#(it doesn't really but i usually look for certain lighting ranges)

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The one with the vampire royals and their doll Part 13

Series masterlist

Ateez Hongjoong x Seonghwa x reader

Genres and warnings: vampire Matz X reader, strangers to lovers, mature language, mentions of intimacy, minors dni, best friend Yeosang x Wooyoung, humor, fluff

Word count: 1.4k

You've had enough with the feud between your boyfriends and Wooyoung, so you take matters into your own hands.

Ever since Hongjoong and Seonghwa had you for the first time, they've been insatiable. Hongjoong would come knocking on your door before you left for work, wanting to warm you up for the day. Seonghwa would take his time with you afterwards, under the fairy lights in your room.

Weekends and the odd days were for both of them, and you always felt like you ran a marathon afterwards.

You weren't complaining. No, far from that.

It amazed you how much they wanted you, and you took it all in.

Your life was pretty much perfect, if you take out the fact that Yeosang and Wooyoung haven't been in the same room as your boyfriends since the incident you had.

Sometimes Seonghwa asks you about them, just so that he can make a joke about setting Wooyoung straight. You know he doesn't mean it, but it makes you wonder how it will all end up in the end. You want them to get along, it's not something you can negotiate on.

Because of that, you decided to take matters into your own hands. They'd have to sit together and talk like adults.

"My love, where do you want me to set the pastries? Are we eating in the living room or?"

You turned to Seonghwa, noting how cute he looked with his flowy white dress shirt, holding a tray of pink cupcakes. He looked absolutely out of place in his almost regal attire, standing in your small kitchen.

"I'm back!"

Both of your heads turned to the hallway, seeing Hongjoong enter with his hands full. He offered to go get your drinks, but he was gone longer than usual.

"Hi love, where have you been?"

Hongjoong placed a kiss on Seonghwa's lips before reaching for you and doing the same, as if he hadn't seen you an hour before.

"Sorry about that. I ran into your little friend, Y/N."

You froze, knowing what would come next.

Hongjoong placed the bags on the counter, seemingly too casual for your liking.

"Imagine my surprise, doll, when he said he was coming over to your place for movie night."

Seonghwa was now next to his husband, curious about what he said.

"Really? What an odd thing for him to say." You tried brushing it off, but Hongjoong was persistent.

"Is it? I found it quite odd as well, seeing how you invited us over for movie night as well. Maybe he got the days wrong, hm?"

You only managed to nod, trying to stall as much as you could. Yeosang and Wooyoung would be here any minute, and you were determined to see this through.

"Maybe, you know how he gets. Silly Yeosang."

The men glanced at each other, Seonghwa giving the blonde man a smirk.

"Y/N, my love, are you hiding something from us?"

"No! Why would I do that? Come on now, Hwa. We need to arrange the coffee table, the movie is about to start."

"We're using your Netflix, baby. We start the movie when we want." Hongjoong said, making his way over to you.

"Tell me... Is Yeosang bringing over a certain someone with him?"

You gulped, raking your brain for an excuse when the doorbell rang. Seonghwa chuckled, placing the cupcakes on the counter.

"Now, I wonder who that could be?"

"I'll get it! You stay put and please!" You pointed a finger a them. "Please, behave!"

Without waiting for a response, you walked towards your front door where you heard laughing from the other side. Opening it up, there stood a blushing Yeosang with his boyfriend wrapped around him.

"Hi there!" You said, trying to sound casual.

Wooyoung's eyes lit up.

"Y/N! Oh, I missed you so much!"

He detached himself from Yeosang and jumped straight into your arms. You chuckled awkwardly, gesturing for them to come inside.

"Now, now. It's been a week, how can you miss me so much?"

"That's too long! I love seeing your beautiful face every day!"

"Is that so?"

The three of you snapped your hands towards the living room, where your two boyfriends stood with their arms crossed. Hongjoong was the one who spoke first, smirking at Wooyoung's surprised expression.

"You like our girl that much?"

The poor boy almost pushed you off, taking a step back and trying to hide behind Yeosang.

"No! Not at all!"

Seonghwa stepped forward. "So, you don't like her? Why not?"

"That's not... No, I... Oh God!"

Wooyoung wrapped his arms around Yeosang's waist.

"Sangie, I love you. I will always love you. Light of my life, my precious emerald, my hero..."

"Cut it out, Woo. They're messing with you." Yeosang said to his boyfriend, amused by the whole situation.

"Are you?" He asked timidly, glancing over Yeosang's shoulder.

"Boys?" You questioned, glaring in their direction.

They looked at each other, nodding after a seemingly quiet conversation.

"We're messing with you." Seonghwa said finally, and all of the tension melted away.

"Oh thank God." Wooyoung sighed, placing a hand over his heart.

"But we do need to talk, don't you think?" Hongjoong added, gesturing for all of you to sit.

After making yourself comfortable between your boyfriends, you looked over at the two men trying to fit on your sofa. Wooyoung was adamant they could fit, and in the end he placed himself on Yeosang's lap.

"There. Now, I believe you owe us an explanation, is that right Wooyoung?" Seonghwa asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

You knew your men were well behaved all the time, but for some reason they enjoyed making Wooyoung squirm.

"All I can say at this point is... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I messed up. I just..." Wooyoung stopped, taking Yeosang's hand in his. He couldn't even look at the men in front of him, opting to entertain himself with Yeosang's fingers.

"I was young, not well trained, but I was ambitious. If I had known how much the rings meant to you... I would have never offered to do the spell. I was over confident, and I realise that now."

There was a moment of silence between all of you, until Hongjoong chuckled. You looked at him, ready to scold him again, but he only smiled at you.

"Wooyoung, we aren't mad. It was a long time ago, right? We just wished you stayed back then to help us reverse the spell. We wanted to help you in any way we could, but you just... Disappeared."

Wooyoung nodded along, gathering up the courage to look at the two men.

"If I had known that... I'm sorry. My first instinct was to run, so I did. I wish I had done things differently."

"It's okay now, Wooyoung. Faith decided to bring us back together, and we know how much Yeosang means to Y/N. We'd never want to ruin that. As much as we want to continue messing with you -"

"Hey! Did I now tell you to behave?" You cut Seonghwa off, but he only kissed you briefly.

"If I may continue, my love. We want to, but we won't. So please, don't hide from us anymore. We still have to tell Yeosang and Y/N about the time you worked in the circus as a fortune teller."

Both you and Yeosang gasped.

"What? You scammed people?" You said, amused by the information.

"No! Of course not! I'm a warlock, remember? I know some things. I had to make money, somehow." Wooyoung was almost offended by your question, but the room soon burst into laughter.

The night went on smoothly afterwards, with your boyfriends making Wooyoung squirm a few more times. He took it like a champ, even firing back at them, and they let him off the hook.

When you said your goodbyes, you plopped back onto the couch, snuggling into Hongjoong's side.

"That was fun." You said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Fun? Sure. You're quite sneaky, my doll."

"She is, isn't she?" Seonghwa added, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel before making his way over to you. He snuggled into your side, reaching over to hold Hongjoong's hand.

"Do you think we should do something about that, my star?"

The men glanced at each other before looking back at you.

