her.

He had no power over me anymore. In one brief, fleeting moment I had eradicated eighteen years of oppression. Eighteen years of fear and doubt. I wasn't certain I could uphold it, against whatever he would do next, but I knew that if I just stood there I stood a fighting chance.

"You chased them down in your car. You think that God wanted this? Look at her... she's your daughter. You're supposed to love her and cherish her! Not run her into the ground until the car crashes and she's clinging on to her life!"

My Mom began to sob quietly. Holding Jolene's hand to her cheek. Perhaps it was the most affection she had ever shown, and Jolene would never know.

It was in stark contrast to my Father, who couldn't bear my defiance. When his hand struck my cheek, I tasted blood. But I welcomed it. Blood meant sacrifice. And I would make the ultimate one. When I turned my face, there wasn't a hint of remorse in his. Only a vexation that knew no limit. And yet, somehow, I had managed to exceed it.

I looked him directly in the eye. "Enough."

She would languish there until her injuries were healed. I didn't say it out loud, but I made a promise to come back for her. To never let another moment pass where she or I would live under this scrutiny and melancholic repression. And when I walked out of that room I didn't look at my Mother, or my Father again.

I ran out into the early morning light. Jake was leaning against his car in the parking lot smoking a cigarette. He looked tired. But when he caught sight of me standing there, something shifted. And I knew that everything was about to change.

To be Continued...

@caprisunsister @thewritingbeforesunrise @takenbythemadness @katuschka @its-interesting-van-kleep @lvnterninthenight @writingcold @jakekiszkasbuttsweat @edgingthedarkness @velveteencatch @lyndz2names @nina-23-45 @itsafullmoon y @char289 @dancingcarbon @gvfpal @violetstarcatcher @wetkleenex-gvf @jazzyfigz @gvfmarge @ignite-my-fire

#greta van fleet #jake kiszka #fanfic #gvf #greta van fleet fan fiction #fanfiction #gvf fanfiction #jake kiszka fanfic #jake kiszka x reader

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frostbitebakery · 8 months

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Progress Shots For My Entertainment

A Journey

A few people have mentioned how they like getting WIP pics of a drawing I’m working on and see it go through all five stages of grief whilst I slowly go insane. So how about I do all that but in a post?

Behold! Pirate Dancing.

It came to me upon a dream and ballroom-esque pirate music. But I really, really wanted these two specifically to dance and I begged @elwenyere to let me. She agreed 💜

Like everyone else, I start out with the messiest sketch and proudly show it off in hopes it goes on the fridge. Subsequently in step 35664338 I clean up the sketch to something coherent, though the lineart barely makes it to the very end. It’s a mix of part of the art and helping guides for where goes what.

Followed by more tedious work of choosing flat colors. Which is the worst. I wrangle with layers so connecting flat colors aren’t on the same layer. Everything goes into alpha lock, just like the rest of my sanity.

Then the fun starts.

Hair 😍

It’s the first thing I shade. I gotta have the hair down before shading faces. It somehow does not work vice versa for me. Faces absolutely have to be next. If they’re not to my liking, the whole work stalls. Cody’s face in this gave me so much grief. He went through five or six similar iterations before I settled - and was satisfied - with the version that’s in the finished work.

The rest of the shading is me bullheading through it piece by piece, cursing myself for being anal retentive. Especially the leather and leather embossing was… there was so much leather. The look is achieved by a brush that’s called “Old Metal”. Personally I don’t think it looks like old metal but it’s fantastic for leather. I have a few darker and lighter shades and I use the brush in different sizes and opacities to wrangle a leather look out of the flat mid-tone base. The symbol of the embossing is on a separate layer above the flat color, with the mode set to multiply and layer opacity anywhere between 15 to 30%.

Once I get all of that done, I play around in post-production. I throw effects at it, adjust color temperature and saturation. I enhance light reflections on metal. Lighten up places that suddenly look too dark, darken parts that suddenly look too light. Post-production is very much the stage where I really choose an overall vibe. Which is why I send WIPs through post to get a feel of what I should work towards during shading.

And get new perspectives on a work. :P

#my wips #I went through my trash to get all the WIP pics #just for you 🫶#frost explains her carpal tunnel round 2 #the reason why it’s mostly actual pics taken in my phone #is that screenshots on the iPad are regularly too large for discord

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leidensygdom · 27 days

Note

I really like the strong features depicted in your art style. I also like the swooshiness of the movement, usually done via fire and smoke; it's a very distinctive thing about it and it works really well. You're also pretty good at blocking dark spots for shading!

I can't really think of something I dislike? something that seems less present in your pieces is maybe that a lot of them seems to have a dark background so it could be fun to see you explore lighter backgorund, but dark background do feel pretty typical for this sort of cyberpunkish universe so what do I know hrthtrhtr

AHHH Thank you! Gods I wanna get to doing flow with other things! I need to get better at clothes and folds so I can make some really swooshy dresses. Smoke and fire is fun but I should be able to make it with other materials! (are smoke and fire even materials--)

And yeah light backgrounds are a bit of a struggle for me! For design-oriented fullbodies i tend to slap a dark grey and call it a day, which... I guess I've done just bc social media digs it. But for more complex backgrounds, yeah I tend to work with dark tones and let the characters pick up the spotlight by being light, but I need to try the other way around! darker characters in lighter settings

These two pieces are where I tried that- First one since it was to be printed and light colors look better as a print, second one bc it suited the character. And I dig the look- I really need to try to do more!

#artstyle crisis

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yangaros · 4 months

Text

My process of drawing art that imitates the style of RWBY

(original from Reddit)

We have no idea what'll happen to RWBY, so I decided for some reason to go over the basics of how I draw characters that are hopefully in the likeness of the show's art style. I use paint(dot)net to draw my character art, from sketching to colouring, and I use Blender whenever I feel that a 3D background or scene fits the art.

My art is specifically based on the Autodesk Maya art style that is seen in Volume 7 and onwards, as well as in the Justice League x RWBY movies (the Maya styles of Volumes 4, 5 and 6 are slightly different). However, whenever it's necessary, I will also deviate from RWBY's art style in order to add additional details.

Sketching

Once I have an idea about what to draw, which can take a while to figure out. I begin to draw a sketch. I generally use multiple layers for different parts, so I use one layer for the eyes, one layer for the hair, and so on. I also use different colours for each layer if it's possible, just so it's easier to distinguish the different features. If the cumulative or overall sketch looks complete, I will remove extra lines and move on to outlining, though every now and then I make changes in later steps that will make the final result different from the initial sketch.

To replicate RWBY's style as closely as possible, I use screenshots from the show as reference and I made sure the starting sketch has a larger dimension (minimum height of 1440 pixels if drawing half-body art). I also made a very rough 3D character body model in Blender to help get the perspective right (or as correct as possible), for example if I want to figure out where exactly a piece of clothing should be or look like relative to the body. I also use additional image references, for example references with short hair or mid-length hair for my recent art of Weiss with shorter hair.

Outlining

I begin to outline using thin lines, as well as small brushes for the outlines of the eyes. I also use separate layers for different features of the character and adjust the opacity/transparency if it's needed. For example, in RWBY, eyebrows covered by a fringe or strands of hair will still be visible, although their outlines will be less opaque.

For the hair, I use a dark colour related to a character's hair colour, such as dark yellow or gold if the character has light blonde hair. The outlines of clothing are also made to be less opaque so they would blend more with clothing colours that come later.

Colouring

I put in colours after outlining is done, and I also use separate layers for different parts for the character. Once the colouring is done, I add in additional colours, such as a redder colour (relative to a character's skin tone) to add to the face or indicate blushing. For RWBY or Justice League x RWBY characters, I make use of default colours that are from concept arts or scenes with minimal environmental lighting. This is because it will be easier to make overall adjustments later down the road, especially if the final background involves a different hue or more environmental lighting.

I have a habit of fully colouring the eyes, up to adding bright white highlights to the eyes, before colouring the rest of the character. The eyes are coloured differently depending on who I am drawing. If I am drawing a pre-existing character such as Ruby, I also make use of default colours. Otherwise, I usually start with a base colour, usually a lighter colour, and then I imitate iris shading by adding layers of that colour with a darker tone or shade. I make the pupils black or a colour based on the base colour.

