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starry-crossing-zone · 2 months

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Nail Polish - Hunter (TBB)

Summary: After Omega shows an interest in some nail polish, you steal some for her. Hunter pretends to be annoyed. Length: 1816 words Warnings: Female Reader; Former Bounty Hunter Reader; No Physical Description of Reader; No Y/N Used; Pickpocketing; Mentions of Dark Pasts (Reader)

Walking through the busy streets of a Mid Rim planet, you kept a close eye on Omega as you made your way back to the Marauder. The Bad Batch had split up to gather supplies and you and Omega had been sent to get a new water purification filter, which was securely strapped to your chest.

“Come on, Meg, this way,” you directed, resting a hand on Omega’s shoulder.

“Wait, what’s that?” Omega asked, pointing at a stand to the side.

You glanced over before slowly leading Omega over to the small stand. A group of merchants greeted you as you approached, and you quickly sized them up. Glancing down at what Omega was curiously examining, you bent down to Omega’s height.

“That’s nail polish.”

“What’s its purpose?” Omega questioned, turning to you.

“You paint your fingernails or your toenails with it. It’s pretty to look at,” you explained to her.

“Is it permanent?”

“No, just temporary. It’ll last longer if you add more layers of it,” you continued, glancing over the various colors at the stall.

“And can you only pick one color?”

“No. You can pick as many as you want. In the Inner Rim, there’re artists that spend their whole day painting people’s nails.”

“Really?” Omega gasped, causing you to nod.

“Where are you two from?” the vender asked, eyeing the two of you.

“Outer Rim. Just passing through,” you replied, shrugging your shoulders nonchalantly. You stared down at Omega, who was still curiously studying the vials of nail polish. You paused for a moment before nudging Omega in the side. “Come on, Meg. Let’s get going. The boys will worry if we’re late.”

“Alright,” Omega agreed, setting the vial of nail polish back.

Bidding the venders goodbye, Omega and you turned to head back to where the Marauder was docked. You waited until you were a few streets over before sliding two vials of nail polish out of the hidden compartment in your vambrace.

“I thought that you liked these colors the best,” you stated quietly.

Omega’s eyes widened in surprise when she spotted the two vials of nail polish in your hand. She quickly grabbed them, smiling giddily, before she quickly connected the dots. Turning back to you, Omega frowned.

“When did you pay for these?”

“That’s not for you to worry about, Meg,” you dismissed, pushing Omega forward to stay on schedule. Omega hissed your name, looking around nervously.

“We can’t do that," she insisted.

“Why not?”

“It’s illegal.”

“Well, I can think of quite a few other illegal things that we’ve done,” you replied evenly, leading Omega into the docking bay. “We’ll just add it to the list.”

“How did you do it?” Omega asked curiously.

“That’s far from the most impressive move that I can pull off,” you stated, shooting Omega a smirk. “Come on, Meg, give me more credit than that.”

“Can you show me?”

“I don’t think that Hunter would approve of that,” you mused. After a moment, you added, “We can start tomorrow.”

Omega grinned, but you shot her a look to keep a low profile. Omega stowed the nail polish into her pockets as the two of you walked towards the Marauder. Tech looked up from his datapad and perked up when he spotted the water filter.

“Ah, just what I was waiting for.”

“Sorry, got a little sidetracked,” you replied, tossing it over to Tech.

“What kind of sidetracked?” Hunter asked, stepping off of the ship. “Imperial trouble?”

“Just some window shopping,” you spoke evenly, folding your arms over your chest. “Don’t get your bandana all in a twist.”

“We now possess all of the items that we needed to acquire on this pitstop. We should depart shortly, if we want to return to Ord Mantell for a new mission,” Tech announced, causing the Bad Batch to make their way onto the Marauder.

You were about to take your seat in front of the computer when Omega gestured for you to follow her to the back of the ship. Smiling, you headed back, missing the way that Hunter turned in his seat to look back at you. He heard the clinking of glass earlier when Omega and you approached, but now he was certain that it was coming from the two of you.

“Can you show me?” Omega asked quietly, holding out the vials.

“Give me your hand,” you instructed, sitting across from Omega.

Opening the nail polish bottle, you gently grabbed Omega’s right hand and started to apply the dark gray nail polish. Omega watched, fascinated, as you worked to carefully paint her nails.

“Where did you learn how to do this?”

“I used to paint nails. When I was about your age,” you explained elusively.

“For who?”

“A lady.”

“Did she paint her nails like this too?” Omega asked, causing you to shake your head as you switched to Omega’s thumb.

“No, she preferred this weird green color. It looked horrible but apparently it complimented her eyes.”

“Can I paint yours next?” Omega questioned, causing you to look up.

“Course you can. Maybe if you ask nicely, you can paint the boys’ nails too,” you mused, dipping the brush back into the polish.

“They didn’t have nail polish on Kamino,” Omega continued, causing you to nod.

“I wouldn’t expect the Kaminoans to have much need for it. Do they even have fingernails?” you snorted, working on Omega’s left hand. “But a lot of species use this stuff. And there’s other types of polish or things that people put on their nails. But you have to be really rich to get those.”

“Like what?”

“Some people get gems and other valuables embedded into their nails,” you explained, causing Omega to frown.

“Why?”

“The same reason that why rich people do most things. Because they can,” you stated a bit blunter than you intended.

“Did you ever get your nails painted?” Omega asked, causing you to shake your head. “The lady whose nails you painted, she never painted yours?”

“No,” you replied, placing the brush back into the vial and screwing the bottle shut.

“Why not?”

“She wasn’t as nice as I am,” you responded, not meeting Omega’s confused gaze. “Now, keep your fingers apart and don’t touch anything. You have to let the paint dry first. It could take some time, but I didn’t put too thick of a layer on it.”

“And then what?” Omega asked, looking at her newly painted nails.

“Then we can put another layer on, or I can start with the red,” you explained kindly. “Your choice, Meg.”

“What did you do when you painted nails before?”

“I would put another layer of the gray first,” you stated, causing Omega to nod. “It could make the polish a little more durable.”

“What do we have here?” Hunter drawled, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. He noted the nail polish bottles on the floor and paint on Omega’s nails. And even if she hid them, he would have smelled it. “I didn’t realize that we had a salon back here.”

Hunter’s gaze drifted over to you, and you stared back at him with some measure of defiance, knowing that the edge in his tone was directed at you. But Omega got in between the two of you.

“Look at my nails, Hunter!” she called, causing Hunter to turn to her. He bent down to her height and reached out to grab one of her hands, but Omega quickly drew them towards her chest. “Careful! The polish is still drying!”

“I’ll be careful,” Hunter assured Omega before looking down at her nails. “Dark gray, huh?”

“To match your armor,” Omega explained, causing Hunter to nod. “We got red too. She said that she’s going to do designs on my nails once the layers dry.”

“Anything specific picked out?”

Omega turned to you with a questioning look, but you simply smiled and casually leaned back against your hands.

“It’s whatever you want, Meg. You get to pick,” you assured her.

After the top layers of the nail polish dried, you got to work on the red nail art that you promised Omega. You did a horizontal stripe to represent Hunter’s bandana, two adjacent dots to represent Tech’s goggles, an ‘H’ to represent Wreaker’s lula, and a ‘V’ to represent Echo’s kama. And then a '99' symbol too.

“They should be all set now,” you stated, causing Omega to smile and get to her feet.

You watched with an amused smile as Omega ran around and showed off her nails to every member of the Bad Batch. Wrecker seemed most excited for Omega, though the others offered her their praise in their own ways. And it wasn’t long before Omega was going around and painting all of their nails.

You walked over to where Hunter was sitting in front of the computer, watching as Echo offered Omega his hand. Wrecker was blowing on his nails, not wanting to disappoint Omega by ruining her hard work. You folded your arms over your chest, as Hunter had done earlier.

“You going to give me a lecture on pickpocketing again?” you asked him, not taking your eyes off of Omega.

“I’ll make an exception. This time,” Hunter replied, slowly turning to look at you. “I still don’t like it though.”

“Yes, I’m aware,” you stated, pushing off the computer table.

“Then why do you keep doing it?” Hunter asked, causing you to raise a playful eyebrow.

“Well, someone has to teach her how to have fun,” you responded, brushing past Hunter. He turned slowly in his chair, watching as you kneeled down beside Omega. You smiled at her work and offered some praise. “You’re getting the hang of it, Meg.”

“You think so? It’s still sloppy compared to yours,” Omega replied, glancing down at her own nails.

“With practice, comes perfection, as with everything else,” you assured her before standing up.

Walking past Hunter once again, you could feel his eyes on you, but kept walking. Hunter shook his head and turned around to find Wrecker staring at him with a grin. Nudging Hunter in the arm with his elbow, Wrecker let out a teasing laugh.

“Did you want her to do your nails, Hunter, huh?” he teased, causing Omega to pick her head up.

“She’s the best at it,” Omega vouched innocently.

“I’ll just wait for you, Omega,” Hunter replied awkwardly, sinking in his seat.

#the bad batch #tbb hunter #sergeant hunter #star wars tbb #bad batch #the bad batch x reader #hunter x reader #sergeant hunter x reader #tbb hunter x reader #the bad batch x you #tbb hunter x you #sergeant hunter x you

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simverses · 10 months

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Blowtorch!

Maxi's worlds emptied of era specific stuff – made for simmers who wants themed hoods of their choice.

So, you found T.O.O.L, the super useful mod by Twisted Mexi, and learned how to decorate your sim world.

But there is this problem with Maxis houses and items, which do NOT fit in your sim world. So far, the most used method has been to hide them, as in either move them away (if even possible) from sight or use a hider/override to make them invisible. That method has its limits, is very tedious (need to find, make an override, ect, and there are SO MANY items)

Blowtorch has another approach. It takes out the items (houses, vehicles, modern deco, well - all silly deco really) from the world. You can then place nicer deco or game items instead.

The items are not hidden from catalogue, so you can place the same items back but in a different place if you so wish. Or use cc deco. Make the world medieval, or Victorian, or sci-fi, or whatever.

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

This mod edits the preloaded deco in the world. It changes game files – and the changes will affect all your saves, old and new. If you decide that you want the deco back, you can do it either with the GAME REPAIR function or using the backup of the original folders that I included in the mods folders.

You can either use all my edited files – or the ones you want. If you for example want Willow Creek to be as it always has, but want a blowtorched Oasis Springs, just delete the Willow Creek files before installation, and keep Oasis Springs.

I have blowtorched almost all the hoods in the worlds, both EP and GP: s (See list in Documentation PDF for exceptions.) If you don’t have all EP/GP I recommend to delete the ones you don’t have before installing.

(Save the zip with the mod somewhere safe so you can add new worlds when you add a new EP/GP with a world.)

Here are some general rules I went by:

- All landmarks, architecture deco, street deco, vehicles, with special effects - blowtorched

- Functional objects: outside tables, playground items, and such – blowtorched. Place them again where you want them!