It was obvious where they were headed, and you were more than ready for them.

"I think she might need a lesson or two. What do you say, my love? Are you ready for it?"

You looked at both of them, noticing how their eyes changed to their natural colour. Seonghwa's bright red stood out more, but Hongjoong's deep burgundy made you shiver almost immediately.

"I'm always ready for you. My bedroom would be perfect for the lesson, don't you think?"

.

.

.

[ohno-the-sun]

Oh uh forgot to ask in the previous ask (the one with the digital piece of candy and scurrying and stuff)

How do you draw art so good

Like

Is there a method you use or is that just the style you've gotten over time?

you've activated my trap card

I'm just gonna preface that this tutorial is from someone who was not professionally trained and didn't have a lot of free time for art, so a lot of the tips I have is short cuts I use to get the best results quickly

If you genuinely want to get better at art then please look at references and practice that is always the best

However if you are like me and only really do art for fun but want to go faster then these are for you pfppt

Overall I'd say my style is influenced by speedpaints I would watch when I was younger, I like analyzing how people do things and what makes something look "good" to me

I always recommend watching them because they will often have techniques you've never seen before or do things a certain way that you can try out yourself

I consume good art, it feeds me

but seriously it can be super helpful when developing your own methodology, or just generally trying something new

Usually it starts with me pulling some references from artists I really admire and sort of sketching out how they do the things I like

For example 8um8le has like super good anatomy and poses so I focused on trying to replicate how they do that

venemous-qwille is super good at color and pulling focus so that's what I focused on in my study of them

In general I'd say my process is sketch -> silhouette -> color -> shading -> render

I really don't like doing lineart lol

I'd say for the sketch the most important part is using references and just kind of fudging it until it looks correct anatomically/physically

General rule of thumb is spend time on areas of interest, and keep non important areas light (like the stitching on his pants)

I don't do lineart because I think its unnecessary for most paintings I do

I naturally tend to put more time and focus on areas of interest (like hands and feet) and if you use a brush with opacity for the sketch, those areas are naturally going to be darker in the final sketch

Of course this is gonna be different for everyone but it's what works for me

Sometimes I do a really really sketchy layer underneath my sketch/lineart, just so I know where everything is going

Use thumbnails! They are great to help figure out the general layout of things and what pose I wanna do

Next is what I call the "silhouette" layer

This is super important for me cause it helps me refine the figure and make sure the pose/anatomy looks correct, also depending on what color I choose for the silhouette helps guide what colors I'm going to use on top

This piece is a good example of how it works. The silhouette shows me how the figure interacts with the background, how the pose looks and if its any good

The silhouette layer doesn't have to be super clean, as long as it follows the sketch decently well and shows where the figure is then its fine

I also sometimes make the silhouette layer multiple colors to help guide shading and vibe

Next is the coloring layer. I usually make this a clipping layer on top of the silhouette layer, or I change the silhouette layer to alpha lock, either way it saves me time on coloring everything in

Sometimes I am super rough with the coloring too, using like an airbrush or my fav watercolor brush just to generically block in color where I want it

Works out cause most objects have like a bounce light to them from surrounding objects, so this is sort of a cheat I use to get that effect without all the work lol

Also don't be afraid to have the lower silhouette layer shining through, having multiple colors sort of subtly shining through the piece helps lots

Next is the shading layer, this is usually another clipping layer, usually set to "multiply"

The colors I pick here is usually within this range, any color works, just depends on the piece and vibes.

Since this piece is set in a sunset forest I choose a more desaturated orange for the shading layer

I know there's a whole thing about multiply layer being a crutch (and it kind of it) but it is a useful tool when you just want some darker values across the piece but don't want to go through the process of color picking every single darker shade

Also in my opinion it looks better than picking a darker color and setting it to a lower opacity, idk I just think the color has more "depth"

Next is the hardest to explain, sort of the vibes layer

Usually its just a layer of more concentrated color on top of the normal color and I fudge with the settings and values until I get a result I like

Next is the longest step, is the "extra" or the render stage.

Usually I add a background before this step so that if I need to merge the figure better with the background I can

If I render with a white background but he's supposed to be in a dark forest, its going to mess with the lighting severely

Also this is when I add more "vibe" layers on top to get the figure to match the background better

Backgrounds in general I recommend checking out @/derekdomnicdsouza on instagram he's got lots of great tutorials for breaking down backgrounds simply

I'd say general rule for the rendering layer is to focus on the areas of interest and spend less time on areas you don't care about

I even blur stuff out on the edges I don't want people to see, partially to save time on fixing mistakes in areas I dont care about (oop), but mainly to help draw the eye to the areas I do want people to focus on

Theoretically parts of the background should like mesh with the characters, parrallel lines are a no no unless they are directing a viewer to look somewhere, things that are perpendicular help bring things together

tbh I'm still not the best at layout and probably need more practice, but overall this is what I like doing

Overall this is what my layer set up ends up being

Sort of a sandwich with the lineart/sketch as the "meat" lol

Color and basic shading below the sketch, clean-up and rendering on top

I like this method cause it's super flexible if I ever want to try something different or try to replicate someone's style

I can make each step less or more messy depending on the end result and can add a lineart layer if need be. Also if there's a part that is straight up not working or needs to be removed its super easy to do cause I can just paint over it on the "extras" layer, color picking from the surrounding area to get the same vibe

Generally rule of thumb for my style is: get the initial layout of colors, form and shading to look good, then the rendering should be smooth sailing

Really the best advice I can give to get better at art is to enjoy what you're doing and become very very obsessed with drawing a silly little guy

You'll eventually get very good at drawing them pfptpf

[another-random-paradise]

Hi hi!!

Could I request a (London 24) Greaseball, Electra, Dinah, and Rusty cuddle Hc :-). Also have a good Day/Night and drink lots of water!!

Cuddles

Thank you for the request!! Tbh I love cuddles, so all of these ended up a bit long hahaha, hope you enjoy <3

---------------------------------------------------------

Characters cuddling with reader

Characters: Greaseball, Electra, Dinah, Rusty

Format: Headcanons

Version: London revival 2024

Warnings: none!

Greaseball

-Refuses to be the small spoon, thinks it would make her seem weak

-Likes to just hold you, really. Her personal favourite is the two of you laying down somewhere, you laying on her chest with her arms around you!  Basic, but good :) plus, this way she gets to use you as a weighted blanket; something she didn't know she needed

-Falls asleep pretty fast. The moment you two lay/sit down, and you're comfortably in her arms, she's out like a light. 

-She always claims that she's just tired after a day of hard work, but really she finds cuddling with you oddly comforting, like she can just escape her busy schedule for a bit

-Has a death grip on you, once she's asleep, you aren't going anywhere. I also believe her to be a deep sleeper, so waking her up isn't easy either (she'd also be moody if woken up)

-Despite that, if you do manage to escape her grip, for whatever reason, she is up within the minute, and she is not happy. Will hunt you down, especially if it's already late out, and drag you back to your cuddle spot, probably while grumbling something incohesive

-Another type of cuddle she likes is to just come up behind you randomly throughout the day, wrap her arms around you, and not let go till she has to go back to work

-Doesn't care if you're in a conversation with someone, you're her partner! She doesn't even pretend to care about the conversation; if the other person asks what she's doing or tries to include her in the conversation, she will just stare them down

-You'd have to be the one to tell her you don't want to cuddle at the moment, she'd act annoyed and grumble about it, but ultimately respect your wishes

--she just really enjoys holding you, it makes her feel like your protector :)

Electra

-While they're more reserved in public, in private they're as affectionate as can be!