Shading

I move on to shading the non-eye parts after all the colours are added. If I am drawing an existing RWBY character, I try to use the shade that is usually found with that character's model. Otherwise, I use a layer of either black or a shade based on the main hair colour, and I adjust the opacity to give the impression of a RWBY-like appearance.

Hair shading gets additional attention because they are usually softer. If you look at screenshots or scenes of RWBY, you might notice that the shading for clothing and skin have defined hard edges, while the same cannot usually be said for the hair. To imitate hair shading, I use erasers of large sizes to remove excess colours and create a softer appearance for the shading.

I may add additional shading to the irises and the white (sclera) of the eye depending on whether I feel like it or not. This sort of shading is usually not present with characters in the main RWBY series, while in the Justice League x RWBY movies, the eyes have additional shading.

Background

I may use Blender to create a 3D background for my art. If I finish the character art first, which is often what happens, I will set up lighting in my environment based on how I shaded the character. The settings I use vary often (e.g. rendering with Eevee vs. rendering with Cycles), but what I did for my Weiss art was to use Cycle rendering for my scene, plus denoising with at least 120 samples, for RWBY-like quality. It should be noted that I have a slow computer, so too many samples will not only slow rendering down but will also be unnecessary for my needs.

(Technically Blender could be used create character models themselves. However, I draw the characters out still because I find it enjoyable, and it also gives me more control over some colours and features.)

Putting it all together

Once everything is done, I move towards compositing and I prepare to put both the character art and background together. If the background involves environmental lighting, I will adjust the colours of the character art to reflect the lighting. For example, in my Weiss art, I adjusted the overall hue of Weiss to reflect the bluish lighting and atmosphere within the Schnee Manor.

I use paint(dot)net to put everything together, since it's a little easier to create a final composite image and make specific final adjustments that way. I also blur the background slightly to give the impression of distance/depth and direct a little more attention to the character.

#rwby #rwby art #rwby fanart #weiss schnee #rwby weiss

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justasecretwriter · 2 years

Text

Secrets (Jotun!Loki x Reader)

Title | Secrets

Summary | Loki has a secret, and it's his biggest, most well kept secret ever. And you've just found out.

Pairings | Loki Laufeyson x Female Reader (reads like an OC)

Genre | Angst to Smut to Angst to Fluff (happy ending)

Story Warnings/Kinks | Swearing, Internalized Racism, General Racism, Loki Needs Therapy, Lots of Feels, Yelling, Sex, Oral, Handjobs, Choking, Praise

Translations | None.

Author's Note | OMG TWO HUNDRED OF YOU PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ MY STUFF. THANKS.

This is not exactly canon because I made him half elf too, to explain his differences from other Frost Giants.

Words | 3,869

Saturdays were my favorite because on Saturdays, the entire team was gone. Tony said they went on some training. I honestly didn't care where they went. All I knew was that it was quiet, and I could do whatever I wanted.

I woke that morning with a smile already bubbling on my face. I had so many plans; I was going to try to bake cookies from scratch, rewatch all the Harry Potter movies, and finally finish a puzzle I'd been working on for weeks. But my heart stopped when I walked into the kitchen and saw a note lying on the counter.

Y/N, as you know Thor's brother is still under eval to be an Avenger, so we couldn't bring him on this training exercise, so if you could, keep an eye on him.

Tony

Great. Just great. Now I couldn't have the whole day alone because I had to babysit. With a groan, I made myself a cup of coffee and went to look for Loki.

If I remembered Thor's teasing right, he got up fairly early so he should have been around here somewhere. I wasn't going to hover but try my best to still get my stuff done, though I figured I should peek in on him occasionally.

When he wasn't in his room, or the library, I wandered down to the gym. Even gods had to work to keep up that kind of body, right? Apparently I was right because when I entered the gym I saw Loki. Or at least, what I think was Loki?

He had Loki’s face and hair but his skin was all a beautiful blue, neither light nor dark, and there were lighter blue lines all over his body, almost like tattoos. He wore workout shorts and did appear to be training; he was throwing daggers at a target and hitting a bullseye everytime before using magic to bring the dagger back.

I couldn’t help the gasp the left my mouth, making him spin around. It was indeed Loki in some form, but the biggest shoker was his eyes. Even the parts that were supposed to be white were a bright red, and his irises were an even darker red.

Horror shot across his face and he slowly started changing, shifting back to the Loki I recognized with pale white skin and green eyes. I realized as he shifted that in the blue form he was maybe half a foot taller as well—as if Loki needed to be any taller.

“Loki?” I knew it was stupid but it was the only thing that came to mind.

He approached me slowly, gulping and playing with his fingers. "I am… sorry." He murmured.

"What was that?"

"Something I did not intend for you to see. I figured everyone was on the training trip, I did not realize…"

"Can we talk about it?"

"No!" He said very quickly. "Let us pretend it never happened."

"Loki, I can't do that."

He huffed and bit the inside of his lip. "Well no one would believe you anyway."

"Who said I was going to tell?"

He seemed taken back by that, and tilted his head. Stepping closer so that we were barely a foot apart, Loki hesitated.

"I am adopted. Thor knows not, and I would prefer it if it stayed that way, hmm?" He arched his brow and instinctively, I nodded.

He left the gym and I realized I was still frozen. What the hell just happened. Loki wasn't Asgardian? Is that what he was saying? And how could Thor not know?

So, I did the only thing I knew to do when in a situation with Loki. I called Thor.

"Hey, so I had a question." I said when he answered. "Do you know of any humanoid species that's blue with red eyes?"

"With weird skin?"

"Yes. I found a picture in an old Norse book but I can't read any of it."

"Well that sounds like a Frost Giant. They are from Jotunheim. Loki killed Laufey, the King, years ago. To the best of my knowledge the nation has been in shambles since."

Why would Loki kill his own king? It was all becoming more confusing but at least now I had a name for it, so I could study more.

"Okay, thanks Thor."

"Anytime Little One. How is Loki, have you seen him?"

"Uhh… He was in the gym earlier but I haven't seen him since." I wasn't sure if that counted as a lie but my face heated up just as quickly as it usually did when I was lying.

"Well, just keep an eye on him. We will be back in the morning."

"See you then," I hung up and took a deep breath.

There was a Frost Giant, from a different realm, who I believed was an enemy of Asgard, just upstairs. How the hell was I supposed to process that information?

I raced to my bedroom and pulled out my computer to search up more about them. Were they dangerous? Did they have powers? Should I be scared of Loki?

Most would say yes by default since he was technically an alien like Thor but I'd never been all that scared of Loki. Maybe it was because he'd never been violent towards me, but he was never frightening in my eyes.

But the more I Googled, the more confused I got. I understand that often mythology got things wrong but there was so many different theories and mythologies on Frost Giants.

After an hour and forty-two groans, I gave up and went to Loki's room down the hall. Knocking vigorously, I only half expected him to answer. Low and behold, he did, and as soon as be saw me, he farted his eyes away.

"We need to talk."

"No, we don't." He replied.

"Yes, we do. Now let me in." I shoved past him and into his room.

Honestly, it looked a little like you'd expect. Lots of green and black, lots of books scattered about, but most of the room was very tidy. I nearly snorted; the bed was made even.

I sat on the bed gently and looked at him expectedly. He sighed heavily and sat a few feet from me.

"You have questions,"

"Obviously."

"Okay, then let's start from the beginning since I don't ever remember even having one conversation with you." He held out his hand. "Hello, my name is Loki Laufeyson, Prince of Jotunheim. I go by Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard."

I shook his hand.

"Prince of Jotunheim? Laufey was your father?"

He nodded.

"You killed your father?"

He shrugged and nodded again.

"Thor doesn't know?"

"Only Odin and Frigga know. It is Asgard's best kept secret, one of their own is their greatest enemy."

"So, you normally look like this…" I waved a hand towards him and he offered a small grin.

"This is my Asgardian form, thanks to my magic. And what you saw earlier was my birth form."

"And why can't Thor know?"

"Thor hates Frost Giants."