- All lights, both streetlights and built in hood lights, blowtorched.

- All palm trees, ever pink trees, wispy modern beeches, and other modern plants, blowtorched. (I of course kept the palm trees in Sulani and Selvadorada)

- ALMOST ALL THESE THINGS (not the built in lights) are still available in the catalog (debug, live edit) items though. So, if you still want a modern, but DIFFERENT hood, you can place them again, as you want them. This is a big advantage compared to hiders – those usually hide the items also from the catalogue.

- Visual effects belonging to vehicles and other stuff mentioned above, blowtorched. No modern yachts, no airplanes.

- The lights are gone. The world will be dark at night if you don’t place streetlights or such.

WHAT I KEPT

I kept the seasons stalls, where they are available (if you have the Seasons EP.) They can also be placed, but as they are in conditional layers (changes with the seasons) this can't be done by placing them manually.

I kept all spawners. All the fishing spots and all the bugs, frogs, dig sites, wild growing plants.

Lighting mod included

This mod also includes the Sunblind lighting mod by Softerhaze. Lighting mods also change these files, so I added Sunblind with the creator's permission. Read more about their mod here.

(You do not need to download or install the mod; it is included in the Blowtorch mod.)

If you want another lighting mod or no lighting mod, you need to edit the files manually.

This is done by replacing the resources “Sky Box Texture Data” and “World Timeline Color”.

ECO LIFESTYLE NOTE!

Unfortunately, the Evergreen Harbor world that came with Eco Lifestyle (EP 9) has some special evil magic and the deco needs hiders anyway. If you play with that world and want it to be BLOWTORCHED, install the file ELHoodHidersMerged in your Mods folder.

Other recommended mods:

Check out T.O.O.L and Twisted Mexis other mods here: https://twistedmexi.com/Mods/

To add deco stuff outside lots:

T.O.O.L – at Tmexis page you also find information about his CAW-project, still in alpha testing.

I also recommend his Better Build/Buy mod, and his toggle mods, especially the Strangerville Story Toggle on if you want to use Strangerville as a normal world. And also his that enabled build/buy on the Secret Lab lot – in new saves.

Zerbu has a couple of super useful mods:

All Worlds are Residential https://zerbu.tumblr.com/post/173398784785/the-sims-4-mod-all-worlds-are-residential

Venue changes https://zerbu.tumblr.com/post/160347810775/the-sims-4-mod-venue-changes

Twelfth Doctor has a great mod for travelling to all the hidden/special lots, so you can edit them: https://td1sims.tumblr.com/post/635457539495084032/travel-to-venue

This mod is also useful if when you work with TOOL: Clickable worlds by Awingedlama

Q&A about Blowtorch mod

1. Can I use this on my old saves?

Answer: Yes. The mod does not affect the saves, or your CC, or anything other than the game files in the Windows directory. You can easily uninstall the mod by using the backup files (included) or do a Game Repair.

2. Why are there stuff not deleted? Annoying modern fences in Windenburg Ugly Modern Business district, for example?

Answer: some items are a part of the world mesh and is not yet possible to edit. If there will be a solution later, I will update the mod.

3. Will I have to update the mod after patches and new expansions?

Answer: Yes. If the patch/ep/GP does not include a new world, you just reinstall the mod (see instructions below) as you installed it the first time. I will make updated versions asap when new worlds are released.

4. I don’t have EP X or Y – can I use the Blowtorch mod?

Answer: Yes, but I recommend deleting the folders for EP/GP you don’t have. See list in the PDF-file with documentation.

5. Does this mod clash with Timeless mod? Answer: No, but it makes Timeless obsolete. Timeless hides stuff - Blowtorch removes the same stuff.

6. How about mods like Nandos Egypt (Strangerville) or The Sense Medieval's Medieval Windenburg? Answer: if you have a mod that changes one hood or one world, and want to keep them as they were, don't install the Blowtorch files for that world/hood. The Senses default replacements are not affected.

7. Should I keep my hiders of stuff used as hood deco? Answer: Better to take them out. This mod eliminates the need for hiders.

Even more detailed explanation here.

Where to find nice themes hood deco to use with Blowtorch?

You can basically use any item, from game or CC, to decorate hoods. Try out the options with T.O.O.L to change the size of objects!

I already posted some Hood Deco CC – and I have much more to come. I have been converting/editing/creating and preparing hood deco from Sims Medieval, Sims 2 and Sims 3 and other games – my CC is medieval/historical themed but I hope for other creators to add to the hood deco options in the future.

Due to filesize all the downloads can be found on Patreon (of course for free): Download Blowtorch (Patreon, always free)

There seemed to be some problems loading the Patreon page so I added a SFS-folder also with the same files. Download Blowtorch (SimFileShare)

#sims 4 #sims historical #sims 4 mods #sims 4 hiders

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sgiandubh · 7 months

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A tale of two brands

Sophie Mancini's Departures paper on S in NY started a flurry of comments even before the whole content was made available on blogs. That people - mostly in Mordor - jumped in to add their two booing cents on the matter, based on two or three Instagram Story screencaps only, is a testimony to Tumblr's community deep interest in S's slightest PR/sales move and the easiness with which people like *urv managed to push their own agenda, in the process, to her unsuspecting, bicep-loving crowd.

Many of these comments asked just one question, more or less kindly and more or less openly: who are you, Sam Roland Heughan? Some of them, more along my alley, took a different angle: who are you talking to, Sam Roland Heughan?

Let me count the US crowds: the Wall Street yuppie crowd? the old money, WASP Knickerbocker / Colony Club crowd? Tribeca's sophisticated, culture-ish snob crowd? the UN international crowd? the laid-back (-ish) brownstone Brooklyn crowd? the DC politico types? the Boston Brahmin crowd? the Silicon Valley Bitcoin crowd? the Florida Latino crowd? the Bible Belt crowd? the Deep South charmingly old-fashioned crowd? the yee-haw, witty and ambitious Texans? the gourmet, nature-loving Seattle crowd? I am sure I am missing some (it's been a while I haven't traveled to the States and I have to say I miss all 50 of them, plus and perhaps above all my beloved DC :), but you get the idea. And the problem, or rather its first layer.

The second question this very poorly written article prompted is: what are you talking about, Sam Roland Heughan? I mean, what destination are you trying to promote? Scotland, through your Scottish gin, which I truly believe is exceptional? The Big Apple, like a counterpart to Sting, you know - a Scotsman in New York? That's not very clear, since that superficial girl just whirled you to a couple Chinatown speakeasies, rat pitter-patter included (bye-bye, Knickerbocker crowd right there) and that's pretty much it. New Zealand, that you mention at length, Maori tattoo story re-hashed, just because the book comes out next Tuesday? Ha-wa-wee, perhaps in a belated attempt to mitigate Tunagate? California, even, because it takes you back to humble beginnings? Granted, the Frisco one, not LA: that would be a horrible faux-pas, in a NY centered paper, much like me whimsically and idiotically mentioning Istanbul (instead of Constantinople), in a conversation with my Greek friends.

My head spins. And then let's add to that a ladle of recycled talking points, yours and C's altogether, like this gem:

Aspirational. Mmmhm. She said that. You said that. Multiple times, in multiple contexts that probably didn't even call for it. This is *** PR right there. I am not JAMMF. I am not Claire. But we aspire to that. Stop thinking we are these characters. No sane fan ever did: the insistence is unnecessary and has a real backfire potential. Stop thinking, period. But let it be my shipper sin, then, not to believe an iota of it and stubbornly think you people are, by now, way past the aspirational stage.

So, I took a long walk down memory lane today, while driving, trying to understand what the hell your personal brand is. Once upon a time, things were clear: you and C were a single brand. S&C - the fresh-faced, candid, witty and funny and oh, so in love new kids on the block. The spark was real and it was strong (it still is, only dampened and muted by PR-prompted shenanigans) and OL's audience was under its spell. People loved you, both of you, and some of us still do. You showed us as much as you could and for a while, it seemed to be convenient for just about everybody. That created expectations, but at the same time, you could have sold us land concessions on the Moon and we would have bought them, no questions asked.

And then, things happened. We know what: IFH, EFH, Remarkable Week-end. The spell was broken for many, who left in droves. Fans turned into bashing other fans. The S&C brand was progressively compromised and along with it, your Barbour Ambassadorship (for different reasons). Let's stop a bit at this point, in fond remembrance: that was the perfect pitch, for the perfect kind of corporate brand, for the perfect niche, for the perfect guy. A guy who had a credible, authentic story to tell, with a really strong potential to attract people outside of OL's crowd. Image and message perfectly aligned. Best case scenario.

So, with ***'s and your own PR benediction, what once was your solid gold starting point was ridiculed, trampled, shot to shambles, in a (failed) attempt to be sent to complete oblivion. You then had to think of something and try to branch out of both the blessing and curse of it.

MPC suddenly became more important than just any other charity project, of which there were a few (Cahonas Scotland comes to mind, the blood cancer one, as well). Cue in Sam the Athlete, Sam the Healthy Living Evangelist. The project was turned into a lucrative business, with a strong charity side. People bought subscriptions, people changed their eating and lifestyle habits, people lost weight - but really, I shouldn't write 'people', but 'women'. This was a women-oriented endeavor. A problem, again, on the long term.

Ha-wa-wee 1 happened, to more scandal and shrieks (that, I believe, was the reason you lost the Barbour project, another gold opportunity squandered because ten Internet bitches knew better). Then we were told another avatar was born: Sam the Entrepreneur. With a genuine, carefully curated, labor of love first alcohol product that clearly used the discarded S&C brand: The Sassenach and believe what you want, but just buy it. Mommies obliged. Antis obliged. Shippers obliged. All wallets are created equal, as I (often) use to say. And then COVID-19 came, putting a very real, very dangerous logistic strain on it.

Yet, you still had to somehow mitigate delays and losses. The Sassenach went exotic, with that limited edition tequila that probably won't be remembered by many outside OL's fandom, and that is a pity and a shame. The reason it won't be remembered is that you almost did not promote it, spare one or two Tick-Tock and Instagram clips. Does that justify the investment, the trips to Mexico, the very expensive retainers and commissions your tequila friends took for their trouble? I very much doubt it. That was, until being proved completely wrong, a flop. It brought absolutely nothing in terms of personal branding, spare perhaps a new faction in this paranoid cesspool of a fandom: the Gay Crowd, fueled by the image of a Lonely Bandana Cowboy, instead of the intended Sophisticated Traveler and Connoisseur. Yes, people are stupid, like that. Your PR and Sales team, too - and this comes from a place of deep understanding and appreciation.

We are now talking gin and boy, am I glad we do! This is perhaps an opportunity. Finally, a more democratically price-tagged, carefully tailored (again) drawing card product. But who is selling it to me? The California Boat Party Host? In that case, I won't buy it, but never mind me: maybe the fun-loving California Millennials would (we know the Smuggling Mommies would do it, anyways). The Sophisticated Traveler and Connoisseur you tried to show us again in Mancini's abysmal Departures paper and who is invited to important events, in recognition of his efforts?