-Always has to be touching you in some way when it's just you two, or when the only ones around are their components, so they're always happy to cuddle 

-While they don't mind being the little spoon, they prefer to be the big spoon - they enjoy holding you a lot, it makes them feel important. It also shows them that you have a certain level of trust in them :) 

-I don't think they're the type to fall asleep while cuddling, they much prefer to give their attention to you; talking about nothing in specific, maybe discussing the newest gossip, simply relaxing in each others arms..

-Don't worry about falling asleep yourself, though! again, to them it simply shows how much trust you have in them! They also adore how peaceful you look asleep - simply adorable in their opinion

-They'd admire your sleeping form, perhaps run a hand through your hair.. and while they won't fall asleep themself, they'll use the moment to relax a bit, closing their eyes and just enjoying the peace and quiet - which seems to be something very rare in this chaos of a yard

-Starlight forbid someone tries to wake you up, though. They already hate it when others interrupt you two - but if they might wake you? Nothing a small electric shock, of varying strength depending on who it is, and a mean glare, can't fix though 

-The only time they'll fall asleep while cuddling, is if you're cuddling at night, and even then they're probably awake before you. Chances are, you won't ever see them sleep, unless you got a very messed up sleep schedule or get up before the crack of dawn

-If you're okay with it, the components may occasionally join your little cuddle sessions! Usually after a especially rough day, could range from just one or two, to all of you creating a straight up cuddle pile. But if you want it to just be you and Electra, they completely respect that

-The amount of cuddles would increase in the winter - especially if you aren't a electric, and therefore naturally produce warmth! Electrics don't produce any heat, so the winter is even crueler to them, than it is already are to everyone else; and cuddling, especially somewhere cozy, just happens to be a very nice way to warm up :)

-If you're a steam engine, or in other words literally run on fire, they would just not let go of you in the winter

Dinah

-Literally the sweetest, will take any chance she can get to be affectionate with you! 

-Another one that doesn't care whether she is the little or the big spoon, though she is more used to being the little spoon

-I would recommend letting her, at least occasionally, be the big spoon, though! especially after a rough day, her hold is really comforting!

-But no matter how you two are cuddled up, it is always a really soft and sweet moment; you two are usually talking about whatever comes to mind - anything from a deep discussion about the state of the world, to planning your next date, nothings off the table :)

-While she claims not to have a favourite cuddle position, she adores it whenever you two are cuddled up on the couch, with a warm drink in hand, and her head on your shoulder. Bonus points if it's in the winter, and you two are quietly watching the snow fall

-doesn't really care if anyone walked in on you two cuddling, she's very open about her affection for you, and she would love it if you are two!

- She's the type to randomly just stare at you while cuddling, with nothing but love in her eyes - if you ask her why, she'll simply say that she's wondering how she got so lucky :)

-She would also randomly attack you with kisses - a bunch of small pecks wherever she can reach, before finishing with a final peck on the lips, and giggling about it; especially if you blush because of it, she loves making you blush!

-However, if you respond in kind she'll be redder than her hair! ;) 

-One of her dream dates would be the two of you watching stars together, while cuddling on a picnic blanket! Maybe you were watching the sunset together beforehand, maybe as a spontaneous idea.. all she really cares about is your time together 

-If you're a racer, she'll give you a hug before and after every race, that lasts long enough to might as well be considered cuddling! If you actually win a race, or even just place on the podium, she'll almost tackle you in the excitement! 

Rusty

- All you could ever wish for in the winter, and your worst nightmare in the summer

-Seriously, Steam engines run hot! it would be like sleeping right next to the fire place, or cuddling with a living, really warm, heating pad

-You'd probably end up still cuddling in the summer, because he loves being close to you, but it would be more you holding onto his arm - he wants to get closer, but understands you not wanting to overheat

-...also the first few nights, during your first summer together, he probably thought he did something to upset you, and that's why you don't want to cuddle, and you just couldn't stand that sad look of his 

-It's a whole different story during winter, though! You'd probably be the one holding onto him all day! and he wouldn't mind at all, were it not for work

-But the moment he's off the clock, he's speeding directly into your arms :)

- You guys would end up in all kinds of different cuddle positions, all your limbs usually tangled by the end of it

-I don't think he has a favourite position, nor does he care about being the big or the little spoon, he just wants to be as close as possible to you. He isn't exactly used to being this loved, so he'll take anything he can get

-continuing with my last point, when you guys cuddled for the first time, he was really awkward. He didn't know where to put his limbs, or how he should hold you - or if he should hold you at all!

-you'd have to have given him a lot of pointers, and take charge of getting comfortable for the first few times you guys cuddled. After he got the hang of it, though? Absolute cuddle bug, he never wants to let go of you

-If you cuddle at night, getting up in the morning would be really hard for him. Why should he get up and go to work, when he can stay here, cuddled up to you? He contemplates calling in sick every time

-Similarly, getting home from work and falling into your arms is like a reward, one that he looks forward to every day!

--He really just loves being close to you!

Hope you enjoyed!! I definitely enjoyed writing it :)

Feedback is always welcome, just pls be nice about it

Take care of yourself and have a lovely night/day <3

[monsterblogging]

Fuck JKR: How To Create A Harry Potter-Esque Aesthetic Without Any Harry Potter In It

So I saw a few posts from people mentioning that a reason people might be into Harry Potter is because of the aesthetic or atmosphere, and ya know what? I can't even argue that, because if there's one thing about HP, it's that it Sure Does Have Aesthetic And Atmosphere.

So! I'm gonna tell you how to STEAL ITS LOOK! Because:

JK Rowling considers ANY support of her work to be support of her politics.

Fan content/fan merch is still free advertisement for Rowling's work. YOU might not choose to give her money, but you can't be sure you won't pull people into the fandom who will.

Everyone should create more things that aren't tied to corporate-owned IP, period.

So. Most things in these films have an aged, antique look. You'll see a lot of brown hues, both on sets and on people's clothes. There's a lot of near-blacks (especially charcoals and walnuts) and lighter grays on the sets, especially from the third film onwards. (Wood is more often than not stained dark, while lighter hues are often provided by bricks or plaster.) The last two films use a lot of stormy blues and grays. Prisoner of Azkaban also emphasizes contrast between tones, which heightens a sense of texture. True black also appears throughout the films, such as on students' uniforms and many Death Eaters' outfits, and on the chairs in Malfoy Manor. White appears occasionally, especially on Hedwig, students' shirts, or during winter scenes, but pure white isn't otherwise really common. Paper or parchment is usually warm beige. There's also a lot of silver, gold, and brass, often appearing on things like dishware, tools, trinkets, Christmas baubles, and so forth. Bronze also comes up occasionally.