I frowned. Surely he wouldn't hate his own brother. But then again, Thor and Loki didn't do a whole lot of getting along, maybe the news of Loki's true heritage would push them over the edge.

"Y/N, this must stay between us. Nobody can know."

I bit my lip.

"Okay," I agreed. "Under one condition,"

His eyes immediately narrowed and he leaned away from me.

"Can I see it again?"

He seemed to be thinking for a minute. "Fine, but you should also know that there are other spells I have to go under while I'm in that form."

"Why?"

"Well, one touch and I could kill you from frostbite. So I go under a spell to prevent accidental death. And in that form, anything I walk near or touch freezes in an instant. And well, I like my bed soft and not frozen."

"Okay."

He hesitated before I saw the transition slowly. First his skin bled blue and then the lines spread on his skin like vines. They looked beautiful, like tattoos almost. He opened his eyes, showing the nearly glowing red that beamed from them.

I looked at his face as I reached my hand towards him, making sure it was okay. He never stopped me. I touched his arm slowly, tracing the lines where they disappeared beneath his shirt.

I saw his hand twitch before he reached behind him and pulled the t-shirt off, throwing it in his pillow.

He was beautiful. Of course he'd always been handsome, I wasn't blind. But this blue, the designs, the abs…

There were two prominent lines that went down his chest and under his pants, and I traced one of those. He felt cool to the touch, but not frostbite cold.

There were more lines on his face that curved and dipped in certain places, but I wasn't sure how he would feel about me actually touching his face.

"I'm actually not a full Frost Giant, at least not according to my blood. I don't exactly look like other Frost Giants, but if you look at my ears…" He turned his head and I smiled, his ears were very pointed, which I knew wasn't natural to his Asgardian form, I would have noticed.

"So you're half Frost Giant and half…?"

"Light Elf, according to my DNA. My father is from Jotunheim and my mother is from Alfheim. It's why I have these ears and why I'm smaller than the other Frost Giants. I'm the result of an affair, which is why Laufey abandoned me, leading Odin to find and adopt me."

I traced the point of his ear lightly, smiling. I went to reach and trace his face too but stopped. Loki didn't seem like the kind who liked to be touched, so maybe I should've stopped.

But then he shocked me; he grabbed my hand and touched his face with it, giving me permission. I bit my lip and ran my thumb along the lines adorning his cheekbones.

"Beautiful," I whispered, blushing.

"Right," He laughed and I tilted my head. "I'm a monster, Y/N."

"No you're not. Look at you, you're beautiful."

I got up on my knees on the bed and crawled closer, putting both my hands on his face to feel more. His red eyes met mine.

"You are not scared?"

"No," I whispered.

He took a deep breath and I let my hands follow the lines down from his face to his neck and onto his chest. When he shifted, I looked up at his face. He looked uncomfortable.

"Too much?"

"No, it's alright." I kept going but he never really quit squirming.

"What's the matter?" I finally asked, sitting back and letting my hands fall.

He sighed, looking away. "I've never shown anyone this form, let alone let them touch it. And at the very least, I expected you to be disgusted and you're not."

"Sorry to disappoint."

He only rolled his eyes.

"Are there lines on your back too?"

"I don't know." He turned away from me and I got on my knees. "I only ever use this form for certain magic practices. It's useful in some situations."

"You do have lines on your back," I murmured, tracing them. "They're beautiful."

An overwhelming urge came over me to kiss one on his shoulder blade and I had to take deep, thought repressing breaths for a few minutes before I could touch him again.

"The really awful part about this? I'm the God of Lies and I always know when someone is lying. There's not even a hint of a lie in you when you say that."

"Well of course not," I replied, tracing one line that went from his shoulder blade and over to his chest. "I like this form of yours."

He shuttered suddenly and my brows shoved together. Frost Giants couldn't get cold, could they?

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." Oh something was definitely wrong; I'd never heard Loki's voice crack before like that.

I went back to the front and looked at his face. His red eyes were swelling with tears.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He just shook his head, looking away and taking deep breaths.

I put my hand on his chest. "Loki you can trust me."

"I know."

"Then what's the matter?"

He looked back over at me and wavered on some decision I didn't know. But I didn't have time to ask anymore questions before he leaned over and pushed his lips into mine.

I gasped, letting him kiss me, even kissing him back. But I was confused, shouldn't he have been angry with me for not reacting as he'd planned? I wasn't going to stop him though, not when kissing him felt this good.

He pulled back, and I let out an embarrassing whine, chasing his cold lips for more.

"I'm sorry," He gasped out.

"I'm not," I grabbed his hair and tried to kiss him again but he kept backing away from me. I nearly wanted to stomp and pout.

"I-we… shouldn't." He was almost panting and I felt his eyes searching for mine but I couldn't look away from his blue lips. They, like his lines, were a light blue.

"Why not? I want to. I think you want to."

He hesitated, biting his lip, and sighed again. "It can be dangerous… Frost Giants and humans…"

"In what way?"

"Sometimes if a Frost Giant is with someone they actually know or actually care about, a sort of heat kicks in. They can't control themselves and they can't stop until they are satisfied. Humans aren't exactly indestructible."

I realized the hidden meaning in his words. It only happened with someone they cared about; he cared about me.

"I can take it." I insisted.

"Y/N…"

"Please," I realized I must have sounded pathetic but I couldn't help it. He was too irresistible and his natural form was just… I couldn't resist if I tried.

He hesitated and I climbed into his lap, cupping his cheeks and letting my fingers trace.

"If I can go back to my Asgardian—"

"No! I want you like this, please."

I kissed him and he groaned, grabbing my hips and kissing me harshly. I pressed against his cold body to try and ease some of the heat spreading throughout me, but it only made it worse.

"Loki," I moaned, grabbing his hair and kissing him harder. I rolled my hips against his crotch and he groaned loudly.

Rolling over me, he pushed me to the bed and kissed along my neck. "I won't be able to stop, I've wanted you too long." He reminded me.

"Good," I reached up, biting the pointy tip of his ear. He whined and snapped, making all our clothes disappear in an instant. I shivered at the sudden chill of being pressed against him.

I reached in between our bodies to grab his cock and gasped at how big it was.

"Loki that is not going to fit."

Laughing, he kissed my collarbones and further down on my chest, shimmying down my body.

"Sure it will, I just need to get you ready."

Winking, he grabbed my thighs as he came face to face with my heat. He spread my legs, exposing me to him completely and making me whimper.

"Now, now, no whining." He teased me. "You wanted this, remember?" I nodded and he suddenly licked a strong swipe through my folds.

I cried out his name, grabbing his hair and trying to force him closer.

"Loki!" I whined. "More!"

His cold tongue pressed against my clit, rubbing slow, teasing circles. I moaned, throwing my head back and bucking my hips. He pinned my hips down and glared at me in warning.

"You take what I give you." He growled. "Nothing more and nothing less, understood?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"Yes what?"

"Yes sir." I caved, laying back and panting as he kept his teasing for nearly twenty minutes before plunging two fingers inside me randomly.

"Oh god, Loki! That feels so good!"

He curled his fingers, hitting all my spots while watching my face. I screamed silently, trying not to buck my hips as my back arched.

"Loki I-fuck, I'm gonna cum."

And just like that, he stopped and sat up, making me whine out with tears in my eyes.

He lazily rubbed his cock while leaning over me and forcing his lips into mine. Tasting myself made me whimper against his lips, but what he did next really set me off.

He took my hand and wrapped it around his cock, making me jerk him off. He started kissing my chest and biting my nipples while I rubbed his cock hard and fast, trying my best to please him.

"Please sir, please fuck me. I'll be good, I promise."

"You think you can take it?" He growled, biting hard on my breast.

I moaned, touching him faster.

"Yes! Please, please, please!"

He sat up quickly, pushing my hand off and spreading my legs again. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

He shoved inside me quickly, harsh and unforgiving. I cried out, grabbing his sides to try and slow his pace some, to convince him I needed some adjusting, but he had been right, he couldn't stop.

Throwing my ankles into his shoulders, he moaned loud and fucked into me harder as the pain slowly eased, bleeding into pleasure.

"Fuck Y/N, so fucking tight, so good for me. You're gonna be good and let me cum in you? Let me breed you?"