You can't have the two of them, Sam, whatever those incompetents told you. You're either a 43-years old midlife crisis-stricken and shirtless clown or an Old World Industrious Thespian, with a stature and a status to match. A real Entrepreneur, not a cartoon scuba diver/beach boy Influencer. Eye Candy vs. Brain Power: after all, you are a '3x NYT best selling author', aren't you? Your pick, not mine. Stop the Sri Mataji-style Hugging and Booze tours: it's nonsense and that geriatric crowd is nowhere near what you need to make your dream come true. Do some real soul searching and stop listening to clueless 28-year old journalists, who tell you tacky rings are fun: they aren't. They make you look like an ageing Atlantic City Sinatra wannabe:

Sam Roland Heughan: currently at crossroads, trying to not choose between two opposite personal brands. Tricky position and an even trickier context, with the strike still lingering on and the pressing need to find an after OL strategy.

I promised you a tale of two brands and I think you wonder, by now, what happened to C, the other half of the primary SC brand?

The answer is, I honestly believe, not much. She has no personal brand, so to speak. Until now, she is just an Enthusiastic Dilettante. Book Club - started, unfinished and with that, farewell to any fan engagement. Cinema production rights - bought and then silence. Botanical Gin - first batch released (?) with no promo, no interviews (mentioning it in a podcast does not count), no reviews. Then teasing, then crickets again: a bit late, now, for the end of year celebrations. And I have to say I miss her or the part of her I never witnessed in real time (is such a thing possible?). I miss that starry-eyed, funny and witty girl. That girl was somehow completely swallowed by an Acrid Matron, who thought it was intelligent to yell at an Internet nobody, on Christmas Day, 'I am not married to Sam!' (ok, you aren't, but you're still lying). And I honestly don't know which one is best (or worst, for that matter): try to build something and make mistakes and try again until you hopefully find your way, or say nothing, do nothing and of course, never be controversial.

Now I am really interested to see how is she going to promote her gin. But you know what, I am not holding my breath, for some reason.

#BoozeWars

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transgenderteensurvivalguide · 2 months

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Hey I just got my first period and I'm so fucking dysphoric about it what do I do I'm so confused I feel like shit and my dysphoria is through the roof

Lee says:

I would start off by exploring your menstrual product options which can make it easier to cope with having your period.

Period underwear is probably the easiest product to use because you already know how to wear underwear so you don't have to worry about putting it on wrong. Period underwear has built-in absorbent layers and is reusable and discreet to wear, but some people might feel self-conscious about washing them at the end of the day if they aren't used to washing their own underwear and don't have a private bathroom, or they might have dysphoria about washing them. You will likely need more than one pair (at least 2 pairs) even if you wash them daily because they need to dry, so there's a bit of an up-front cost but then since they're reusable it can be cheaper than pads and tampons in the long run.

The step below period underwear in terms of usability is probably pads. They tend to be pretty easy to use and also don't require insertion into the body, but if you don't place them right sometimes blood can leak around the edges where the pad isn't. Another placement issue might come up if you wear some styles of men's underwear, like boxers, it can be hard to use pads unless you wear a different type of underwear underneath which can feel bulky. Similarly to period underwear, blood on pads might feel more noticeable than internal options, which might increase dysphoria for some. You will need to buy pads over and over, so even they aren't that expensive to buy, the cost of buying them can add up. If your family buys the pads for you or you can get them at school for free then that isn't a big of a deal, but it does matter for some people.

Some trans people swear by menstrual cups because they're reusable and cost-effective. Once inserted correctly, they can be worn for up to 12 hours depending on flow, and the feeling of the blood can be less noticeable than pads or period underwear since it's not coming out. It can also be useful if you like swimming or have swimming classes, and/or if you're in a situation where you're stealth and have access to a private bathroom to wash the menstrual cup but don't feel like you can hide a whole package of pads in your stuff. But it can be hard to find the right size/model sometimes, so it can require multiple different brands and sizes to get the one that works best for you. Some people find the feeling of wearing one uncomfortable, have a hard time with the insertion, worry it'll affect their IUD, etc.

Tampons and menstrual discs have similar pros and cons as menstrual cups, although tampons are not reusable and some menstrual discs are. In all three cases, the process of insertion can be dysphoria-inducing for some trans individuals, but you also have the benefits of not having to feel the blood. You will also have more security to avoid leaks since you could choose to wear a tampon/menstrual cup/menstrual disc and then also wear a pad or menstrual underwear as backup.

After you've figured out what products work for you, I'd switch gears to the long game which is trying to stop your period in a healthy way. If you're out as trans, talk to your guardians and doctors about trying puberty blockers or using birth control to stop your period.

If you're not out as trans, you can still try convincing your parents to take you to the doctor to discuss the use of birth control in stopping your period without mentioning gender dysphoria:

You could say you have a heavy flow and starting birth control will make it lighter

It can help with anemia because you aren’t losing any iron through your period blood if you don’t get your period

You could say your friend/s have done it and it helped them

To stop period related cramping and pain

You could say you have gross period side-effects (like diarrhea and more farting) for the week of your period

It can make your periods more regular (or make it so you can control when it happens so you’re not caught off guard)

Helps with PMSing so you don’t have to deal with any of that

It’s more convenient and you don’t have to remember to change your pad/tampon

If you’re disabled, it can help save spoons and effort and make your week easier

You may not be able to change your pads regularly if you’re disabled and that’s kinda unsanitary and the pads can break so stopping your period can help with that type of stress

Save money on pads/tampons

Save time having to use pads/tampons and keep visiting the bathroom during class

It can help with migraines if you get headaches or migraines near your period

It can help with PCOS, PMDD, and endometriosis if you have any of those conditions

It might lower your risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer (but increase your risk of breast cancer) so that's something to discuss with a doctor based on your family history and personal risk factor

If you swim, it’s better to not have your period (And it’s inconvenient for athletes in general)

It can help regulate your mood (especially if you’re mentally ill and find mood fluctuations around your period hard to handle)

Why have a period when you can not have one? Some people feel there are no positive things about having a period because they feel it is inconvenient/[insert personal adjectives]

It’s pretty safe and many people do it, and if your doctor prescribes it and monitors you then there’s not a big risk in it

How do I talk about birth control with my dad?

Here’s a NY Times article called “For the Teen Who No Longer Wants a Period”, I’d start the conversation by sending them that link then if they ask more, give them the excuses above!

Finally, there are coping strategies that you can explore to manage the feelings of dysphoria that you may experience when you have your period-- this post has more info on that.

Followers, any advice for anon?

#Lee says #menstruation #dysphoria #periods #trans #blood m

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orgverse · 8 months

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space pirate!seonghwa for @sanjoongie please suffer with her, everyone! sorry if this sucks, i'm trying to get back in the writing grove.

you had joined the crew when they had found you running away from some galactic guards and saved you. you remember bumping into seonghwa, his eye boring into you deadly, but not as deadly as when he looked at the guards. you begged them to help you, not wanting to be arrested – you had no idea why they were chasing after you and you really didn't want to find out.

however, despite running into seonghwa, it was hongjoong who took pity on you and killed the guards before they harm you.

since they saved you, hongjoong decided that you were now in their debt. they made you a part of their crew and had you doing meaningless task on both the ship and when you docked at a new planet.

that's how your journey with the notorious space pirates, ateez, started; however, what you originally dreaded has now turned into something completely different.

which is how you regularly end up underneath one or more of said space pirates. some of them more than others, but all of them seeking your comfort in one way or another.

which is how you are currently spread out on the quartermaster's bed as the pink haired pirate pounds into you. you can feel the slight burn in your thighs as your legs were thrown over his shoulders, properly bending you in half. his cock filling you up so well that you couldn't help but let your eyes roll into the back of your head.

seonghwa's grunts fill the room up even when he shoves his face into your neck. he starts to press open mouth kisses over a certain area of your neck and you brace yourself for when he bites down into your flesh.

you still couldn't full understand why seonghwa did this. you remember yunho explaining one time that seonghwa's race likes to mark their territory and biting your lovers was just apart of that. but you won't lie, it was hot knowing that he was marking you as his. just like how he did it to the others.

"s-seonghwa," you moan out, hand running though his bright pink hair as he laps at the bite mark. you notice how his hips begin to stutter just a little bit and you can't help but clench around his cock.

seonghwa lets out another grunt at how you clench around him and he does a particularly hard and deep thrust that makes your toes curl.

"f-fuck!" you moan out as seonghwa moves his head to look at you. his usual sharp eyes, now full of lust as he thrust into you. he adjust the two of you a little bit, but his pace is still ruthless and deep. you can't help but arch your back at how fast you felt your climax approaching.

your eyes drifted away from seonghwa and over to the window in his cabin. the vast darkness of space engulfing everything in sight. the twinkling of the stars, planets, galaxies around you remind you that despite getting fucked good right now, you are still just drifting through nothingness.

seonghwa grabs your face and turns you to look at him. his eyes staring down at you harshly as if silently telling you not to look away from him.

"don't look anywhere else," he says, "nothing else is making you feel this good, but me," he adds and you have to bite back a smile and laugh at his words. you sometimes forget how jealous and possessive seonghwa can get, but its moments like this that remind you.

"s-seonghwa! please~" you moan out when he does another deep thrust, hitting your sweet spot nicely and making you begin to see stars.

"who's making you feel this good?"

"you are!" you tell him, feeling your climax beginning to approach quicker and quicker. "please, hwa, i-i'm close!"

"yeah?" he says with a smirk as he continues to thrust into you. you moan and nod in agreement, not wanting him to stop. "gonna cum around my cock?"

"yes– yes, i am, please," you ramble, your hands coming and running down his back before running back up and through his hair. its now that you finally notice the thin layer of sweat covering him and giving his body a glow that makes him look godly.

"i'm still amazed b-by how good this pussy is," he says leaning his forehead against yours. "who knew a sneaky brat like you could entrance me this much?"

you couldn't help but laugh this time, "captain knew," you teased making the quartermaster groan as you also clenched around him.

"fucking brat," he says before he's thrusting one more time and that's when your orgasm washes over you in a sudden wave. you can't help but gasp at the feeling, clinging onto seonghwa like he was your lifeline as you felt him painting your walls with his cum.

the two of you remain close to each other, you clinging onto him for several more minutes before he's finally peeling away from you. the quartermaster rolls onto next to you before he's pulling you on top of him to rest. you flinch when you feel his fingers playing with your used pussy, slowly pushing his cum back into you so that it doesn't escape.

when the overstimulation finally hits, you can't help but push his hand away. seonghwa lets out a small huff, but obeys your silent request to stop. however, you know he'll try again once your climaxed bliss has worn off.