Reds, yellows, blues, and greens are pretty common throughout the films, even outside of Hogwarts, though you'll see just about every color somewhere. For example, orange is often found around the Weasleys, and orange, maroon, and purple feature in the divination classroom. Teal features prominently in Grimmauld Place (contrasted with saffron yellows).

Most colors aren't really super bright; a lot of the time they look a little faded, or like they're colored with natural dyes. If you use medieval illustrations to source your colors, or aim for earth tones and jewel tones, you'll be about right for a lot of what you see in the films. Bright colors are pretty rare; some of the brights we do see are in Honeydukes, Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, and certain magical effects, such as Floo fire.

A lot of light is provided by candles, torches, or fireplaces, which cast a warm yellow/orange light. Moonlight is represented by blue light in the first and second films. Blue light is also used for the Goblet of Fire and the penseive.

Another thing you gotta have in there is clutter. It should look kinda antique and give off a kind of magical or mystical atmosphere. Think books, storage jars, orreries, crystal balls, old lamps, antique clocks, vintage glassware, antique mirrors, old teapots, and little metal trinkets. (If you're trying to decorate a physical room, your stuff doesn't have to actually be antique, of course; antique-styled is fine.)

Texture is also very important, which can be represented with full or top grain leather book covers, stone walls, dents and scratches, cracks, embellishments, and embossing. Additionally, all damage and wear gives a sense of oldness to things. Stains and variegated colors also add interest. (If you're decorating a physical space, you might look into aging/distressing/antiquing techniques.)

If you want a space to look cozy, you don't really want bare or blank walls. Shelves, paintings, tapestries, and wallpaper can all help with that. Again, use brown, rather than black. Warm, yellow lighting will also help. If you lean toward blacks and cool lighting, you're going to have a colder-looking space.

Fashion in the wizarding world is extremely all over the place, ranging from stereotypical fantasy witch and wizard clothing, to pretty normal vintage clothing, to some wacky vintage-inspired looks, to the kind of fashion that would be put under the cozycore umbrella, to ordinary modern clothing. One thing that's absent is subculture fashion as we know it. (Bellatrix Lestrange does look kinda goth, but it's less a subculture thing, and more a "yeah we're putting our bad guys in fancy black stuff" thing.)

If you're trying to lean into the whole eccentric/quirky/old-fashioned kinda thing, you'll want to pass over the more modern and obviously synthetic type stuff. Also, patterns, textured fabrics, knits, mixed colors, lace, and other embellishments can add interest to outfits.

Architecture is also all over the place. Hogwarts is pretty medieval, while places like Diagon Alley give more Victorian vibe. The main thing is looking old fashioned and quaint.

To try and summarize all of that:

Browns. Lots and lots and lots of browns. Blacks and grays, too. Contrast between light and dark browns and blacks/grays.

More beige and gray than pure white; more charcoal gray and dark walnut brown than true black.

Among other colors, mostly earth tones and jewel tones. Very limited brights.

Polished metal and glass also add shininess.

Old-fashioned. Vintage. Antique.

Clutter, texture, patterns, variegation. Minimalist/clean aesthetic avoided.

Aged and distressed.

Lighting often yellow/orange due to coming from fire. Blue/teal light often coming from moonlight and certain magical light sources.

Now, here are some things we actually don't see. I'm not mentioning them to discourage you from using them if they're what you really want, but to inform you about them so you can consider whether they might throw off the vibe for you:

Green/purple/black combos.

Purple/silver/black combos. Pink/purple/teal combos.

Pink/black combos.

Orange/black combos.

Green/orange/purple combos.

Red/black combos.

Basically a lot of combos commonly associated with Halloween, witches, or vampires.

Big raw crystals. We see crystal balls now and then, but that's it.

Other natural items used as decorations - feathers, pinecones, sticks, etc. The one exception I can think of are the shells embedded in the walls of Shell Cottage.

Crushed velvet. Lots of fantasy uses this, HP films don't.

If you need inspiration, go look up medieval and renaissance diagrams and illustrations of stuff like the four elements, the zodiac, the solar system, and all that. Go look up alchemical symbols and emblems. Search up pre-WWII vintage ephemera. Go look up Victorian clipart. Look up stuff like botanical, zoological, and astronomical books and art from the 17th-19th centuries. Look up vintage wallpaper and fabric patterns. Look at vintage-style crafts. Research period architecture and fashion. Research European heraldry.

If you're wondering what exactly you're going to design around without Hogwarts and the Four Houses, here are some suggestions:

The four classical elements (earth, air, fire, and water)

The four seasons

Card suits - Tarot, French, whatever you want

Holidays - Halloween, Christmas, whatever

Fairy tales

Flowers

Mythical creatures

Bugs

Birds

Any other animals you like

Ecosystems

Your own original worldbuilding

So yeah, there ya go. You don't need to keep participating in HP to indulge in the aesthetic.

[NOTICE: Anybody who clowns on this post by making this about them and their childhood, patting themselves on the back about their chosen means of "ethical" participation, praising the fandom, or adding any other form of irrelevant bullshit is getting blocked. Also, I don't want to hear about PJO or Earthsea again for the millionth time, either.]

[chairteeth]

Okay but consider: ASTRONOMY LESBIANS

This specific post is going to be me gushing over the astronomy potential Touka and Nemu have with each other and why it makes me feral, it's more me pointing out some things than any actual analysis. Still, here you go, have fun!

So, this is the thesis: Touka is the sun/day and Nemu is the moon/night.

First of all, night and day are intrinsically connected. The sun's light gives the moon its glow during the night and the moon remains present and visible during the day, if a little harder to see in the full light of the sun. The former sounds an awful lot like how Touka gave Nemu visibility to the general public through the website for her books and continues to do so on the regular, dutifully, and the latter is to me the same effect as any scene they're in together; everyone in-universe and outside of it always pays more attention to Touka, because she's the more boisterous one, louder, etc. The radiant sun, too bright to ignore compared to the soft glow of the moon.

Now, I love the moon's effect on the oceans on Earth. Its control over the tides is due to its gravity being strong enough that the tide is pulled slightly closer to it. If you look at when the tides are highest, you'll see that tides are always highest when the moon is directly overhead, but there's also another high tide on the opposite side of the planet. If you mapped it out, you'd get this oval shape of the tides, where a "tip" of the oval is always pointing at the moon. Well guess what, the SUN also does this! It's just less noticeable, but it's why low tide doesn't always happen when you think it would. And since they both do this, their effects can be combined! This is why the highest of tides always occur around full and new moons, with the effects being even stronger during lunar eclipses, and with solar eclipses being the strongest of them all, which probably added to the effect of ancient civilizations freaking out during them cause the tide was so high, it just added to the chaos of the sun being blocked out too. Tides are highest about the full and new moons because that is when the moon and the sun are lined up. Gee doesn't that sound familiar and like it could apply to a certain pair of idiots who work really well together (as per Ui's words).

Here's a helpful visual gif for the tide thing and some quotes from the National Ocean Service:

Together, the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun affect the Earth’s tides on a monthly basis. When the sun, moon, and Earth are in alignment (at the time of the new or full moon), the solar tide has an additive effect on the lunar tide, creating extra-high high tides, and very low, low tides — both commonly called spring tides. One week later, when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other, the solar tide partially cancels out the lunar tide and produces moderate tides known as neap tides.