I threw my head back, grabbing the headboard for some kind of brace as I screamed his name.

His cock shoved further inside me, hitting some pleasure point I'd never felt before as he kept moaning.

"Yes Loki, oh god."

"I am your god." He growled, suddenly grabbing my throat and squeezing.

I suddenly felt myself gushing even more. He smirked wickedly as he realized and felt it too.

"Oh you like that, don't you? You like being choked like a whore."

I whined too loud and thrusted my hips into him, trying to get his dick further inside me.

He squeezed my throat hard and started moaning as he fucked me faster, sloppier. His unoccupied hand went to rubbing harsh circles on my clit and then licking the juices off his fingers before returning.

"Oh fuck, oh Loki please! I'm gonna cum! Please let me cum!"

"You're mine." He growled. "Say it. Say you're mine and I'll let you cum."

He was actively panting now so I knew he must have been getting close too. I pulled him towards me, clawing his cold back and looked into his red eyes which were fighting to roll back.

"I'm yours." I cried out, trying desperately not to cum until he gave me permission. "I'm yours, fuck. Please let me cum!"

"Cum with me!" He growled as I felt his cock twitching before I felt his cool cum spilling into me.

My whole body relaxed and Loki collapsed on the bed next to me, gasping for breath. I reached down to feel his cum spilling from me and noticed one thing in particular before sleep took me. It has an almost slushy-like consistency.

—

I awoke to yelling and sat up groggily. It looked to be late at night and I was still in Loki's room.

I stood quickly, stumbling until I found the light switch. I could hear lots of incoherent shouting downstairs but I couldn't tell who it was. Searching, I remembered that Loki took off my clothes with magic and I had no idea where they were.

I opened his closet and quickly found skinny jeans and a T-shirt. They were a bit big on me and I had to roll up the bottoms of the jeans, but they were better than nothing.

When I left the elevator that led to the main living space I was shocked at the scene. The whole team was there and were trying to pull Thor—who was throwing punches—away from Loki, who was shouting back at his brother, in his Asgardian form.

"What the hell?" I yelled and Thor glared at me. "What's going on?"

"Frost Giants, huh?" He growled, and then stormed off into the kitchen.

I looked at Loki and then the rest of the team, before Loki stepped towards me, with his hands out in an almost defensive looking position.

"They decided not to spend the night there and leave you alone with a guy you hardly know, so they came back early. And when Thor went to check on me, he saw us. I had accidentally fallen asleep before shifting back."

I felt my whole face fall as I realized what he was saying. Not only did the whole team know we had sex, but the secret of Loki's heritage was out.

"Oh, Loki," I put my hand on his bicep, frowning. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for—"

"Nonsense," He interrupted. "It's not your fault."

I peaked at the rest of the team who was watching us. "How bad is it?" I whispered.

"Tony is angry. Natasha is proud. Steve is grossed out and Dr. Banner is intrigued about the science of cross species intercourse."

I nodded.

"Are you angry with me?" I asked, not meeting his eyes.

He put his index finger under my chin and forced my eyes to his. I resisted the urge to sigh at the disappointment that they weren't red.

"No, and it is you who should be angry with me."

"Well, I'm not. I told you, it doesn't bother me."

He looked at the team and stood a little straighter. "Apologies for the drama." And with that, he took my hand and pulled me to the elevator.

Once inside, I turned to him.

"Do you regret it?" I whispered.

"What? No. Of course not."

"What did Thor say?"

"Nothing he meant." He whispered, making my heart break. "Thor will come around, it just might take him a while."

"Then why do you still seem upset?"

He sighed, turning towards me and cupping my cheeks.

"Did you mean what you said? That you're mine?"

I thought about it for a minute.

"If that's what you want, I'm not opposed."

He grinned a bit. "Neither am I."

I leaned up and kissed him with an edge of desperation. He pulled me closer and grabbed my hips.

"I'm yours," He whispered. "And you're mine."

"I'm yours and you're mine." I echoed before stretching on my toes to kiss him again.

Loki Taglist

@vbecker10 @lulubelle814

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murasaki-cha · 1 month

Note

How do you sketch & render your clothing folds, if i may ask? They look very pretty!

I am the least qualified person to give a tutorial but sure let's do this.

No I'm a self taught artist so a lot of this is just me using the good ol' "Fuck around and Find out" technique. So the example I'll might not be the best but it will give a general idea.

First you get your sketch/lineart + flat color. As you can see I've already drawn the fold lines. It's best to know where the shirt is getting pulled more from because that's the general direction that the folds start from and where fore folds are.

Next, on a clipping layer, I just draw with a darker color the places that will be shaded with a watercolor brush or pencil brush, just a brush that kind of fades works. This doesn't have to be accurate coloring it can be just messy blobs. But always keep in mind were the light is hitting the shirt so you'll know which direction to draw the shadows bigger and darker at

Than with a soft eraser I start erasing the shading and fixing it by going back with the brush. This is a lot of back and forth between the eraser and brush until you get to a point where it looks good in your eyes (i lowered the opacity a bit here because I thought the shade color was too dark)

(Note: during more detailed drawings I like to go in with a darker shade color at the deepest corners for more depth and detail)

On a new clipping layer, by using an airbrush or the gradient tool, with the same colour I used for the shading, I darken the top and bottom. Why? Because it looks cool idk.

And usually that's where I leave it but sometimes I might add a lighter color for some lighting on the cloth by using the same steps as for the shading, this may depend on the fabric you imagine the clothes have. Or I've seen some people airbrush the parts of the outfit near the skin and that gives off a cool effect too

Now as you might have noticed this is the ugliest shirt ever. And that's because I did this in 10 minutes from my ✨️imagination✨️. Usually I have reference pics when drawing which give me a general idea of how the folds should look like and that is a life saver. This was just to give a general idea of how it works. Here are some examples of actual good shading I've done

Hope this helps👋✨️

#mura answers asks #shading #shading tutorial #art tutorial #digital art tutorial #digital art tips #digital artist #digital drawing #digital art #artist #artist on tumblr

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quokki · 1 year

Text

hey everyone! this is my first tutorial on giffing! I'll be covering some of the basics of coloring and specifically my usual steps and preferences in editing!

A basic understanding of giffing is required here since I won't cover any of the first steps nor pre processing involved in giffing and we'll go straight into coloring in photoshop.

For this tutorial I'll be using this Felix set as an example:

For my gifs I usually always go for a really bright and clear look. I like to have vibrant colors and making the subject pop a lil. I try to achieve skintone accuracy but I tend to make my gifs just a tiny bit pink as well, avoiding super warm tones. (which in hindsight I realize I may have overdone the warmth for this felix set a bit but oh well)

Let's get into it!

So after you have imported your clip and added any smart filters of your preference, you should start coloring (above the frame layers of your gif) by using a special type of effect called Adjustment Layer. You can find this tool on the bottom of the layers panel:

There are many options of Adjustment Layers, but for now we will be using: Exposure, Curves, Vibrance, Color Balance and Selective Color.

☆ Exposure ☆ this is always ALWAYS my first step. It's crucial for my gif to end up with that clear and bright impression. There are 3 settings here, exposure / offset / gamma correction:

The first picture is without any editing, the second is my editing for the Felix gif.

Exposure: Helps to highlight and overall light the entire image up. ↳ raise it up in tiny bits to add light

Offset: I use this to sort of "defog" everything. ↳ lower it to "defog" (in this case my overuse of it ended up removing most details from his dark clothing but I still like the final look)

Gamma Correction: similar as the one above, it helps to give more depth to the whole image. ↳ you can lower it to add depth, it might look confusing but as u drag the controller to the right, the number will go down, so it will be less than 1. In this case I raised it a bit so I turned it down just a lil.

↳ note: these settings will greatly affect the whole gif so try not to go too far with it, I usually only change these in tiny increments.

☆ Curves ☆ there's a lot that can be done with this Adjustment Layer. if you keep the drop down option as RGB, it will have a similar effect to the exposure Adjustment Layer I explained previously. You can just create points on the line and move them around and that will affect the image. The areas near the bottom of the grid affect the darker colors of the image, the middle afftecs the middletone colors and the top of the grid affects the lighter areas. Dragging the line upwards will make things lighter, and dragging it down will make it darker. Sometimes I use this to further complement on top of the Exposure layer, but again with caution.