"so... another round?"

"shut up, you're starting to sound like wooyoung."

#ateez smut #ateez x reader #ateez imagines #ateez seonghwa x reader #ateez seonghwa smut #seonghwa x reader #seonghwa smut

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evilbihan · 3 months

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Bi-Han's and Kuai Liang's father was not a good father

And now it's no longer a theory. Now I have proof.

The last thing I expected to get out of this very strange invasions mode season was confirmation for a theory I've had ever since I first finished the story mode. Despite other characters in the game claiming that the father of the Lin Kuei brothers was an honorable man, something about that never sat right with me, given how cruel that man was in all the previous timelines and how vastly different Bi-Han views his father compared to his brothers, Liu Kang or Sindel.

I made this discovery on the mesa of Shang Tsung's laboratory.

At the very beginning of the mesa when you come in through the portal and head to the right (your character's right) towards the two crates that are next to each other, there's a node featuring a fight against Scorpion.

That node, loosely translated from my language, is called "Daddy's favorite".

It might seem like a small and meaningless detail and maybe I'm reading too much into it, but if the name of that node is anything to go by and if it's a reference to MK1's canon lore (which it has to be, otherwise I don't see why it would be there) this adds a whole new layer to the tragedy of the falling out between Bi-Han and Kuai Liang and Bi-Han's decision to let his father die.

Was he neglected? Despite being the oldest son and the grandmaster's heir, Kuai Liang was the favorite son. He was his father's pride and joy, not Bi-Han. That explains Bi-Han's bitterness and his resentment towards his father as well as his eagerness to earn the respect of others. Because his own father didn't give that to him.

Sub-Zero: I helped you, but I've earned no respect. General Shao: Because there's nothing lower than a traitor.

Johnny Cage: I thought I had daddy issues. But you? Sub-Zero: My family is none of your business.

Would a good father have a "favorite son"? Should a good father not love his sons equally, without picking favorites?

Another small but noteworthy detail is one of Bi-Han's invasions mode encounters being named "Joyless initiate" (again, loosely translated because my game is in my native language, not English). You have to wonder what kind of life Bi-Han lived for the game to refer to him that way and how much of that is owed to his father's strictness or lack of care towards him since he wasn't the favorite son. It certainly implies Bi-Han faced hardships that the main story never really talked about or even mentioned.

It might not seem like much, but I'm sure some thought was put into making these nodes and the references and hints exist for a reason.

I'm aware that a lot of people think the father of the Lin Kuei brothers was a good guy, but as a reminder, in the original timeline, Bi-Han's and Kuai Liang's father was ruthless enough to kidnap the brothers from their mother, potentially even killing her and their younger sister in the process, and turned them both into assassins for the Lin Kuei. Of course, the reboot is set in a new timeline, but as I said in my previous post, all characters are still essentialy the same. Some backstories and allignments have changed, but not the character's personalities and even in this new era, the old grandmaster is no saint.

I think it's messed up that his response to the Lin Kuei killing Smoke's entire family and turning him into an orphan was to take Tomáš in and turn him into a warrior for the very clan that murdered his family.

Sure, some might view it as a noble gesture that he took responsibility for the mistake he made and decided to give Tomáš a home after he was orphaned, but if that man cared at all about Smoke's wellbeing, he could have found a better solution for the situation. He could have told Liu Kang about what happened and asked him to let Tomáš stay at the Wu Shi academy instead of turning him into an asset for the clan that killed his mother and sister.

While that's only a side note, it proves that Bi-Han's and Kuai Liang's father had a twisted idea of what it means to be a good parent if he thought that taking in the son of a family his own warriors murdered was the "honorable" thing to do without sparing a second thought to what that was going to do to Smoke mentally.

Anyway, this subtle hint is one of the few good things to come out of this invasions mode season and I'm glad I found it.

#bi han #bi han sub zero #mk bi han #mk sub zero #bi-han #kuai liang #mk scorpion #tomas vrbada #mk smoke #mk1 #mk1 2023 #mortal kombat 1

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petrichorvidae · 18 days

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Mushy May Day 2: Late night snacks

Rating: Teen Word count: 3,560 Pairing(s): Swiss/Dewdrop + some Phantom/Rain heavily implied on the side, as a treat. Additional: Recreational drug use, minor blood and injury, references to sex, the ever-looming threat of an earth ghoul whose weed was stolen, and the existence of cheese singles. Summary: Dewdrop and Swiss raided Mountain's personal stash, and now they raid the kitchen too! Link to it on AO3 for those who prefer!

I had to take a day off for health reasons, and then I forgot to post this last night, but now I'm back with some swissdew shenanigans!