And as a fun extra:

Once a month, at perigee, when the moon is closest to the Earth, tide-generating forces are higher than usual, producing above average ranges in the tides. About two weeks later, at apogee, when the moon is farthest from the Earth, the lunar tide-raising force is smaller, and the tidal ranges are less than average. When the Earth is closest to the sun (perihelion), around January 2 of the calendar year, tidal ranges are enhanced. At aphelion, when the Earth is furthest from the sun, around July 2, tidal ranges are reduced

So like. I don't think I need to point out the moon's distance from the sun and its effects here. Now let me go to something else: Touka and Nemu have a dual unit, the attribute of which is darkness. Here's a tidbit about it that I yoinked from another post:

Your pupils contract in response to visible light, but not all of the sun’s light is visible. During an eclipse, your pupils widen because it’s dark, but there’s an outer layer around the sun that mostly only puts out light that’s not visible to us, but that can still damage your retinas. Thus, looking at an eclipse makes your pupils open up like it’s dark, which lets more of the invisible damage beams in. The sun doesn’t get a critical multiplier on its damage when HP is low. Equipping the moon gives the sun a bonus to backstab.

And then I pointed out the dual unit and its attribute, like an eclipse. Such an apt metaphor. Now, this isn't all, though the astronomy rant is far less connected and organized than the other more essay-ish posts, but I just wanted to cover at least some of the bond things before I yell about why each of them fits their assigned astral body/time so well. Actually... Let's consider the solar wind for a second.

So, for those with less astronomy knowledge, here are the basics. The sun releases a continuous outflow of particles and radiation that we call the solar wind. The solar wind washes over the planets, moons and other bodies in our solar system, and every object, planet or person traveling through space has to contend with this. Our moon in particular has the scars (or bad tan) to prove it. Ever wondered what gives the moon that distinctive pattern of darker and lighter swirls? That would be the sun over there. Or, well, research suggests that the solar wind and the moon’s crustal magnetic fields (bubbles of "sunscreen") work together to give that pattern. See, here on Earth, we’re largely protected from the damaging effects of the solar wind, because it's magnetized, therefore Earth’s natural magnetic field deflects the solar wind particles around our planet so that only a small fraction of them reach our planet’s atmosphere. The moon however has no global magnetic field. It's magnetized rocks near the lunar surface that create those small, localized spots of magnetic field that I referred to as "bubbles of sunscreen" up there, because they kinda are acting like sunscreen by deflecting solar wind particles on a much smaller scale than Earth’s magnetic field. The surface of the moon isn't really made of "just rock" (it's called regolith, actually), and so as those particles flow toward the moon, they are deflected to the areas just around the magnetic bubbles, where chemical reactions with the regolith darken the surface. And there is Something To Be Said about this, something intimate about it... Something something accepting every part of someone else, something something being permanently marked and irreversibly changed by another (I've called them twin flames before)...

Here are some points to consider, particularly for Nemu:

They spend more time under the light of day (Touka, early riser, "rise with the sun" is very likely literal for her since she gets up long enough before school time to have more than enough time to do Things as per her quotes) vs awake at night (Nemu habitually staying up late to read and write, we have many lines about it particularly from the quotes, and a visual from the anime).

Nemu has been depicted dramatically in front of the moon twice, once in her intro in Arc 1 Chapter 7 and once in the anime, I believe final season's first episode? The flashback, right after they put Ui in Mokyu and have the whole exchange about it on the roof of the hospital.

In relation to the phases of the moon: as the moon goes around the Earth, different parts of it are illuminated by the sun, and we see a different amount of light reflected back at us, and I have decided that relates to how Nemu adapts seamlessly to whatever Touka's mood is because she just knows her that well (gestures vaguely at that sunset scene in Touka's MGS or any of the other times when Nemu knows it's not the right time to take a jab at Touka and so on and so forth), but honestly there's a huge number of gay interpretations of it. AND it's accurate to the way Nemu acts as a Magius, kind of, when it comes to the Feathers at least. People normally remember her as the Magius who was kindest to the Feathers (full moon, brightest guiding light), but she was also the one doing the brainwashing, giving the massacre orders, and delighting over her suggestion of using the Feathers as a shield (new moon, known as the dark side).

Feelings of being neglected/ignored/not noticed by passersby or people around her could be related to how the new moon is, literally Not Visible™️ to the naked eye except when it is silhouetted against the sun during a solar eclipse (COUGH). Plus, you could argue the fact that people love Nemu most when she's giving them something (light, full moon).

In terms of giving, let's hop over to Touka for a second:

The sun is constantly giving off energy. Light, heat, life. It's quite impossible to forget the sun is there, unlike the moon (or well it's more like you always sort of actively notice the sun, but not the moon due to its subtler presence). Aligns pretty well with Touka's.......... everything. Including the compulsion to take center stage. There is nothing else in the sky besides the sun during the day, it is alone in the heavens save for the subtle presence of the moon, which nobody else notices.

Then there's this post which I will quote here:

Big fan of sun motifs in characters not necessarily being about positivity and happiness and how they're so "bright and warm" but instead being about fucking brutal they are. Radiant. A FORCE of nature that will turn you to ash. That warmth that burns so hot it feels like ice. Piercing yellow and red and white. A character being a Sun because you cannot challenge a Sun without burning alive or taking everything down with them if victorious.

ALIGNS PRETTY WELL WITH TOUKA DOESN'T IT. Almost a little bit too literal in some senses! Being bright and warm does apply to her as well, mind you, she's bright in the intelligent sense and to some extent the temperament sense (though she is a lot less bright than she pretends to be with the very eerie cheerful mask she likes to wear), and she's warm and nurturing towards the people she cares about. Speaking of warm and nurturing, the sunlight makes plants grow, Nemu is a forest attribute in-game and has forest magic, nurtured by the fire of the sun (Touka, a flame attribute magical girl with the corresponding fire magic).

I've compared these two to binary stars in a fic before, but I really love their sun/day and moon/night possibilities! You can even interpret a few things like this:

Under a scorching sun, you are blinded, and in deserts caused by its rays you are likely to experience hallucinations, mirages. I can relate this to Touka's mask-wearing habits, for example. The sun is unyielding and you will never escape its effects completely no matter how hard you try. It's what allows life to exist and simultaneously also a force of destruction, much like fire itself. I could go on a related rant about how TouNemu's attributes really really fit them- I will stop myself before I do however.

Back to Nemu's side of things again. The night is often considered the most dangerous time of day pretty much everywhere around the world, but that's not quite right. It's because the night is obscured in darkness, quiet, secretive. You cannot know the night. It's fully possible that something will jump out at you at any point (assuming you're out and about), and you can never be 100% sure that nothing will. You have a higher chance of slipping, and good god if you've ever been outside in bumfuck nowhere with no lights around in the mountains or something on a new moon, you know very well how difficult navigation becomes without the moon's guidance

But, the night, especially in the East, is often considered shelter as well (from what I've gathered). The quietness aspect is retained over there, but it's seen in a more positive light, and the different attributes of the nighttime are more appreciated and respected compared to the West, in my experience digging into stuff at least. The night can easily be what soothes people after enduring the flames of the day. Whether literally because of the heat or just because for most people, daytime is work time, it's Getting Things Done time. Nighttime has always been more… for the self, to relax and to think. More intimate. Humans don't really work according to nature these days, but pieces of it are still present in how the night remains much quieter than the day, in how a teenager might feel safer, more raw and more connected with their true self in the dead of night on their phone under the covers than at any other time of the day, etc. It's a time of rest for a majority of living beings. Slower and less hectic than the daytime.