The first picture is without any editing, the second is my editing for the Felix gif.

↳ note: Now the really interesting thing about this Adjustment Layer is if you click on the dropdown menu where it says RGB, you can choose between the 3 color channels - red, green or blue and make changes on those specifically. In this case, if you create a point on the line and drag it down, it will sort of remove that color from the image. If you do it around the top grid, it will focus on the highlight areas, in the middle will be middletones and at the bottom will be the darkest areas. This can be VERY useful when editing clips that have one predominant color, for example stages with red lighting.

In this case tho my use of this layer has been very slight, it's really only complementing what I had already started with the previous exposure layer. So it's giving him a bit more depth and contrast while also darkening the bg a bit more to help him pop.

☆ Color Balance ☆ this Adjustment Layer allows you to alter the balance of the colors within the 3 ranges of the entire image: highlights, midtones and shadows (darker areas). It can change the entire vibe of the image very quickly. I always play around with it a little bit. I usually like to reduce some of the warmness of the image and specially the shadows by turning the blue and cyan handles up.

The top row is without any editing and the bottom row is my settings for the Felix gif.

☆ Vibrance ☆ this Adjustment Layer is quite simple, with it you will manipulate how saturated and vibrant the colors will be. I usually raise vibrance a lot and saturation just a bit. This is because the vibrance setting is a lot more subtle than saturation.

The first picture is without any editing, the second is my editing for the Felix gif.

☆ Selective Color ☆ this Adjustment Layer is the true game changer imo. It gives you total control over most colors. I use it specially to adjust the skin tone usually. Usually to edit the skin colors you'd touch on red and neutrals. This is where I can add or remove warmth from the skintone alone if I want to. I also tend to mess with the blacks because I like to make it a bit blue.

The top row is without any editing and the bottom row is my settings for the Felix gif.

☆ Extra Color ☆ sometimes i like to add a color (usually some shade of blue) on top of everything and set it to a different layer mode such as lighten, overlay, soft light etc (i just test them out a lot). I also tend to mess with the layer opacity here, usually leaving it at around 60%. In this case, I used a dark blue to soften out the final result a bit while still giving Felix a pop of contrast. To be honest you can also do this step with the Gradient Map adjustment layer. But I built a habit of doing it this way since before I learned how to use that adjustment layer.

By itself each step doesn't look like much but when you add them up, you can see how they all work together:

☆ Final Comments ☆ I highly recommend playing around with all of these settings to get the hang of it and see what you like. Keep in mind that the order of your adjustment layers will also matter but it's up to you to find out your style and what works for you. You may also need to use the same adjustment layer multiple times depending on what you're editing so don't worry about your editing layers getting long.

I hope this is helpful! If there are any questions feel free to reach out to me :D

#giffing #coloring #tutorial #how to gif #gif tutorial #createskz #idk if that network applies sorry if it doesnt

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panqueen · 2 months

Text

The Other Mayfield

Part 2: On Our Own

Steve Harrington x Fem Mayfield Reader x Eddie Munson.

Warning contains themes of: Substance use, Strong language, Neglect, Mention of death/injury.

☽——☽——☽——☽——☽——☽——☽——☽

A loud alarm blares vibrating on the dark wooden nightstand where books are stacked with a thin layer of ash and dust sticking to the surface.

The bedroom has wood panels making it darker with a dark green curtain failing to keep the bright sunlight from shining into the room. The floor is littered with clothing and small clumps of dust wedged in the corners.

A girl with messy hair sprawled out on the pillow groans turning over hitting the button on the alarm clock shutting it off.

"Great another shitty day" she groans getting out of bed cracking her back and rubbing her eyes tiredly.

Walking over to her rickety old desk she pulls out a bag of pre rolled joints and grabs the silver lighter flicking the cap and bringing one of the joints to her lips lighting it.

She takes a long drag breathing out letting the smoke pour out of her nose and lips with another long sigh.

Running a hand through her hair she walks over to her wardrobe that consists of a few outfits, she takes out an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of ripped jeans that have dirt stains on the bottom of the cuffs.

She puts the clothes on throwing the oversized band t shirt she was wearing into the laundry basket near the bedroom door.

Opening her bedroom door she walks out with the joint hanging out of her mouth. She walks out into the living room seeing her mom's sleeping figure sprawled out on the couch with empty liquor bottles next to the couch. She sighs walking further into the room and over to the ashtray putting out the joint.

She shakes her head walking over to the couch and grabbing the throw blanket on the end of the couch pulling it over her mom.

"Drank again?"

Y/n sighs turning to look down the small hallway seeing Max peeking out of her bedroom door with an unsurprised look.

"Yeah" Y/n nods with a small shrug.

"Not surprised" Max scoffs looking at their mom's passed out figure before going back into her bedroom closing the door behind her.

Y/n turns on the stove cracking eggs into the frying pan while the bread is cooking in the toaster. Once the food is done she plates it, grabbing one of the plates and walking over to Max's door. She knocks waiting for a response.

"Yeah" Max’s voice mumbles from inside.

"I made breakfast" Y/n tells her leaning against the door frame.

After a few seconds the door opens and Max grabs the plate.

"At least you are can cook or we'd be starved by now" Max scoffs with a small laugh.

"Max.." Y/n trails off sighing.

"She's getting worse and now she leaves for weeks at a time" Max tells her looking away sadly.

"I know...I...eat your breakfast, you have school..I'll drive you" Y/n changes the subject mustering up a smile.

"Yeah..thanks" Max nods closing her door.

Y/n sighs staring back at the dark wood door in front of her face and turns around walking back into the living room picking up the scattered bottles.

She finishes cleaning up the bottles when Max comes out of her bedroom putting her dirty plate in the sink.

Max walks over to the front door pulling her shoes on and putting her headphones on while pressing play on her Walkman. She grabs her skateboard that's leaning against the wall and walks out of the door.

Y/n walks over to the door putting her shoes on and looks back to where their mom is asleep sighing closing and locking the door behind her.

The car ride is silent with only the quiet sound of the radio and the birds outside.

"You know we're on our own now" Max breaks the silence looking over at Y/n.

Y/n looks over at Max and looks back to the road taking a breath contemplating what she should say.

"How are you feeling?" Y/n asks changing the subject.

"Well I almost died a few weeks ago and since then Lucas has been super clingy and stresses over everything and on top of that Mom is barely around and when she is she's passed out drunk on the couch or last week she was passed out on the porch" Max rolls her eyes looking out of the window.

"Max...Lucas is just worried after everything that happened and Mom will be okay..as for you almost dying I...I'm more than happy that you're still here even if that means you’re stuck with me" Y/n smiles over at her.

Max chuckles a bit turning to smile at

Y/n.

"Thank you for breakfast and driving me" Max thanks her now in a better mood.

"Anything for you Red" Y/n smirks at Max's scoff and eye roll.

"Great..ugh Eddie already calls me that I don't need you to call me Red too" Max shakes her head with a scoff.

"Fine Zoomer" Y/n smirks over at her.

"Whatever Babysitter" Max remarks smirking.

"Hey I love babysitting you little shits even though some of you are taller than me now" Y/n laughs shaking her head.

"Right Mike is like a beanstalk now, don't tell him this but El said that he reminds her of those Stretch Armstrong action figures but without the muscles that she saw on a commercial" Max laughs with a smirk.

The two girls laugh and continue to tell jokes the rest of the way about the party and for once in a long time it feels like nothing bad happened and they can have a moment together laughing and talking without the fear of losing everything like they already almost had.

☽——☽——☽——☽——☽——☽——☽——☽

Word Count: 968

Wattpad: Graywrites06_

#fanfic #fanfiction #x reader #yn #stranger things #theothermayfield #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #Graywrites06_

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zhalfirin-binds · 1 year

Photo

WIP Winnie-the-Pooh

Part III Decorating the edges

For colouring the edges I had a special design in mind that would take a few more steps the the usual single colour edge. After all the sanding that needs to be done to apply the colour evenly I had a honey comb pattern traced and transfered by tracing it again (graphite side up! because with light colours, like the one I settled for, smudges will show).