Once again, a huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!

~~~~~~~~~~

Dew woke up with a start when something wet touched him, hissing out into the open air and looking around wildly trying to find whatever unknown had dared to disturb his sleep. His body was still adjusting to the suddenness of being awake, and that didn’t play favourites with his eyes, so he wasn’t able to do much more than squint and swish his tail back and forth in agitation.

“Whuh…!?” Seems his brain is still too mushy from sleep to even finish getting out a single coherent word.

He continued to swish his tail but his hiss faded away into a low growl, near-silent in volume as he was far too tired to do anything more. Dew kept blinking his eyes hoping to open them each time with a newly granted sense of sight, and if he had energy left in him he would have jumped for joy when he finally acclimated to the light. Wait, why would the light be on?

He feels stupid when he goes to pull his blanket off of him only to find that it’s not there, as a matter of fact, it’s nowhere to be found in the room, which only serves to add yet another layer to his confusion. He wouldn’t be caught dead without that thing, be it in his bunk in a tour bus, serving as a protective layer between him and whatever uncomfortable sheets the hotel they’re staying at has, or just as a source of comfort and warmth back here, home, in the abbey. Not that he needed the additional warmth though, definitely not with how things had been warming up recently combined with his Fire ghoul nature.

He looked to his side, hoping maybe he had kicked it away in his sleep after getting too hot or something, but instead, he was met with the glorious sight of none other than Swiss, sleeping like a rock, snoring louder than even Aether, and with a long and luxurious strand of drool trailing down the side of a pillow he was holding onto for dear life. And then everything clicked.

Memories flooded Dew’s head of how he and Swiss had broken into Mountain’s stash earlier that evening, getting their grubby mitts into the real good shit that he usually kept for himself, giant selfish bastard. He also remembered how they had then raided his entire Stash and left very few survivors in their wake, and how they then locked themselves in Swiss' room before participating in some stupid fucked up contest of seeing who could smoke through the most of it in a single day. Dew looked back to Swiss again, that puddle of drool had definitely grown by a few centimetres since he’d last looked. Judging by the state of him, and how Swiss was apparently dead to the world, they probably weren’t finding out who had won any time soon. Dewdrop groans and flops back down onto the bed. Of course, the one thing he couldn’t recall was both the reason for and the result of them getting into this mess.

What he hadn’t been anticipating was for his coordination to still be a little off after only being awake for a few short minutes, and thus he hadn’t been expecting his elbow to hit a sleeping Swiss right in the face. Swiss’ poor nose certainly hadn’t been expecting it, that’s for sure.

The most pathetic and hurt-sounding yelp he’s ever heard let Dew know that all those comments about his elbows being unusually bony may have some basis in truth after all. The ghoul that was dead asleep just a few seconds ago was now wide awake and hunched over himself while he clutches his nose. What Dew thinks is the slightest dribble of blood serves to sober him up a bit from his self-imposed high. He immediately starts looking around before finding what he’s looking for, locating the box of tissues on the nightstand next to Swiss’ bed and grabbing it before he can think too long about why it would be there in the first place.

“Ah shit! M’so sorry Swiss, didn’ mean to.” He blabbers out an attempt of an apology as he holds the tissues out to Swiss, who now has tears of pain threatening to spill at the corners of his eyes as he snatches the tissues from Dew, hissing at him all the while, and, yeah, he did kinda deserve that.

“Th’fuck s’wrong with you? F’ckin’ asshole.” Not even the shock of having his nose bashed by Dewdrop’s elbow could truly wake up Swiss, as it would seem. In true Swiss fashion, the larger ghoul continued to spit and hiss out more slurred insults at the smaller while he grabbed a bunch of the tissues and held them up to his bloody nose which would definitely have a pretty purple bruise on it later on that would lead to them being subjected to another of Aether’s interrogations while the Quintessence ghoul would try to figure out how two idiots like them survived for long enough in the pit to be summoned, just for them to be even bigger dumbasses.

Once Swiss had cleaned up his face and shook off his shame from being defeated by Dew’s bony as-shit elbow of all things, the Multi decided to dedicate the rest of his life to giving the Fire ghoul the dirtiest look he could muster. He wasn’t even giving him daggers now, he was giving him full-on swords. It was almost funny how mad he was trying to look, his nose all scrunched up with his ears down, fur puffed up to further set in how pissed he was with him at the moment. And yet, Dew wouldn’t forget this moment between them for Swiss' ire, which he had rightfully earned to be fair, but for how that heated silence was suddenly broken by one of the loudest growls he had ever heard come from Swiss' stomach.

They stared at each other, both looked down at Swiss' stomach, and immediately looked right back up to each other again, before simultaneously bursting out into a fit of giggles. All of Dew’s elbow’s transgressions are forgotten as they roll around on top of Swiss' bed.

After a few minutes of giggling and another interruption, this time from Dew’s stomach, Swiss finally let out his first fully formed words since he’d been so rudely woken up. “Woah, easy there tiger, don’t gotta go roaring at me.” He put his hands up in a mock surrender “How ‘bout we go and raid the kitchen for whatever good stuff we can find? We can bring it back here and have ourselves a feast.”

Dewdrop thought about it, and he was really hungry now that they’d both been made aware by their bodies, and rather loudly at that. But, and there was always a but, Dewdrop looked over to the locked door leading out into the hallway and his thoughts stilled for a moment. The whole reason it had been locked in the first place was because they both Mountain would be out for blood once he found his stash desecrated and gone, and another memory from the evening was returned to him, this one of Mountain pounding on the door when he had finally found out what they’d done, and how the only thing stopping him from going through with his threat to kick down the door and collect retribution for his precious weed was Aether quite literally dragging him away to cool down a bit if the scuffle they had heard was anything of substance. One thing was gnawing away at his mind right now, and he made sure to voice it; “What if he’s still out there.”

Swiss understood what he meant, and looked like he was speedrunning through the exact thought process Dew had just gone through judging by the slight panic in his eyes, but apparently, he wasn’t anywhere as worried as Dew was, because he just shrugged.

“You got any idea what time it is?”

Dewdrop chews at his lip before digging around for his phone. He manages to find it under a pillow, the very same one that now had a damp spot from Swiss drooling on it, gross. After a more than slightly judgemental look sent the taller ghoul’s way, Dewdrop turns the screen on and goes to look at the time. Swiss leans over his shoulder to take a peek for himself.

Both of them are left in silent shock at the time.

“Shit…”

“Did we really sleep for that long?”

“Must have, the phone doesn’t lie Dewbug.”

“Thought I told you to stop calling me that.” The Fire ghoul hissed, though they both knew it didn’t have any real bite to it.

“But it’s just so fun getting to see your cheeks go red like that, Dewbug.” There it was again, that toothy grin that would make a baby cry. And speaking of the devil, the Multi’s teasing paid off when he got to watch as his partner tried to hide himself amongst the pillows. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the very blush he was referring to would be found spreading its way across Dew’s cheeks at that very moment if anyone were to get a good look.

With perfect timing as always, Swiss' stomach chooses that moment to remind the two of their shared hunger, possibly saving Dewdrop from any further torment and teasing.

Getting back on track, Swiss pads his way over to the door and opens the bolt lock, but before he can even get his hand on the handle Dew is diving across the bed and towards him. “Wait!”

Swiss gives him a look that hopefully reads as ‘You really wanna starve in here?’, but goes out of his way to voice the rhetorical question anyway.

“I mean, no, but-”

“Excellent! Then let’s get-a-going and get some grub.” And with that, Swiss swings the door open, but is careful to make sure it doesn’t bang against the wall and make a noise. He may be crazy, but he doesn’t want to risk being the one to disturb anyone’s sleep. Then they’ll really be helpless when Mountain inevitably gets his claws on them. “Just, y’know, be quiet. Sneaky.” He adds in a hushed tone with a wink at the end for emphasis. And with that, the two ghouls are slowly and stealthy tiptoeing their way down the hallway, making their way to the den and by extension the kitchenette as they pass by the doors to all the rooms that the band ghouls call home. They can hope each and every one of them is occupied by sleeping ghouls, especially as they pass by the room of a certain abnormally tall Earth ghoul. Step after step, they slowly inched their way down the hall, getting closer and closer to their goal.

Finally, the narrow length of the hallway spreads out into a much wider and vastly more spacious common room, or the den as it’s come to be known. The room is near pitch black in the dark of the night, and with their minds still a little hazy from all the weed they had indulged themselves with smoking several hours ago, even with their more advanced ghoulish eyesight, they can't really make much of anything out. Swiss, showing a brief moment of rationality and even using a little logic to boot, reaches out to his side where he knew the lightswitch to be and suddenly the large space is flooded with light, though thankfully on a dimmer setting so it isn’t too much of a shock to their eyes.

What does come as a shock, is the ghoul staring at the pair from where they stand by the kitchenette, looking like a deer caught in headlights, a freshly opened pack of crackers in one hand and an entire brand new tube of Primula cheese in the other.

The atmosphere is palpable, the tension in the room so thick you could cut it, right up until a cracker falls out from the packaging and clatters when it hits the floor, that is.

“Phantom? Why the hell are you up at this time?”

That seems to make the Quintessence bristle up a did. His ears pull back when he whisper-shouts a defensive and very creative “Why are you!?”

Swiss and Dew look at each other at the exact same time, both thinking about whether they should tell him about their escapades and Mountain.

“Uhm… stuff…” Dew blurts out. Very articulated. Swiss gives him a look but he just shrugs. Well, what did the Multi want him to say?

“Hey, are those Cirrus’ crackers?” Swiss tries to deflect Phantom’s deflection, and it seems to work as Phantom is immediately right back to looking like he’d just been caught with his pants down.

Looking around and finding no way to escape from the situation, Phantom resigns and answers the question. “Yes…”

Oh, this was gonna be good. It’s nice to know they weren’t the only ones dumb enough to steal from their packmates tonight. Everyone knows how defensive Cirrus can get over her snacks, and those crackers were her favourite. The fact that they’d only just been bought and she hasn’t even gotten a chance to try them yet will just add to the drama of all this.

“Oooh~ Somebody’s gonna be in trouble~”

Phantom snaps his gaze right over to Dew, glaring at him while he utters his next words. “You don’t tell Cirrus it was me, and I don’t tell Mountain.”

Dewdrop just had to go and tease him.

“Ha, nice try kid, but the big guy already knows all about what we did.”

“Trust me, we all know.” Phantom puts it bluntly, and it doesn’t come as a surprise at all considering how loud Mountain had been earlier, and that was just what they heard through the door. “I meant I won’t tell him exactly where you guys will be tomorrow.” When raises an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been speaking to Sunny, and I’ve seen your guys’ schedules for your chores tomorrow. I’ll do it.” Oh, okay, so the new kid had finally grown some fangs it would seem. Swiss almost barks out a laugh from the shock of it all, who knew Phantom of all ghouls would be the one threatening to sic a pissed-off Mountain on them?

“Okay, okay, you win kid. Sheesh.”

And with that, they seem to slip into a truce of sorts. Phantom sets his pilfered crackers and squeezy cheese off to the side so he can find a plate, and Swiss and Dew walk past him to start rummaging through the cupboards and fridge for anything that speaks to their hunger at the moment. Swiss flipped through the cupboards whilst Dew searched through the fridge.

“All I’ve got here is a bag of chips and a half-empty box of breadsticks that may or may not be on their way to going stale already, any luck over there?” When Swiss receives no reply he looks to check on Dew, and finds his companion doing a silly victory dance as he holds up a pack of some deli meat like it’s the cub in that one lion film they’d watched a couple months back. Swiss had to bite his tongue and hold back whatever laugh or teasing comment he would have let out. It was just so pure. They were both still decently high from Mountain’s weed, raiding the kitchen in the midst of the night as quickly as possible so they could return to Swiss’ room to continue hiding from Mountain’s wrath, and Swiss couldn’t bring himself to look away from Dew. He wondered if this was what people mean when they say that it sometimes feels as if time has frozen when they look at their partners.

“Dew, you look ridiculous.” And the moment is ruined. Swiss turns to bare his fangs slightly at the younger ghoul but Phantom is unphased and just sticks his tongue out in return, the cheeky fucker. By the time Swiss turns back to Dew, he’s finished his celebration and has placed the pack of sliced meat on the nearby side, right next to where Swiss has placed his findings, before diving back on in to grab the final piece to make this meal truly perfect.

“Boom! Cheese singles.” He smirks up at Swiss while she waves the individually packaged slices of processed cheese in his face, positively pleased at himself with his findings.