"What about those who are up at ungodly hours of the night still having hours-long conversations?" That's meaningful. It's necessary for the human mind, for our hearts. That's rest. It constitutes a "shelter" for the people in question. Those convos I'd bet are not about work or about stressors in their lives, but rather about things they find genuinely interesting and/or things they love. Or, alternatively, venting, yes, but even that counts as "unwinding" and reaching something closer to peace.

There's also something to be said about how Touka relies on Nemu so often (she says as much in her regular Tap 8 quote), and looks to her for guidance like the sailors of old looked up at the night sky for directions. Nemu is drawn to Touka like the moon is affected by the sun's gravity, and Touka loves her and studies her (she REALLY pays attention to Nemu, as I've pointed out before) like humans have always studied and observed the night sky.

AND also Touka = lantern, light. Nemu = sleep. Just saying.

COUGH. Yes. So. This has been my series of thoughts on TouNemu astronomy lesbianism. I'm pretty sure you can see how each point relates to the characters pretty clearly.

[fairytail-whathesays]

i love ur sorano/minerva fic so far can u pls give headcanons for them (sfw+nsfw bc)

Yoga and Pilates. Minerva took them up very early in life while trying to recover from fighting + keep her body fit, and Angel takes an interest too since she has health issues of her own. Also Minerva looks really sexy doing them but you didn't hear that from her.

Angel has always wished she had brighter eyes. White and blue are her signature colors, and she associates light colors with purity and power. She was considering colored contacts--but Minerva expressly despises the idea. She loves Angel's eyes.

It's one of the few modifications she has ever wanted to make to her appearance. Angel knows she's beautiful, and she goes bare faced most of the time (it drives Minerva crazy) so she pouts a little that Minerva won't let her try this one (1) thing. But she gets over it easily.

(Do not let Angel have access to makeup. She may seem like she's super feminine and well put together, but remember, this is a girl who grew up in a filthy slave tower. Her inexperience shows and it's best that she just work the natural beauty angle--if someone doesn't stop her she creates a mess.)

Minerva gets jealous rather easily which can range from cute to quite unflattering. She's not usually threatened by other women...mostly. She meets Ultear for the first time while hanging out with Angel and Angel's like "yo girl wassup" and Minerva is like "who the FUCK is Ultear??????" it's funny as shit.

Look, Angel has a mean streak when she's pushed and descends into cruelty quite easily...but she's also just genuinely friendly most of the time and with her occasional failure to pick up on social cues, you have a woman that will legit just shoot the shit with her mortal enemies and not realize she's offending them. This is also funny as shit and like half the reason her and Minerva start off so rocky.

oh you want ns/fw okay

The first time Minerva ate Angel out represented weeks of pent up lust and she is very proud of how completely unraveled Angel came.

They're not fond of toys or assists when having sex. Angel dislikes the artificial-ness of it and Minerva feels like it makes her out to not be good enough on her own. It's all fingers, all tongue, and sometimes a lot of leg.

The ribbons Angel wears come in very handy for some restraints when they feel the urge.

They get very into it, they plan it ahead of time quite often. Minerva lights freakin' incense. They always make sure there's something comfortable to lay on ahead of time. Neither of them will tolerate anything less than silk sheets.

Minerva has a thing for Angel's br/easts. She doesn't pinch or twist, more just slides her hands along them, oftentimes on the way to putting her hands somewhere else. She also has a thing for when Angel teases her own.

They're like a certain other couple in that every time Angel's lips touch hers, Minerva's whole soul lights on fire. Minerva can't just kiss her once because she needs a minute to re-learn how to speak.

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

I'm going to stray from the popular discussion around death of the author, because I want to yap about a way authorial intent does impact how I interact with some works - specifically characters.

I will not be naming those characters... for so many reasons, to be honest. What I'm looking to talk about is specifically triggering characters.

So, first - there's a character in a certain series I love who is abusive. As it turns out, because of the specificity of his abuse, of his relationship with his different children, and even his age range, he reminds me of my abuser. I discovered this series a long time ago, when I was being abused, and to this day my brain clocks this character as a stand-in for my abuser. Pretty triggering: take it from me, I am nowhere near healed from this abuse.

And it's true that every now and then, I'll feel uncomfortable seeing some fan uwufying him or whatever, presenting him in an unfairly innocent light and clearly not interacting with who he really is. But that's extremely rare. For the most, and I mean large part, I am perfectly happy to interact with other fans who enjoy this character.

Because the author wrote him as an abuser on purpose and wrote this story comprehensively and completely. This is high-quality writing of an absolute bastard - and honestly, he's amazing. I wouldn't want him to not be there. He's a compelling character who sometimes even makes me laugh. While not being a cartoonishly evil villain who's hated by everyone, and by that I mean to compliment his realistic characterisation, it's clear what he did wrong, how he did wrong, and that the writers want you to identify it as wrong.

Honestly, he's a lot more charismatic than my abuser - because my abuser wouldn't be a very entertaining character... ...That right now my brain is led to think about this, about him, really speaks to how much it associates the two.

What I'm getting at is this: the author came up with an abuser, wrote him as an abuser, and the audience got the message that he's an abuser. It's well done. It doesn't need much more. It's okay, even good, to write abusers... I could go on, but that this character was portrayed with a lot power, and was eventually found out and stopped, has been extremely meaningful to me as a story that's been comforting me since I was very young. I hate him, but I love that he exists. I feel perfectly comfortable.

...Secondly, I want to talk about a completely different type of triggering character. Whilst I just described a character who is for all intents and purposes a stand-in for my personal bogeyman. My literal sleep-paralysis demon. (Actually... has anyone here played The Strange Men series...? No? what da hell) This second type of character is the type that actually drives me nuts.

So there's this character in a completely different series who... is also abusive. He committed a crime and was punished by law. That is what is introduced to the audience: the thing is, this crime was awfully realistic and commonplace feminicide, which if you know, you know (unfortunately), but if you don't... well, the author didn't tell you. This is not stated.

And that alone is alright. Authors do not need to spoon-feed us every detail. Unfortunately, as the story unfolded, it became clear that the author had little understanding of the horrifying story they'd written: this character developed an obsession towards a feminine protagonist and continuously forced himself upon her, ignoring her wants and boundaries. I wish I could efficiently convey how much the story this author wrote was "this woman is going to be his next victim".

But... not... really? Whilst his obsession was mocked, it was mostly framed as humorous. What were framed as the usual jokes/antics in this series were actually horrifyingly real scenes for some of us to watch. As the story advanced, his negative traits became more and more hidden as he became a hero. One of the endings even had the characters end up together, to supposedly be happy ever after.