After a first light tracing I took the paper away and traced it again until the edge was properly gauffered.

Then I mixed up my colour palette. I first thought to get a darker brown by mixing lemon yellow and black... which turned a nasty green so I added some dark red. and got this brown.

I probably should have gone for a lighter hue, but by then I had the fore edge done and I was not up to sand it smooth again so I could gauffer a second time.

Once dried (I used a hairdryer to speed the drying up) I sanded the edge lightly so the surface was lighter again without completely cleaning out the indentions. You can clearly see the area where I backed the book. Now it takes more colour too because there’s no pressure applied there so the edge wasn’t quite as smooth as the pressed area and the colour can settle deeper in the paper due to that too.

Then came the second layer of colour with a gold-yellow mix. I let it dry again, waxed the edge with beeswax and polished it with a wad of cotton. The soft shimmer does not show well on the pictures but aside from the protection it offers I like the warm look it gives the edge.

As you can see I settled for a three sided colouring.

The front edge was the worst to work on the looks the messiest. I was sloppy about the sanding there, but I’m still happy enough with it. Considering I didn’t even do a test run to check if this gauffering-colouring-sanding-colouring combo would work at all.

Also here is what the spine area looks like just backed and sanded. The triangle (mine is not even so I, and now you too, can see I didn’t back very evenly) is completely normal for backed books. Part of it will be covered up by endbands later on.

#bookbinding #wiip winnie-the-pooh #gauffered edges #coloured edges

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id0what1want · 3 months

Note

What does Cereza look like and how tall is she compared to the other characters and pokemon (it feels weird calling them characters)

*me vibrating at the exact frequency required to shatter glass* yeah I can do that for you

(I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ASK (scroll to the end for some sketches of Cereza))

SO FOR STARTERS

Cereza is NOT tall, she's like maybe five feet somethin' short. She's Kieran's height during the Teal Mask and stays the same height forever. She does wear thick boots or sneakers all the time though in order to remedy this. Chunky soles are also good for traction and she climbs everything. She likes having stompers. Cereza seems taller than she is cuz she's all arms and legs, little gangly creature. She's also very sticklike, if you shook her she would make a rattling sound. All her muscle is very lean. Compact cryptid. I should clarify that I subscribe to the headcanon Kieran gets a growth spurt over the timeskip between the Teal Mask and the Indigo Disk. I think he shoots up to Amarys's height but still has issues with slouching so he might not seem like exactly the same height. Height is evidently in his genes if Carmine is any evidence. He's not done growing. (Cereza is pissed that she's not getting any taller and Kieran IS STILL GROWING) Cereza looks fucking hilarious next to all her huge freaking pokemon. Little creature next to big creature(s)

Cereza's hair is very specific in color and style in my brain. It's very wild and thick, as well as very long. It's the same consistency of a Hex Maniac's from the gen 6 games. Cereza's hair is ash blonde/white, exactly like the ash white option in game except the white streaks are even whiter (especially in the Indigo Disc, partially because fluorescents). It's very pale and muted, probably a shade lighter than the ash white in game depending on the lighting. Her hair is nigh constantly in low twintails that reach about her hips to maybe her thigh in length (it does grow over the timeskip, but it's so wild that it's kinda hard to notice especially since her bangs don't change). She will do little mini braids in her hair sometimes purely as a fidgeting habit to keep her hands busy or that piece of her hair isn't cooperating, and she wants it outta the way. Cereza's hair is the perfect length and consistency to play with and do things with. Lacey has to use every ounce of self-control in her body not to play with Cereza's hair. Deadeye has no such self-control and will bite at Cereza's hair all the time. Hair color refs!!

(DUDE THE IMAGES ARE SO BIG HOW DO I MAKE THEM SMALLER-) and also a hex maniac for hair texture reference

Moving on, Cereza's eyes are a darker red in Teal Mask, more discreet, but in the Indigo Disc they've gotten more saturated to the point of becoming a startling red. Her eyes are really big and round and sharp at the same time?? like they're round but her eyelines and eyelashes are pretty sharp. Her eyelashes are dark and pretty long. I would say her eyelashes are a dark DARK brown as opposed to black. Her eyes are very reminiscent of Briar's but a slightly different shape. Her pupils have a four-pointed star shape. This is not foreshadowing anything /lying

Cereza also has a beauty mark under each eye, perfectly identical and symmetric. (research says they're called tear moles, and they signify bad luck or hardship in life. It fits for plot reasons you'll see later lmao) She also has faint freckles all over, they're light enough that they aren't visible at a glance but you can see 'em if you squint. They would be more visible if she went out more during the day. Cryptid ass.

Posting this sketch is genuinely so scary like putting my own art on the internet? BLEGH. Giving people a visual of my own character? BLEGH.

Alright that's Cereza. Have some bonus sketches of the boys.

might transfer them to digital. idk. Anyway, thanks for staying this long!!!!!!

✨Do whatever you want forever✨

~ Cytoplasm

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volfoss · 5 months

Text

Cordelia faceup take 3 :3

So the second attempt did not even MAKE it online because I wasn't happy with it. The sealant and paint just were not cooperating with me and the pastels were too pigmented. On a whim I wanted to work on it this morning and mixed up a really good pastel color for her blushing, which then inspired me to wipe the old faceup and start fresh :)

^ the boring steps of well. White as fuck -> painted the right color to match the body. This image is showing how it's slightly off from the head cap (which I painted during the initial faceup) but it DOES match the body really well.

My first step with the faceup was starting by using a pale watercolor (peach color pretty much) to map out the moles on the face, and then another sealant layer before I started blushing. The peach watercolor isn't the permanent color for the moles but it helps me map things out (same thing I do with the eyebrows, starting with a lighter color and then building up the color/adding watercolor pencil hairstrokes on top. Or at least I should because some dolls have such thin eyebrows that I have to do only acrylic. But that's besides the point)

^ much more subtle blush color than I can normally achieve with her :) normally it's MUCH too dark but I feel this really subtly brought some life to her face and some warmth (which I always love to add to my dolls with yellowed resin as I prefer leaning into how it looks instead of trying to use cooler colors to counter balance it)

^ added more blushing here, and added the eyebrow vague shapes and slightly more color added onto the moles to help them not blend into the blush as much lol. I wanted her to have a youthful and happy appearance so the flush is helping to me :). The brows were VERY faintly done (to the point idk if they will survive the sealant lmao) and the moles were touched up slightly, as well as the color on the lips more built up. I promise the brows will get darker it's just scary right now bc of how pale the resin is, if I make ANY mistakes it will show up unless I use a super light pastel. And if I have to redo the faceup well. I'll have to repaint the entire head all over again. So I'd rather build up slow and careful than too fast and make a mistake (although I'm sure I'll make plenty of those the further I get lol, esp since I'm doing a lot of this on nearly 24 hours awake <- not a good time to rely on my hands to be steady sadly)

I went a bit silly watercolor mode but I added some pink to the lips (to mix with the more orange-peach pastel color underneath) and added some medium brown on the moles to do their final highlights. Continued to work on the brows and next layer will be the pencils on them, pencils on lips (since the color underneath is pretty much perfect for what I'm going for). And then the eyeshadow time <- dreading this

^ sideways image bc I stay silly okay. And also far too sleepy to edit it. I've committed to doing this all in one go at this point (at the very least to get to a passable basic faceup). This is not a good idea. Just to be clear. I'm very sleepy.

^ eyebrows and lips done :) also did the waterline, I'm really happy with this. Atm unsure if I want to do a ton of pink eyeshadow or what but I think I will add the freckles next and then try everything on the doll to see if I need it. It was one of the features I rly liked about the original faceup so. Honestly unsure. Do firmly think the lips look a lot better here because well. The first attempts lips were supposed to be pretty natural looking and didn't really end up that way. Very happy with brows even if they're not symmetrical because I think for whatever reason everything is clicking on this faceup like by FAR much more than other times. We will see how it progresses tho lol.