Phantom decides to pipe in again from over by where he’s now got everything he needs, the entire tube of Primula now squeezed out onto the plate with a knife carefully placed beside it, his crackers still in their pack off to the side where he’d been snacking on a few when trying to find the knife and plate. Truly a charcuterie board for kings. “You’re seriously gonna eat those? Are they even real cheese?”

Dewdrop is quick to defend himself. “First of all, yes, I am seriously gonna eat these cheese singles, and I’m gonna love every second of it. And second, I’m not gonna be judged by the ghoul who is about to eat a fuckton of crackers with squeezy cheese!” He presses an accusatory finger into Phantom’s chest. Now with being so close to him, Dewdrop takes in how the ghoul is blatantly wearing clothes that aren’t his. The shirt is obviously one of Dew’s, while not tight it was definitely on the shorter side and left a bit of Phantom’s tummy out for all to see, and if he had to take a guess on the owner of the slightly too-big boxers he had on Swiss was probably the safest bet. He didn’t miss the messy hair or how a certain bassist’s scent was clinging to him like moss to a rock right now either, and gave the ghoul a small grin and a nod of acknowledgment before deciding to tease him some more.

“I’m gonna want to wash that in the morning, aren’t I?” He refers to the shirt.

“Someone’s going to be losing their weed privileges, aren’t they?” Phantom shoots right back.

“Touché.”

“Too soon, man, too soon.” Swiss can be heard whining from off to the side of their little standoff.

“Alright, I’m heading off now. Good luck I guess, you’ll need it.” Phantom stretched for a second before grabbing his plate and crackers and heading back towards his room, where there was no doubt a Water ghoul would be awaiting his return.

“We know.” They reply in unison and wave him off before they go grab their harvest and do the same.

Swiss is emptying all of the chips and breadsticks out into two separate bowls when they’re alerted by another door down in the hallway opening, that eerie creak causing their hackles to become raised and their ears to pull back. Dewdrop instinctively put himself between the hallway and his precious cheese singles and meat slices, ready to defend this meal with his life. “Who’s there?” Swiss calls out into the dark hallway.

Their blood runs cold when it’s none other than Mountain who emerges from the dark hallway into the dim, though still much brighter, light of the den, his imposing figure slowly approaching them with heavy steps. Swiss sidesteps over to Dew and holds the Fire ghoul’s hand in his, it was his idea to raid Mountain’s stash and if anyone’s getting their tail ripped off here, it’s going to be him. Before they know it, Mountain is stood right in front of the pair, practically snarling at them as a low rumbling growl permeates throughout the kitchenette. In what is possibly up there amongst the dumbest things he’s ever done when being growled at by a much larger ghoul he’s crossed, Dew reaches behind him blindly, grabbing around until he finds what he hopes will be their saving grace. He picks it up and, wincing as he hopes the Earth ghoul doesn’t just bite his fingers off, presents his peace offering.

“Deli meat?”

Mountain stares at the presented cuts of ham for a good long while, but his decision is finally made when his face softens, rumble dissipating as he lets out a heavy sigh. He wordlessly takes the offering and opens it up, taking a handful of sliced meat for himself before passing it over to Swiss, who only just about manages to hold onto it as he’s still stood there in shock and awe, amazed that Dew’s offering had actually worked as the Earth ghoul scarfed down the ham in record time. It does wonders to show just how hungry a ghoul can get after being mad for hours on end.

Dewdrop feels bold and a little stupid, so he decides to crack out the cheese singles too, and sidles up to Mountain before holding one out to him.

Swiss questions all of his life choices as he stands there in silence while they both watch Mountain eat the entire cheese single within seconds. He hadn’t even removed its plastic covering. Dewdrop was near tears at the horror he was witnessing. This must be their punishment for what they had done, surely.

“You two are just lucky that it wasn’t my main stash.”

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shannankle · 4 months

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Color in DFF: Part 2

Okay so here I have a post where I run down some of the way DFF is using color in the past (at least for ep 5-6). But there's even more to unpack in episodes 1-4. I'll have to return to color when more episodes are out cause I'm sure there'll be more clarity and layers to add. But for now let's jump to the present!

Shout out again to @slayerkitty for brainstorming with me!

In part 1 I came to this conclusion:

There are basically 3 groups of colors.

Blue=the friend group, conformity, those trying to harm or coerce others

Red=Non, poverty, outsiders and those with stigma

Yellow=A third category, not in lock step with the group, outliers

So what about the present?!

There's a lot going on with color:

-It show's the character's flaws and desires

-It signals romantic pairing(s)

-It conveys group dynamics and insider/outsider status

On top of that we have people changing colors and exchanging them

Importantly in the present we start getting more than just the strict primary colors groups. Our group is less in sync and now that they've had time to grow up and be apart there's less conformity and cohesion, more fracture. We could argue that more of their own colors are able to come out rather than be subsumed in just blue (though a few characters definitely stick to blue still).

Let's start at the beginning. For a number of these boys their color represents their worse traits and fatal flaws:

Por is in a pale green. This clearly represents his VERY deep relationship with nature (sorry not sorry). It also can represent rebirth which means he isn't dead yet.

Okay, joking aside, green can can represent greed and jealousy. Certainly things relevant to Por who both has it all and still constantly wants and needs more (especially affection from his father) and is willing to take credit from Non to get it. This greed obviously contributed to the way everything spiraled in the past.

Green can also indicate sickness, nausea, and disgust. Por often expresses disgust towards Non, wiping his hand off after touching him. We even get him and Top reacting with disgust in the opening scenes when Fluke is puking.

On one more note, there are cultures that would group green and blue in as the same color so perhaps we can still see him as not so separate from the group as we might think.

Tee and Top are still in blue. These two are dedicated to hiding the truth and protecting themselves. Blue can also indicate loyalty and trust as well as confidence. Tee clearly has an issue with loyalty in both the past and the present. He's quick to throw his friends under the bus but does so while hiding this to still fit in. In the present he struggles with whether to abandon White or protect him. Top on the other hand is over confident, constantly wanting fame and attention.

Tee in particular is interesting because of his tie die shirts. They always mix blue with another color, just like he mixed blue with red in the past. Now it's a pink. Perhaps this means his money troubles have lessened or that he mentally feels less of an outsider or weirdo than when he added red in the past. Or perhaps it shows his strained loyalty to White, containing a color other than blue but not quite orange.

This is certainly the case in a later episode when he changes his t-shirt to blue and orange. I'll mention this later but White is introduced in orange. So Tee's colors show his dedication to the group, his continued attempts to hide secrets that harm people, and his battle between running or staying to protect White.

While Tee switches to orange and blue, Top switches to yellow and white. He makes the switch before he goes off with Tan and returns to kill Por. The yellow is a stark change. Unlike Tee who retains his blue, Top loses it completely. He's in yellow, marking him as an outlier. Is he possessed? Drugged? In any case he is operating without any affinity to the group at this point.

We don't know much about Tan yet, but he's also in blue. He starts in a blue button up and then switches to darker blue with gray underneath. This is a bit odd since he's the most vocal about pushing the old group to reveal what happened in the past. Yet he isn't wearing orange (Phi and White), red (Non), or yellow (outlier). In fact, unlike our other characters he doesn't mix in other colors or change his color at all. It feels very sterile, as if he is operating under different rules. So either he is just part of the group and likely fodder, working with Phi, or up to his own plan. Regardless I think at this point he is probably hiding his color, or rather the show is hiding his color from us for a later reveal of some kind.

Fluke is in purple. It's a balanced mix of blue and red, marking the way he acts as a bystander. He is in the group but not necessarily at the center of it. It also represents ambition, which Fluke clearly has in spades. So much so that as he tries to protect his ambitions, he makes things so much worse.

Interestingly, when Fluke changes clothes he still chooses purple, but his collar has a stripe of red. This of course is what he wears as he starts to crack, ultimately confronting Tee about what happened to Non. The blood on Fluke's hand adds more red.

Jin is in pink and a dark blue or grey. He later switches to a dark blue shirt. So part of him is still attached to the group (blue) but he also operates in a faded pink. Pink can represent love and compassion. We know that Jin acts as the kind one of the group generally. Interestingly this is quite a faded pink, perhaps representing how Jin, despite being kind (or at least having a kind exterior) is quite jaded. He's lost his rose-tinted glasses and they've become a washed out pink.

He no longer is in yellow. Does this mean at some point he failed to push back on the group in an important way? Why is he still with the group and wearing blue/gray colors? Does the fact he's wearing pink, a faded red mean he's still dedicated to Non?

Clown theory: Non was in pink in the preview for episode 7, so does this mark Jin as a romantic pairing with Phi? Does it mean Non died and possessed Jin's body (🤡)?

Phi and White both have orange to start with. They're odd ones out. Interestingly, Phi also has on a denim shirt, making him outwardly seem to match Tee and Top, but the orange shows his true colors. This is very fitting given we know he's up to something (most likely revenge) and not genuinely trying to be a part of the group.

Orange is also partway between red and yellow. If we go by the past, Phi has had something going on with both Non (red) and Jin (yellow, past). Interestingly in this opening shot Phi's backpack moves from blue (his disguised allegiance to the group) to orange (his outsider status) and red (his allegiance to Non). But he is also next to Jin whose pink could be seen as a version of red.

White has orange but like Phi he has blue as well. Does this mean that White is aligned with Phi or is it just a way to signal that White is also a newbie to the group? If so why is Tan not in orange too? Is White Non's brother?

Both Phi and White remove their orange as things progress. Interestingly they both keep the same touches of blue but change to neutral white/light gray tones. They're blending in now, either by force of the situation or in order to hide their intentions. But compared to Tan, we at least see them operating in other colors first.

One last thing of note here. Phi wraps his outer shirt around Jin to brace his shoulder. This completely removes the blue from Phi and gives it to Jin. Is this a color exchange? But blue isn't Phi's color, so does is this an act of protection or is Phi marking Jin as a target?

And what does it mean that Phi is now purely in white--an absence of color? Or is white his color? If so, then what about White?

We've gone from 3 primary colors in the past to a mix of colors in the present. On top of that we have white too, an interesting contrast? pairing? with the black of the mask costume.

Okay this has been equally as much analysis as questions. I'm excited to revisit this when we have even more episodes and information to see what the patterns are here!

#dff the series #dead friend forever #dff meta #my meta #my posts

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sometipsygnostalgic · 6 months

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Video game console and case design

Today's hyperfixation is on the PLAYSTATION 5. Because I want one, but I really shouldn't buy one, so I am just looking up everything to do with games consoles and burning my brain out.

I used to be a proper xbox player, until I got my PC, then I never really touched by xbox again. I got a PS4 to play Persona 5 and since then it's been a blu ray player for my Adventure Time boxset, not much else. But the current gen - PS5, Series X - is arguably more powerful than my gaming PC, and I still have a lot of friends stuck on PS5, so I am considering investing in a unit.

Anyway is it me or did they really shit the bed with design in this generation?

Look at these chunky fuckers! They do not fit smoothly under your television at all. There is no detail or decoration breaking up their unnecessarily large faces, which makes them look bland and ugly. They look like they're made of cheap plastic, with the two controllers being the highest quality thing about them. I can attest the xbox controller is unbeatable, but playstation really made their shot this generation. A shame I can never get used to the dualshock joystick positioning.

The Series S and the PS5 Slim are almost NO improvement on the base designs.

For some reason they made the Series S look like a speaker???

The new PS5 slim FINALLY has a line across that massive faceplate, but the half matte half glossed finish is not doing it any favours. I think it would've looked much better if, for example, the matte and gloss plates were different colours. Like black and white! It also has an even MORE out of place disc drive, which I think is part of Sony's agenda to go digital only, and the two tiny "feet" for its horizontal positioning are pathetic! Personally I like this more than the original but not significantly, disappointing since I was really looking forward to it.

I want you to compare these nasties to the previous generation - the PS4 and the XBOX One.

....Now, what's hilarious about this image is the consoles look ALMOST IDENTICAL from this angle. And, I guess, that would be why Sony and Microsoft decided to make such a departure with the space heater PS5 and the fridge Series X.

But they both look very premium and advanced, and they fit very nicely in your living room.

The companies tried to look a bit more distinguished in their followup versions in the previous gen too. The white PS4 Pro looks a lot closer to PS5 with its quirkiness, but without the atrocious shiny plastic. Sony tended to add or remove a layer whenever they altered the PS4, I wonder what they would look like all stacked on top of each other.