The author's intent is unclear. It seems that they accidentally wrote something horrifying because they either didn't realise this happens in real life, or why it happens in real life. This character didn't become a hero because he learned his lesson or anything slightly satisfying - there is every reason to think the author didn't realise just how awful they'd made him.

So I fucking hate this character. I don't think he's brilliant. When I see other fans be fond of him because he's aesthetically attractive, or "ship it" because they love a canon obsessive love story, I feel so upset. The author made up some monster that audiences weren't given the tools to understand. It feels like it perpetuates harm, it feels like my fears of this exact kind of man are being mocked, it feels like his behaviours are being presented as "not so bad" to potential real victims.

And here's the thing - I'm able to enjoy an abuser. Fuck, man, to be honest, I love shitty men in fiction. It's a well-known trait of mine. This character almost leaves you wanting: I wish the author had known what they were doing and actually written something fucked up and/or scary. It doesn't have to look like a cathartic story wherein he gets his comeuppance: I'm a fan of psychological horror as well, so I could have been super fond of the perspective of a shitty misogynistic criminal being let loose by the circumstances of this otherwise great story. This story had the perfect beats to tell a narrative of being forced to collaborate with someone scary for the greater good, but fell short every time. Just short. That's what's frustrating.

It's likely that the author had some sort of intent with this character, but wrote themselves into a corner by either not realising what they were implying or not taking it seriously enough, and it resulted in a frustrating story. It resulted in "they know he's dangerous, right? Why are they presenting him as though he's not?!" again and again.

What I mean to say is - "this character is an abuser" alone tells nothing of whether they're a compelling character, whether victims and survivors will hate them or not. The author's reason for writing them plays a role in how they write them and is the main factor that differentiates the "triggering abusive characters" from the "compelling representations of the ways some people can really be".

Of course, it'll sometimes be the case that an author accidentally stumbled into telling a compelling story. (That's where death of the author can come in.) But characters that are presented as taking the abuser role and then not written as abusers are just... something shitty for the audience to endure.

[heidioph]

I wanted to start giving some insight into how I draw certain things (and also I just really like talking about why I do certain things the way I do), so after finishing this illustration of Reimu earlier today, I thought it'd be a good time to show a bit of my process when it comes to this yellowed-paper style. Keep in mind that this is Clip Studio Paint centric, because that is what I use to draw, but if you use another program a lot of this advice should still be applicable.

The defining aspect of this compared to my other illustrations is usually a much lighter/washed-out color palette, utilization of textured brushes (surprisingly, a lot of what I use is default Clip Studio Paint tools!), and using a noise/paper texture on an overlay layer at some opacity depending on how dense it is.

(Image is of a color swatch being affected by 2 different clipped layers. On the left, is an overlayed paper texture at 100% opacity. On the right, is an overlayed solid black layer at 50% opacity.)

Firstly, you don't have to use yellow/orange specifically for this, but it lends to a certain appearance I like a lot, so I find myself using this range of colors the most. You do want to make sure that it will look good with an overlay layer set over it.

How one goes about lining the character (you don't even really have to) doesn't matter that much ultimately, and a lot of times I'll set the line art layer to a lower opacity or make it multiply/linear burn.

I use a lot of overlay layers. It helps contribute to the appearance of the overall piece if everything sort of bleeds together. However, when coloring, I'll also alternate between linear burn, linear light, and glow dodge layers. Sometimes color burn as well, but it's quite a bit more finicky to use. Glow dodge specifically is good for making highlights that stand out. For some colors, using a normal layer at reduced opacity also works. The important thing when coloring a piece like this is to make sure the colors mesh well with the paper color you chose!

(Image is of a selection of swatches for the color blue on an orange-yellow background. The top left swatch has been applied on a layer that uses Linear Burn, top right is Normal, lower left is Linear Light, and lower right is Overlay.)

Lastly, here are some assorted techniques for decorating your piece.

(Image is of a selection of effects added to 1 layer. The top left is captioned "Default Brush", the top right is captioned "Pressed Graphic", the bottom left is captioned "Specialty Brushes", and the bottom right is captioned "Simple Designs.")

Wet blotting ink is a default Clip Studio brush you can find under the India Ink tab, and creates a nice water-stain effect on your piece if you use overlay + a solid black pen color.

You can also make complex designs by either running an image through the artistic effect and setting it to "Lines Only", or by using specialty brushes made for creating specific designs, like this leaf brush I use.

Lastly, you can just create basic designs. It really just depends on what you need for your image!

This is the process I generally go through whenever I draw these pictures. I hope it helps you!

[zetsubobu]

Alrighty I created a ninjago oc!!

But sike, it's actually in @weekend-whip 's legacyverse because it's better written than the canon show and I like that universe

Alright so I saw this

And I thought: "hmmm, distant relative, that gives room for headcanons"

So here's my ninjago (legacyverse) oc!

Name: nicole villin (nici)

Age: undefined but in the same age range as harumi and lloyd

Moral: lawful neutral

Ability: partial inheritor of the element of light

Nici is a direct descendant of the 5th gen master of light. However like aurora she only partially inherited the ability. In nici's case, she inherited the control over the element but not the full power. She could make herself disappear at will, however the strongest she could go is being translucent and not fully see through like paleman. That results in her not exactly "disappearing" whenever she wants to but rather it's more coincidental and happens whenever she feels particularly intuned with her element or feels like her life is in danger. Usually she can still be seen in a normal light setting so it's not much of use, however in dimly lit rooms it can happen that you won't notice her unless you look twice or mistake it for a trick of the eyes.

She did not have training to control her powers yet since the previous master is more focused on the other inheritor, paleman.

The fact that nici inherited the control over disappearing (which she could use if she had training) is also the reason why paleman is never seen with his true face but rather his clothes or completely gone. He has the full power that she hasn't (since she just got a weaker portion of that) but since he can not control when to tap out or in, he's constantly see through and the only thing he can do is enhance his power to make him even more see through or weaken it a bit

(imagine it as if kai's hair was constantly on fire because of his element but he can't put it out. He could make his whole body on fire or he could go back to only his hair which is just a bit weaker but it would never stop)

Personality:

She is usually a happy person but that gets really reserved around people she doesn't know well. She doesn't mind talking as long as it's with close ones since she suffers from pretty bad social anxiety and often doubts her friendships, especially when around strangers. Her withdrawal around others makes it easy for her to blend in and be forgotten. She does care deeply about her limited friendships though and her way to show appreciation and care is by making sure her friends stay out of trouble. She's not a shy person so speaking is not something she troubles much with and she's quite happy to talk if she does

She doesn't support the ninjas nor lord garmadon as she thinks they both have their flaws and supporting one or the other without acknowledging the flaws is pretty ignorant. She doesn't mind those who do either though as she thinks opinion is opinion.

She has the bad habit of always distrusting her friendships even if they never said anything bad which is a result of her bond with her mother. So it might come off as a bit hurtful to others when she says something like "I have no friends", which is not something she says because she doesn't consider them friends but rather that she fears they don't consider her one. Just know that she doesn't mean it the way it sounds.