With everything put together, it confirms I do def still want to mess with the eyeshadow but due to the physical symptoms I am stopping for the night. Tomorrow tho? Silly style (eyeshadow and eyeliner and probably freckles and gloss on the lips. We will deal w that later tho)

^ eyeshadow layer one and thankfully going at it on a day where I'm much more awake is helpful. I need to keep building it up as both my sealant method + just how pastels work can take some of the color away but I think it's all coming together. Mainly I want to have a darker layer of pink on her eyelids, as I think that'll look nice, and then I have to do the eyeliner <- dreading this step the most of all I fear. At some point I also need to add freckles which I think is also quite scary. For me, I've done a faceup with all over freckles (Theo's) and was happy with it, but I want these just on the cheeks. And I think hand painting them just doesn't look as good as using the brush flicking method. So I have to also figure out a way to cover the areas I don't want freckles on.

Eyeshadow layer 3 or 4??? + freckles. They will not tell you that toothpicks really work well for freckles but they do. I'm going to seal this layer and then keep working on eyeshadow and eyeliner but I'm nearly done :) I might go in after a couple layers of sealant and do the brush method to kind of add the very small freckles in but using a toothpick is a million times easier than a brush (for me at least. But I have very shaky hands so). I added some light pink paint on the eyelids to emulate a slight color change and then did an even lighter color, blending it together with a wet paintbrush. I am hoping to be able to get the eyeliner thinner than the light pink color but we will see :) so far happy with it since I did want a very vibrant pink on the lids :) unsure what ill do with the eyeliner color (I did a copper/gold combo to make it be a bit more natural looking for the first time but i dont think it popped enough so we will see :))

Ended up on deciding on black eyeliner but here's it done :) the watercolors on the lips still need to dry and I need to gloss stuff properly but that will be in its own post once she's all back together :)

#twist rambles #bjd posting #cordelia #i THINK those were the tags. cursing Tumblrs removal of saved tags. what if i need to return to a hobby i havent done in months huh #you will ignore my skin conditions on my hands ok. thank you #sentences will also well get shorter thru due to my very very dumb choice of ok yeah one sitting in like. 18 -> 24 hours awake.#sorry this is all like. written while sealant is drying so a lot of it is rambly but i stay silly ok :3 #its been rly nice to also well not see the eyebrows veer into disaster the further into the faceup it gets (which is common for me lol)

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homeofhousechickens · 1 year

Note

I hatched out these chicks on the 24th. I’m curious as to what gene(s) caused this.

Rhode Island Red (Rooster) x White Leghorn (hens)

The chicks are mostly white, with a few small black feathers.

Based on research I’ve done this appears to be the paint gene but I don’t know where the extended black gene came into play.

Also, what would happen if I crossed these chicks with a Barred Rock rooster?

Thanks! Have a good day!

Congratulations, you have produced a variation of a red sex link, how exciting :) Genetically White Leghorns are Silver, Extended Black (which is dominant to all other bases), Barred, and then sometimes Blue, Columbian, and even mottled under their Dominant white to help make them whiter. Remember Dominant White acts best on Black pigment so it cant easily make red white but if the whole bird is solid black, then barred which strips the pigment further and columbian which enhances and restricts- you get a nice clean white bird, so that is where your Extended Black came from. Genetically Rhode Island Reds can be a bit tricky especially since i dont see the parent bird but i can guess your roo is Gold, either eb (brown) or ewh (wheaten, more likely), dark brown, has autosomal red, mahogany and maybe melanotic this can make sexing tricky because that gene can darken reds. Noticed i said you have made a sex link- this is because you have made a Gold x Silver pairing and a hen cannot give her silver gene to her daughters so all of her daughters will be gold based (but this doesnt mean they wont be black). If your hen is also barred under her white she will also not be able to give her daughters her barring gene, but her sons will have it. This means the cockerels are going to be the whiter less reddish colored birds Now i cant predict exactly what your chicks will look like as adults as they can end up lighter, whiter, redder, or darker but i can show you pictures of the same or similar crosses. These guys below are the same as your chicks and as you can see its very easy to tell the difference between the cockerels and pullets

Pullet on the left nice is red color because she is pure for gold, cockerel on the right who is more light because he is split for silver

same as the above

If you were to cross your white leghorn to a barred rooster you would just get mostly white birds with maybe some barring or black leaking through. This wouldnt be a sex link cross as both parents are silver. Should make good layers though.

If you crossed these chicks to your barred rooster the same would apply since all of your chicks from that pairing would likely have silver because of the roo but they would likely have more leakage and be a bit more messy because who knows how all the genes are going to interact. If you wanted good egg layers who are heavier then the leghorns this could be a nice outcross since they should already be more meaty due to the Rhode Island red.

Hopefully this helps understand better!

#Chicken genetics #chicken colors #chicken plumage #chicken breeding

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linaselandbasil · 1 year

Text

Whitewashing in Eldarya: A man of science rant about beemoovs bullshit pt.1

What is whitewashing?: this word has a couple of different uses, but in this context I mean deliberately making things more 'white' and thus alienating and erasing POC.

For example, they try so hard to make Lance white. Bitch, just draw him like god intended and stop complaining!

Okay introduction over. Let's cover the less extensive topic I want to talk about.

Huang Huas character design:

She looks weird. I always hated her character design. I think what happened is they didn't know that darker skin has to be shaded different.

She looks grey (in retrospect, this may be coz she wears a lot of orange and yellow, despite having a pink undertone. Although, she should not have a pink undertone, when the skin is this dark, its more accurately described as having a red undertone), probably because the artist messed up and thought that simply lightening her complexion would make her face look less.... I dunno. The point is that it didn't work as intended.

Dark skin is more reflective compared to light skin. It might appear that the glow simply looks more prominent because of the contrast, but that's not all there is to it. Melanin absorbs UV to protect them from sun damage and it also reflects some of it. The absolute darkest skintones of sub Saharan Africans provide as much protection as SPF 25 sunscreen. (The minimum recommended by dermatologists for everyday wear is 50) So, my point is, you can't just use light skin techniques to draw Dark skin. You need to make the contrast between the lightest and the darkest colors more drastic.

Her undertone... It makes me want to just evaporate. I love good art and I love beautiful people, this is simply not it dear. If you look up a tutorial for drawing dark skin they might tell you that the darker you go, the redder to make it. This is because there's five different types of melanin, two of which I'll tell you about. Eumelanin is more prominent in dark skin, it has brown and black subtypes. I, for example have a warm undertone (yellow, not pink) so I have this. Pheomelanin is more prominent in lighter skin and this gives ginger hair and freckles it's red color. (I assume it's a recessive trait, since light skin is a recessive trait) So, in lighter skin, there's a lack of eumelanin, the pink color of the skin is mostly from the blood underneath and the yellow undertone (if you press on your flesh for a long time and release you will see it) is from subcutaneous fat. (which is not white like duckfat) The darker you go, the redder the undertone gets from the eumelanin covring the yellow fat. The blood doesn't get conealed because it's not as deep down as the fat.

Okay, I'm done talking about her skin. Let's get angry about something else: her facial features.

She has basically no afrocentric facial features, I accredit this to the artist not knowing how to draw them, so I'll try not to roast too much.

She has dark skin, which is a dominant trait, but a small nose, thin lips and straight (alright, wavy) hair, which are all recessive traits. This is a rare combination, but not impossible.

(They do have very simmilar face shapes, supporting my phoenix magic skin color change theory)

Her home is the land of the Ren Feng Huang, her people have been described by Erika as "dressed in Chinese style clothes". I feel like this is a microagression, please shut up Erika... She, so far is the only dark skinned Ren Feng Huang. So the case might just be that her Phoenix powers grant her dark skin to protect her from the sun's flames and she's just as white as Huang Chu (who has freckles, that's pheomelanin). Feng Zifu looks vaguely east Asian, but he also has a lot of European features like the sharpness of his cheekbones and his deepset eyes. (And his non-existent lips 💋)

The Feng Huangs are made out to be this holy Saint never did anything wrong ever totally crimeless nation, so they might just have good immigration policies, I dunno.

So anyway, her homeland looks like a very simplified view of 'china'. Bunch of bamboo, cliffs, terrace farming. I assume the climate is what we can expect from "china", humid summers and cold winters. (Although China is fucking huge. The country has more than one climate region.)