It's not just the games console designs that suffer - Look at the game cases! I know that the companies want to incentivise you to go digital, but Xbox Series X cases are just awful.

So if you're confused - You should be!!! Microsoft have two kinds of case for the Series X. One of them is the EXACT SAME CASE as Xbox One, but with Series X printed on the front. The second newer version foregoes the sexy Xbox logo entirely and just has Xbox Series X printed in some default font. Awful awful awful.

Playstation is doing better, but barely.

They are reusing PS4 cases with a different print on them. It doesn't look as horrible as Xbox's, and it at least has a different colour on the logo, but damn, the jump between PS3/360 and PS4/One was really impressive, and now they've stopped bothering because they want everyone to go digital. If your game cases look like shit, why bother with physical?

I want to contrast with physical media kings Nintendo, who did an outstanding job in 2017 with designing the case for the Nintendo Switch.

These bad boys are mine. They're super thin, easy to stack, decent quality, and F U N. The red colour pallette makes them pop out. You can see one from across the store and go, "damn, that's a Nintendo Switch game".

I just want a thousand of them.

I would say a disadvantage, especially compared to the Gamecube games next to them, and even compared to 3ds, is that you can't tell what game you're looking at without going right up to them. These cases are TOO uniform, and really tiny, so i have to triple check I am picking up Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and not Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Meanwhile you can tell exactly what Gamecube games I have by colour pallette alone. Like, you can instantly tell that's Windwaker.

The switch in general is a very fun looking games console, much nicer looking than its predecessor the Wii U, though I'm not sure how I feel about the white of the OLED. But every time I see a Switch Lite in stores, even though I know it's worse than my Switch, I want to buy one. It just looks so FUUUUUN.

And finally a special mention to the 3DS and its games case. The console itself was pretty stylish, if... rudimentary for its release period, but the games cases are high quality and almost make me want to have 3ds games just so I can have the cases.

#nintendo #xbox #playstation #ps5 #series x #ps4 #xbone #nintendo switch #3ds #gaming

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57sfinest · 1 year

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something i’ve been thinking about is the intersection of racism & fascism with conspiracy theories/pseudoscience and the supernatural in disco elysium. it’s a well-documented phenomenon irl and i think the game is very good at easing you into the “levels” of how these things are inherently related.

on the surface you have the racist lorry driver, who literally has “racist” in his epithet and is the most out-and-proud racist-fascist you could possibly meet, and measurehead, another open racist and fascist whose nickname is given to him by his belief in phrenology. here we see these people as pretty much cartoonishly racist and very vocal about *why* they believe these things: it all comes down to pseudoscience. these are people who have been convinced that racism is just a fact, justified by science that others are just too “soft” to recognize. we all know about measurehead and his phrenology and such but the RLD also espouses pseudoscience to justify his racism:

and, in addition to this “supporting” his racist beliefs, on top of this he believes in conspiracy theories like an immigrant *Invasion* and an anti-Occidental (anti-white) “cultural victory”, which sounds suspiciously like real-life “white eradication” conspiracy theories:

okay, this is some obviously deeply racist and fascist shit. but it’s not just this. measurehead goes beyond this and believes in other conspiracy theories unrelated to race supremacy, like his thing with semen retention, which is also a real-life conspiracy thing:

i’ll tie this all up at the end, so let’s move on to the next layer. gary is explicitly identified as a cryptofascist by his epithet. a cryptofascist, for those unfamiliar, is someone whose beliefs and ideals align with fascism but who doesn’t openly identify as such because they’re aware of the social unacceptability of it. if you play the fascist route, you’ll have to play as a cryptofascist in order to maintain positive relationships with NPCs and not take constant morale damage from saying fascist things. gary also says blatantly racist things, and here’s where it gets a little deeper than RLD and measurehead: the very basics of what he says are factually true-- that seol exports microtechnology, for example, which ties them to a lot of global governments-- but these actual facts have been spun by fear and *conspiracy theory* into a load of racist bullshit:

and you can actually see in that half light line at the bottom how the fear leverages belief in this stuff! you can argue against gary this whole time and still, an appeal to *fear* can start to slip in through the cracks. gary opens with facts and logic, devolves into fear and conspiracy spinning, and we get another layer of how racist rhetoric and belief spreads. then, to add another layer to the fear angle, you have plaisance. it’s not fear of immigrants with her, though. she’s afraid of this curse-- the supernatural-- that she thinks will be responsible for ending her business, and in her fear she turned to racist caricature and stereotypes:

it’s not the same as the direct “you’re seolite, fuck you” that RLD directs at kim or the “non-occidentals are inferior” he and measurehead parrot or “immigrants are trying to take over the world” that they and gary all buy into. it’s a far more insidious thing: this is something she takes as fact, so deeply that she doesn’t even *question* it. these nonwhite people are special mystical people with magic and that’s just how it is! while it’s not quite conspiracy theory, it’s supernatural, which functions the same as conspiracy when you talk about how racism is rooted in some fundamental disconnect from reality. and this brings us to our final subject, lena. lena comes in from the same angle, a belief in the supernatural (cryptozoology) that ultimately results in racism. (the juxtaposition of cryptozoology/cryptofascism with morell and gary was not an accident!) she seems like a regular sweet old lady who likes cryptids, until you’re randomly slapped across the face with this:

she believes that seolites are a different *species*, and that’s just a fact to her. you point out the racism and she just doubles down-- no, she’s not trying to be offensive, it can be a good thing actually! that’s just nature, just like the cryptids she loves! it’s just fact! and we see this echoed by plaisance and even gary, where they’ll say something deeply racist and follow it up with “but [x group] is very intelligent/crafty/etc as well!” as though saying this somehow cancels out the racism (when in actuality, these “good traits” are part of what they use to fearmonger about these “other” groups they’re so afraid of).

in general this group of characters serves really well to demonstrate how people who are out of touch with reality in other ways (conspiracy, magic, the supernatural, and some extreme forms of spiritualism) are frequently deeply racist as well, and some of them aren’t even aware or doing it intentionally. it really just comes with the territory, and some people choose to lean into it while others aren’t even aware of it, which is why the process of recognition and unlearning is so important when considering the latter population.

#i see lots of people surprised by lena but i don't think i've ever seen anyone acknowledge what plaisance says #i'm set to do an internship with a linguistics team studying conspiracy theory so i was thinking about this in the game #and wanted to compile a post #because i think the interplay of the racists & their *paranatural* beliefs was a good way of addressing these things #while having limited space in the narrative to actually work with it #this isn't fully comprehensive i know but i think i have the basics covered #unfortunately seol is handled very badly by the writers in general though and i've talked about that before #the racism shit goes all the way down #kiwipost #disco elysium #disco elysium meta #gen meta

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simverses · 5 months

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Blowtorch, updated for EP 15

Maxi's worlds emptied of era specific stuff – made for simmers who wants themed hoods of their choice.

Now updated for EP 15 - For Rent

So, you found T.O.O.L, the super useful mod by Twisted Mexi, and learned how to decorate your sim world.

Blowtorch has another approach. It takes out the items (houses, vehicles, modern deco, well - all silly deco really) from the world. You can then place nicer deco or game items instead.

The items are not hidden from catalogue, so you can place the same items back but in a different place if you so wish. Or use cc deco. Make the world medieval, or Victorian, or sci-fi, or whatever.

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

I have blowtorched almost all the hoods in the worlds, both EP and GP: s (See list below for exceptions.) If you don’t have all EP/GP I recommend to delete the ones you don’t have before installing.

(Save the zip with the mod somewhere safe so you can add new worlds when you add a new EP/GP with a world.)

Here are some general rules I went by:

- All landmarks, architecture deco, street deco, vehicles, with special effects - blowtorched

- Functional objects: outside tables, playground items, and such – blowtorched. Place them again where you want them!

- All lights, both streetlights and built in hood lights, blowtorched.

- All palm trees, ever pink trees, wispy modern beeches, and other modern plants, blowtorched. (I of course kept the palm trees in Sulani and Selvadorada)

- Visual effects belonging to vehicles and other stuff mentioned above, blowtorched. No modern yachts, no airplanes.

- The lights are gone. The world will be dark at night if you don’t place streetlights or such.

WHAT I KEPT

I kept all spawners. All the fishing spots and all the bugs, frogs, dig sites, wild growing plants.

Lighting mod included

This mod also includes the Sunblind lighting mod by Softerhaze. Lighting mods also change these files, so I added Sunblind with the creator's permission. Read more about their mod here.

This updated version includes the update from Softerhaze after EP 15. It includes EP-15 files but they also updated changes to EP3 and EP9. All are included with my new update.

https://softerhaze.itch.io/sunblind?download Read more here!

(You do not need to download or install the mod; it is included in the Blowtorch mod.)

If you want another lighting mod or no lighting mod, you need to edit the files manually.

This is done by replacing the resources “Sky Box Texture Data” and “World Timeline Color”.

ECO LIFESTYLE NOTE!

Unfortunately the Evergreen Harbor world that came with Eco Lifestyle (EP 9) has some special evil magic and the deco needs hiders anyway. If you play with that world and want it to be BLOWTORCHED, install the file ELHoodHidersMerged in your Mods folder.

Other recommended mods:

Check out T.O.O.L and Twisted Mexis other mods here: https://twistedmexi.com/Mods/

To add deco stuff outside lots:

T.O.O.L – at Tmexis page you also find information about his CAW-project, still in alpha testing.

Zerbu has a couple of super useful mods:

All Worlds are Residential https://zerbu.tumblr.com/post/173398784785/the-sims-4-mod-all-worlds-are-residential

Venue changes https://zerbu.tumblr.com/post/160347810775/the-sims-4-mod-venue-changes

Twelfth Doctor has a great mod for travelling to all the hidden/special lots, so you can edit them: https://td1sims.tumblr.com/post/635457539495084032/travel-to-venue

Q&A about Blowtorch mod

1. Can I use this on my old saves?

2. Why are there stuff not deleted? Annoying modern fences in Windenburg Ugly Modern Business district, for example?

Answer: some items are a part of the world mesh and is not yet possible to edit. If there will be a solution later, I will update the mod.

3. Will I have to update the mod after patches and new expansions?

4. I don’t have EP X or Y – can I use the Blowtorch mod?

Answer: Yes, but I recommend deleting the folders for EP/GP you don’t have. See list in the PDF-file with documentation.

Where to find nice themed hood deco to use with Blowtorch?

You can basically use any item, from game or CC, to decorate hoods. Try out the options with T.O.O.L to change the size of objects!

Note: I know its confusing with all the files to download, due to the upload limits. In short: The Backup files - you don't DO anything with them, if you don't want to uninstall the mod. You can also use Repair game in Origin/EA App, it does the same thing.

If you have difficulties with the installation, please DM me and I will help.

My Empty Save File - Start Fresh!

I also updated my Empty Save to include Tomarang. A totally empty save with no houses and no sims besides my lonely builder sim.

Download Blowtorch here (SimsFileShare)

Download Simverses Empty Save here (Curseforge)

#sims 4 #sims 4 cc #sims historical #sims 4 cc updated #sims 4 save file #sims 4 blowtorch

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pokeberry5 · 29 days

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do you have any tips for drawing dynamic poses? i always love the way you draw bodies!!

i know this has been said a million times but the way i draw bodies significantly improved after i started drawing more frequently from reference. if i cant find a reference for a pose on the internet, i'll just use myself or a friend. i spend an unfortunate amount of time just standing in front of my mirror looking at my own joints. pay attention to where your body curves!!

other than that though—honestly my anatomy/pose knowledge is a whack amalgamation of art tips i've accumulated over the years (i miss old school deviantart/tumblr style art tutorials). i also like to look at how artists i admire draw bodies—what details to they include, what anatomical short-hands etc

i think i'm still figuring out how to draw dynamic poses, but here are some cheats i've picked up (under the cut coz this got long again):

gonna use this stray!tim as a base

the easiest way for make up a pose is to start roughly with the head, collarbones, ribcage, and pelvis — you can build everything from there

here's a couple more of what i mean by the ribcage-pelvis deconstruction:

2. push your perspective a little!! imo things look more dynamic if you move your sight-line up or down—the horizontal orange line here. if you look at the panels above, the sight lines tend to be a little low, at around the character's torso or waist. i did the same below with stray!tim