For breathing warm, humid air, wide noses are most adapted. For breathing cold, dry air, tall and long noses are adapted, for dry, hot air, hooked noses are most adapted. She appears to have a small, pointy nose with narrow nostrils, which is not well suited for any climate and is a recessive trait.

She has a little mouth ad well as moderately thin lips. Lip size is not that important for survival, but I should note that thin lips emit less heat, therefore they're better for cold environments. Big lips are a dominant gene, thin lips are recessive. If someone has one copy of the dominant gene (one copy comes from each parent) and one recessive, then the dominant gene will determine their appearance, but they can still pass on the recessive gene to their offspring. Some genes work together to make an in-between. Small lip gene+big lip gene makes something in between. (I don't know how recessiveness effects this phenomenon) Two toned lips (pigmentation on top, no pigmentation on the bottom or partial pigmentation on the bottom) are very appropriate in her case, kudos for that. (Im pissed that they forgot it when they drew Lance and Val. I demanded an apology) Also, some people with a lot of melanin often have yellow tinted scleras because there's some of it there too. This used to scare me because I thought they had liver failure. It's not something that every dark skinned person has, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Okay, now about hair. This has to be the most controversial topic for some fucking reason. Thick, dark and curly are dominant traits. Thin, light and straight are recessive. A gene combination of curly and straight work together to make a softer curl pattern or wavy hair. (Wavy hair is just very lose curls, I have wavy hair but it appears straight because it's silky and thick, causing gravity to straighten it. When i was a child it used to be a lot thinner and i had really nice 2A waves.) I don't know what benefits there are to having straight, thin hair, but apparently this weak recessive trait is so beloved by our one and only beemoov that they made nearly every single POC character without curls. Thick, curly hair is better at basically everything it's supposed to do. It shrinks into a dense protective layer, shielding the head from the sun like an afro helmet, it traps more air underneath to keep the skin warm when it's cold, it's straight out just harder to pull out. I don't know which dumbass, cousin banger ancestors of mine decided that straight hair is pretty enough to srlect for, but I digress. I can live with it. (At least I have green eyes, which is the only recessive trait that I find beautiful. It's still dominant over blue though)

Have a look at this handy chart:

Okay I'm done with Hua. Pt.2 is about Lance and Valkyon because I'm low-key obsessed with them. My bebes.

Have a great day! (I swear of this doesn't spark a conversation nothing will.)

#eldarya #i an a man of science #rant #eldarya rant #huang hua #beemoov explain yourself #beemoov bullshittery #cut the shit beemoov #why beemoov whyyy #beemoov #whitewashing rant #hair types #genetics

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goldennika · 5 months

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hey!i saw your analysis of yeonjun and soobin's outfit swap and i thought it was really good! i did want to point something out though--yeonjun looks good in black when fansites aren't editing his skin to be paper white. in general i think what was kind of off about him in soobin's outfit even after he took the jacket off was the simplicity of it. yeonjun's bone structure seems to thrives when things are a little bit extra. but speaking of colors, what did you think about him wearing kai's sweater? i thought the colors were totally weird on him. also i thought you could really see how broad and soft kai's bone structure is because of the way yeonjun's clothes fit him. what did you think??

Hi! Thank you so much for reading through the Yeonbin soundcheck outfit swap post!!

Good point on the lighting/editing! It is pretty tricky to do seasonal color analysis based on photos/videos since camera quality and lighting would impact the way colors come across to the viewer!

Now I only have a rather basic understanding of seasonal color analysis and haven’t really done a deep dive on the boys so this will just be based on looks they’ve done that stood out to me + the yeonkai weverse outfit swap!

With your comment in mind, I tried to look up less whitewashed photos of Yeonjun to see how his natural skin color is. His actual skintone is naturally warmer than the snow white tone that some sites edit it to be. That said, even with more realistic lighting and coloring, I think softer, more muted colors suit him better than black, which takes away focus on his features. Compare the two red carpet images below.

(source) | (source)

In the first image, my focus would be on his face, while the second image draws my eye more to his outfit first then his face. Granted, the heavier styling of the second outfit with the zebra print and large chunky necklace also skews one’s attention so let’s try a simpler styling for comparison.

In the all-black outfit, my eyes quickly scan to his outfit, whereas the neutral outfit allows for my eye to scan the photo from top to bottom. His black hair, black bag, and black shoes in the right photo also helps to guide the eye. As a suspected Summer color type, softer colors and a more muted palette allows the focus to be on Yeonjun first, and his outfit second.

(source) | (source)

Now, black isn’t a bad color on him by any means. In fact, it can be used strategically to highlight his long silhouette or to give him an edgier look (which he does seem to favor). A darker palette helps draw attention to his body, which can be very beneficial when he’s performing as we follow his dance lines more. (can we talk about how the difference in lighting though??? i really should find better pics but this is what my brain thought of rn)

In some ways, a deep/dark color palette on Yeonjun can be a double-edged sword, as I find it can overwhelm his facial features and so we are focused on where the color is more prominent (i.e. his outfit).

(source) | (source)

Going to the Yeonkai outfit swap, the jacket might skew a little too warm for his coloring, imo. Notice how his cheeks seem rosier and radiant when he’s in his original outfit versus when he’s wearing Kai’s hoodie.

(source)

Hueningkai in the brown and mint hoodie looks a little more harmonious. He seems to look a little more alive in the hoodie than when he’s wearing Yeonjun’s outfit. Although it might also be attributable to lighting, as even Yeonjun’s cheeks are looking a little rosier in their own outfits than during the livestream.

Like I’ve said, I still haven’t figured out Kai’s coloring (or any of the boys tbh) but I’m leaning towards a cooler, perhaps lighter palette for him atm. Black makes him appear more mature whereas brown or blonde hair makes him look more his age. Both colors still work for him though as they lean cool! Again, it depends on what image they want to achieve in their styling.

Blonde Kai (source) | Black Kai (source)

He does seem a bit washed out in Yeonjun’s outfit though – probably because his hair and eyebrows are very light and the beanie is so dark. I think Kai could pull off deeper colors but in this particular instance, due to the high contrast, the clothes are wearing him versus the other way around.

The sweater also looks too delicate on his broad build. The sheer detail and the lightweight fabric does not flatter his build, the way a thicker sweater would. Though he’s a little too young to type,I suspect Kai is a Flamboyant Natural, with his height and blunt, broad frame.

(source)

In my previous post, I mentioned that Yeonjun could be a very slim FN. I may have to revisit that typing after a proper breakdown of the members but similar to Kai, the sweater is also quite delicate on Yeonjun. He could pull off thicker fabrics imo but given his sharper facial features, he’s able to wear the lightweight sweater combo as it highlights his sharp yang (Kai has more blunt yang facial features imo).

I’m not too familiar with styling essences (whether of Kibbe, Kitchener, etc) so I can’t comment too much about it but what I can say is that details like hairstyling, makeup, and accessories can help to make or break an outfit as they serve to highlight the essences of a person. Yeonjun’s piercings help to complete the look – making it look like an entire outfit rather than just wearing clothes!

(source) | (source)

Overall I think it’s interesting to see how a piece of clothing can look completely different on another person and how the boys seem to intuitively lean towards pieces that flatter them. Maybe I should explore their personal style properly next time 🤔 There’s a lot of fashion-related content that’s been coming from them recently after all!

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far, I hope this all made sense!! I’ll likely revisit some of my typings when I get to sit down and be really systematic about them but would love to hear your thoughts about these too! Honestly, seasonal color analysis seems really subjective and there are a lot of external factors to consider so another perspective would be welcome! 😅

And justice for Kai’s hoodies!! He can wear the casual look with ease and it’s very much aligned with his Kibbe type!!

#this was kinda all over the place sorry !!😣#but i wanted to get it out first then just revisit after i let it 'marinate' for a while haha #tomorrow x together #txt fashion #kibbe #kpop kibbe #style analysis #kpop fashion #seasonal color analysis #yeonjun #hueningkai #yeonkai #flamboyant natural #kibbe analysis #fashion thoughts #rambles #asks #asks ❓

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