to do this i usually try to get a sense of the space im working in by putting in some sloppy perspective grids

3. S curves!!! exaggerate the lines of the body. the body naturally has parallel horizontal lines—an easy way to get a body to look less rigid is to tilt those horizontal lines which in turn curves the vertical line of the body

this is what a mean by horizontal lines—usually i use the eyes, shoulders, and hips:

i'm gonna use caterina as a better example—usually you want the horizontal lines to sort of zigzag:

i've also picked up a couple visual tricks that don't exactly add dynamism to a pose? but they do give a static pose a little more oomph. a lot of this is done by visually highlighting one specific point of the body

for our purposes, i'm gonna make the focal point tim's face

motion blur! there are a couple ways to do this. i actually dont like working with traditional motion blur because you have to mess around with selections, so i usually fake motion blur using postional perspective blur:

2. gradient lighting—you can add a lot of depth this way. usually i like setting the gradient in the direction of the focal point, e.g. tim's face

below, i added a layer above the base drawing, used an airbrush to get this gradient, and then set the layer to color burn and lowered the opacity. you can also clip the lighting layer to the base drawing and set it to multiply

below, i did the opposite—instead of adding a gradient shadow, i added gradient light. i set the layer to add this time (instead of color burn) and then lowered the opacity again.

this kinda serves to desaturate the parts of the piece that are less important (ish i was kinda sloppy here), driving the eye to face—the most saturated. the motion blur does a similar thing, where the only thing "in focus" is tim's face

the gradient also sort of adds a directionality to the piece—it starts at the bottom right corner and goes up towards the upper left, causing your eye to follow that same path, which drags your gaze up tim's body

here's what it looks like when i combine 1 and 2:

3. chromatic aberration's been pretty popular recently. it does a similar thing as perspective blur but with more eyestrain (although i went with a really exaggerated version below just to show you what it does) but it looks cool!

bonus cryptid tim as a reward for getting to the end :-)

#red talks #sart #art tutorial #YeAH UH this got long lmaooo i was on the bus for a Sec plotting this out so #also i am neck deep in a reincarnation/regression manhwa stress hyperfixation so i havent had the brain space to draw #so you get this instead!#if anyone wants recs lemme know lol #thank you anon :)))

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adobe-outdesign · 5 months

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Will you review the Maraquan pets? I think Buzz is my favorite based on design, and there are so many really creative/punny ones. Personally, I’ve never liked Wocky.

Maraqua is probably one of Neopets' most distinct lands given that it's, you know, underwater. The idea of making a color that fits with the Atlantis-esq aesthetic just makes logical sense, and the actual designs tend to be pretty cool. I like how there's actual thought put into how [X] Neopet would function if it was adapted to life underwater, with the bubbling pit area vaguely implying it might be a natural mutation (given the amount of "painted" Maraquan pets we see in Maraqua).

Maraquan also didn't do too badly with customization, mostly because they're not compatible with normal clothing anyway so the poses are at least somewhat distinct. That said, it is weird that they changed the poses at all; they already have to have clothing drawn specifically for them, so why force things like fists onto some of them? It's so weird.

Even weirder is the seemingly arbitrary decisions regarding which ones got UC versions; Maraquan Chombys barely changed at all yet somehow got a UC, while Maraquan Zafaras changed drastically but never got a UC. What gives?

(I can't count it on the favorites list because there are too many good still-obtainable Maraquan pets, but shoutout to the unconverted Maraquan Zafara for being one of my favorite Maraquan pets. Shame it's no more.)

Favorite Species:

Gelert: While the unconverted Maraquan Zafara is my all-time favorite Maraquan pet, the Maraquan Gelert is a very close second, and is definitely my fav if we're talking pets that are still obtainable. I love Maraquan pets where the design is just abstract, taking cues from various sea creatures without being a 1:1 parallel of them, and the Gelert is particularly beautiful in this respect. It plays with the Gelert's long ears and tails by making it vaguely eel-ish—adding in a back fin, a few spots, and a lovely green and purple color scheme.

The UC version is particularly gorgeous, having this lovely flow that curves back from the head and leads straight into the curled tail. The converted version is still fine, as it's a fairly accurate recreation all things considered, but the pose is much more awkward (the body suggests an S shape, but the paws and ears are going opposite directions and the chest sticks out too much).

It does, however, at least fix the shading; for some reason the UC Maraquan Gelert has one layer of shading with no highlights or shadows to speak of, which is really weird. (See the above, which is an edit I made years ago that just adds the layers of shading that the actual UC is missing. The lineart should also probably be thinner but I digress.) Anyway, the point is that both are beautiful designs.

Uni: Maraquan Uni are also really beautiful. Similar to a Peophin (arguably too much so, but hey, there's no Maraquan Peophin at the time of writing anyway), they've swapped their legs for a tail and their wings and mane have become fins themselves, with a pretty curved horn and some subtle striping to boot. Even better, the converted version is basically the same as the old art, so there's no difficulty in obtaining one (other than the PB cost, of course).

Lutari: While there are still a lot of great abstract Maraquan designs that I love (Eyrie, Draik, etc.), I have to give a shoutout to the Lutari for being a really great design based off of an obvious animal (in this case, an axolotl). The cream and pink color scheme is lovely, and I love the subtle mottle gradients on its limbs. The multiple sets of ears forming the gills is fantastic, the tail is pretty, the black claws add contrast, and it still reads really clearly as a Lutari despite the animal influence. Really good stuff.

Least Favorite Species:

Kacheek: The Maraquan Kacheek just looks incredibly uncanny to me. The best Maraquan pets are either ambiguous or choose an animal that fits the Neopet, but here they just... took a Kacheek head and slapped it on a goldfish body??? Don't like that at all. The head in isolation isn't terrible and I could see it working on a more Kacheek-ish torso, but this... no. At least it's nicely drawn on a technical level, I suppose?

#neopets #neotag #maraquan #gelert #uni #lutari #kacheek #neopet reviews

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thesims4blogger · 1 month

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“Urban Homage” and “Party Essentials” Kits Announced

After a small leak yesterday, The Sims 4 officially announced its next two kits:��Urban Homage and Party Essentials.

The first one comes in collaboration with @Ebonix, and is said to bring inspiration on 90s and 2000s fashion from London, UK. The other one, as its name suggests, focuses on party decoration, including a disco ball and a fog machine.

Both kits are coming out next Thursday, April 18th, so we can expect a patch on the 16th. Read the full blog announcement below.

On Point Looks and New Party Vibes

The Sims 4 Urban Homage and Party Essentials Kits Are Coming to The Sims 4

The party is just getting started! Step onto the scene in the trendiest threads and set the stage for unforgettable celebrations this season in The Sims 4.

With The Sims 4 Urban Homage and Party Essentials Kits, players can style their Sims in Simmer and gaming content creator, Ebonix’s favorite London city-inspired fashion and deck out party venues with festive decor for electrifying celebrations that will get Sims buzzing.

90s Vibes and Vibrant Motifs

Dress to impress with The Sims 4 Urban Homage Kit, created in collaboration with multi-award-winning gaming content creator and DE&I advocate, Danielle “Ebonix” Udogaranya.

Turn heads and make your Sim stand out as the ultimate virtual style icon with looks that offer a fresh take on nostalgic London city-inspired 90s and Noughties (a UK expression for the years between 2000 to 2009) fashion trends, with lively patterns, vibrant graffiti motifs and eye-catching accessories. These modern looks are bold and unapologetic, inspired by a time and place near and dear to Ebonix.

With striking ensembles and statement pieces such as iconic overalls, butterfly tops, eye-catching layered jewelry and glamorous new nails, Sims can confidently strut in style and express their individuality in more ways than ever before. Advertisement

“When I came up with Urban Homage, the pitch [to Maxis] was paying homage to the 80s, 90s, and 00s,” says Ebonix. “[The Kit] is inspired by the urban chic culture which highlights the innovation, diversity and vibrancy that city life fosters which I very much embrace as part of my day to day wears. So with that said, I wanted to bring to life some timeless pieces that tap into eras that we draw inspiration from and are still the blueprint of fashion innovation to this day, with a variety of outfits that are dynamic and vibrant, traditional and contemporary, and rich with cultural trends!

Fun fact: The numbers on the basketball shorts are actually the birthdays of Ebonix’s mom (24), dad (18), best friend (16), goddaughter (14) and her own (10)! She felt this would be such a beautiful, personal touch to commemorate and pay homage to the people who mean the absolute world to me.”

Celebrate with Flair

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Form your group and let the good times roll in style. Shpansa!

The Sims 4 Urban Homage and Party Essentials Kits will be available on April 18, 2024 on PC via EA app™, Mac® via Origin, Epic Games Store and Steam®, PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One systems.

The Sims 4 Urban Homage and Party Essentials Kits require The Sims 4 base game, available free to download with all game updates. See minimum system requirements for the pack.

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princeloww · 7 months

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Stuff We Know About Campbell Bain (From Both the Show and the Play)

Since the play has some things that clash/contradict with the show, things I've taken from the SHOW will be marked (S) and the PLAY (P).

- (P) Campbell comes from a small place (Hector calls it "dead wee") called Invergellen, which is in the middle of nowhere. There are not a lot of job options, but there does seem to be some kind of tourism industry - the only job options Campbell can list are "sheep", "fish" and "tourists".

- (P) Campbell's dad lies about where Campbell is, telling people that he's off doing a youth volunteer placement in Africa. He even makes Campbell lie to his friends about it, too. Campbell says it's because he doesn't want anybody in Invergellen finding out. He also says his dad is reluctant to visit too often, out of fear that people will grow suspicious of his trips to Glasgow.

- (P) Campbell has siblings: an older brother and an older sister. His brother owns his own building company, and his sister works in Forestry - possibly for the government? Regardless, Campbell views his siblings as very successful and compares himself to them. He also believes that his dad compares him to them, and calls himself a "loser" who's "never gonnae amount to anything".

- (S) Despite having many past jobs and dreams he was seemingly dead set on achieving, Campbell states that he's never been good at anything other than the radio. He includes flirting with/getting girls in the things he's bad at. He also only learnt guitar to impress said girls, but must have failed pretty miserably based on his comment.

- (S) Before Campbell came to St. Judes, things must have been hard at home/school. Campbell's dad says that his mother is so worked up about the whole thing that she's had to take medicine, and (P) Campbell says that his dad says he "doesn't want to put (Campbell's aunt) through what (Campbell) put (Campbell's dad) through".

- (P) Campbell is excited when his dad is coming, and he is disappointed with him constantly letting him down/not showing up. I believe that Campbell's parents do love him and do TRY to understand him, but simply don't, and end up thinking/acting selfishly instead. They want to help but do not understand their son, and therefore do not give him the support he needs. Whatever Campbell "put them through" was likely due to them not understanding him or knowing how to react to his condition, or the education system and teachers also struggling to understand and accommodate for his needs.

I assume worry was also a big part of what he "put them through", but the line about Campbell's auntie still rubs me the wrong way.

- (S/P) Campbell's dad believes the radio is just another one of Campbell's "loony ideas" and thinks he is manic. Campbell (P) seems disappointed by this, and says he thought he'd be proud of him. Which is just kind of heartbreaking.

- (P) Campbell has to be wrestled by Stuart as he screams at his dad, the doctor and then eventually Stuart, too, to "fuck off". Which is very sad but also kind of funny because Stuart deserves that. This is after he finds out he has to go back to Invergellen (before he then fakes the manic episode).

- (P) Campbell believed he was the greatest comedian in Britain at one point and even went to the BBC in Glasgow to tell them. They were less eager to give him a chance and ended up calling the police on him. He says it's "kind of how" he "ended up" in St. Judes, which adds a bit of an extra layer onto (S) the police being called on him, Fergus and Rosalie when they snuck out.

There's probably, definitely more that I've forgotten to mention, but there's what I've got. There's obviously also the big difference between the show and the play with Perth/Invergellen, which makes some things canon only in the play and others only canon in the show. I'm totally choosing to take Campbell's siblings from the play and accept them as canon all around though,,, and the extra family details we get too.

OK thats all, stay proud loonies

(Sources - Takin' Over the Asylum (TV), Takin' Over the Asylum (official stage play script book))

#takin over the asylum #takin' over the asylum #taking over the asylum #campbell bain #campbell bain takin over the asylum #david tennant #i love campbell bain #TOTA #TOTA stage play #TOTA script book #was this an excuse to just talk about campbell #yes it was #im not ashamed #im a loony for god's sake

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