She's an active listener and has the habit of sometimes hearing things she shouldn't because they forget she's also there which could cause her to overhear some certain ninja secrets

Usually light is an element associated with things like hope or positivity which is something that doesn't exactly fit her sometimes due to her anxiety. It's why she has a rather low natural attunement with a mid fluctuation

Jesse belongs to @weekend-whip !!

Story:

Ever since she was born, she noticed her mother frequently disappointed that she didn't inherited the full element as she now had the trouble of needing to search for a person that she could pass it on to. Her mother never expressed that disappointment verbally, however she could see it in her eyes as well as how desperate she was at meeting new people, even really distant family members who they have never met before. It's also how they met paleman as he is a more distant family member. Nici's mother noticed how he had a really high natural attunement and chose that distant relative to be the next master of light. All those parties and meeting all those people with the knowledge of why they are actually here is what caused her social anxiety in the first place.

She and paleman get along quite well though because he understands her situation and had to see her way more often after getting passed on the element. She often calls him uncle viz since he does appear like an uncle to her.

She goes to highschool in ninjago city (bc where else?), spends her time in the cooking club and is in the same year as harumi (though they have never interacted much). She isn't one that believes rumors but she is intimidated by most of the ninjas and isn't sure how to talk to either of them. Though she does get along the best with zane and nya.

She lives close to the border of ninjago city which is why the garmadon or the great devourer attack never affected her as much as the others near the center of the city. She did volunteer work though by helping to cook food to support people who lost their homes.

[multifandoms27-blog]

It's time to d-d-dress up!

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. I really like horror and being scared. You could say I'm a thrill seeker. Anyway, enjoy this filler while I work on other stuff lol

• ───────────────── •

Content: Various Yugioh people x gn!Reader

Warnings: Sexual themes (Yami Marik) but no actual sex so it's still SFW, unsure whether or not Yami Marik's fake blood is actual blood

Notes: Halloween is my favorite holiday. I wish I could do this for every fandom I write for, but that'd be too much for me right now, sadly. I'll probably do one or two more, but that's about it

• ───────────────── •

❥Yugi Muto

You and Yugi would obviously go with a couples costume.

He would be the dark magician, and you would either be dark magician girl or celtic guardian (they get shipped the most with dark magcian)

You two probably wouldn't trick or treat, probably just party with your friends while helping grandpa hand out candy

Would kiss you as much as you were comfortable with, because you just look so pretty/handsome to him

He's also grateful that you decided to match with him this year

Takes a shit ton of selfies to remember this moment and to post on his story/social media

Before Halloween, he probably would have spent all of October decorating the shop with you

Would absolutely want to make certain cut out cookies with you, he thinks the ghost ones are cute

Very wholesome Halloween. 100/10.

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❥Atem

You already know mans isn't original with Halloween costume ideas

He'd go as an Egyptian Pharaoh and would like it if you went as his queen/king, though he wont force you

He wont know what Halloween is about until you tell him, he's just a confused old man lol

He would love being in Pharaoh-like clothing again after so long. He'd proably try tanning the entirity of October, then be confused when there isn't much of a difference.

Help him, he's trying his best lol

Would also help you decorate if you asked, but he'd be asking questions non stop about the meaning of lights and window stickers. He doesn't take "tradition" or "it's fun" as an answer lol

A little annoying, but still wholesome. 8/10.

• ───────────────── •

❥Seto Kaiba

Seto isn't crazy about Halloween. It's six days after his birthday, that's the only way he remembers the holiday exists every year.

Because he's not crazy about the holiday, he hasn't dressed up for it since his parents were alive

Mokuba still dresses up, and he tries his hardest to get Seto to as well, but it just never happens. You're not an exception, unfortunately

Unless you get a blue eyes white dragon onesie.

He'll go as himself then, and you're his trusty dragon

Otherwise, he won't care about dressing up and will let you go as whatever, so long as its outside of the scandalous range. He's very much in the public eye, remember? He's also a raging virgin, so leave the risque costumes for private time

He'll probably especially enjoy it if you tell him it doubles as a birthday present

Either very funny or very boring. 5/10.

• ───────────────── •

❥Joey Wheeler

He'd probably be the cheesiest motherfucker out of them all

Would definitely have you two go as matching vampires or werewolves

He has such a generic look on horror and monsters in general

Dude you literally play duel monsters, there's more than just vampires and werewolves-

Would buy cheap fake blood that ends up staining your skin for a week after.

It would also strangely taste like apples?

You should probably go to a hospital after the party

Halloween with Joey is accidentally lethal. My kind of party. 10/10.

• ───────────────── •

❥Marik Ishtar

Dude I have no fucking idea what he'd be, and therefore neither would he lol

He has 0 creativity when it comes to this, so usually he'll turn to you for costume ideas

Would also be like Joey with the cheesy, overdone costumes

I can really only see him being werewolf and you being little red riding hood

He'd probably get a kick out of that, in multiple ways...

Marik doesn't understand Halloween decorations, but if it makes you happy, he guesses he'll help you put stuff up

Absolutely sneaks candy for himself though

Pretty average Halloween. 5/10.

• ───────────────── •

❥Yami Marik

Absolutely a vampire. No. Shh. Shut up. I am taking ZERO criticism on this one.

He takes it all the way. He's basically a blond, Egyptian dracula lol

He'll probably have you not dress up so he can be the vampire that corrupts you

He takes it a little too far, biting your neck with his fake fangs in

He also sprays fake blood on himself and everywhere else, but you're not entirely sure it's fake blood...

Like Marik, he also sneaks candy for himself, but very openly. He knows you can't do anything to him anyways

Yami Marik will help you put up decorations once he learns just how spooky Halloween is supposed to be

If you were hoping for a cuter Halloween, where children weren't afraid of approaching your house, then kick Yami Marik out until Halloween is over lol

Terrifying Halloween, but a great 'afterparty.' 7/10.

• ───────────────── •

Here is my Masterlist in case you want to request, or look for more of your favorite character!

[gaygoetia]

Magical Shorthand in the Legend of Vox Machina

So I've been drafting a lot of posts about the just-announced Mighty Nein animated series (thoughts, hopes, predictions etc), one of which is about magic and how it will be represented. This led me into a tangent about TLOVM that's long enough that I think it works better as it's own post so here it is!

What magic looks like in TLOVM

One of the things I LOVE about the spellcasting in TLOVM is how each character's spells are visually distinct, usually through colour coding.

In addition to looking great, this visual shorthand makes it easy to identify who's casting what in magic-heavy fight scenes, with the added bonus of representing something of that character's personality.

Scanlan

Scanlan is the most obvious example because it's the most visually distinctive and cohesive.

The visual manifestation of Scanlan's magic is ALWAYS purple - a specific pinkish shade of it.

It's always shiny or sparkly and usually takes the form of a giant semi-translucent body part (usually a hand)

When it manifests in a different form (i.e not a distinct shape) it's usually lightning shaped ribbons or sparks but sometimes an intense purple glow or sparkly purple cloud.

Like Scanlan himself, his magic is colourful, flashy and dramatic and he uses it in creative and unusual ways.

Pike

Pike's magic manifests in a few different ways but it always appears as yellow, and ranges from a soft glow to a bright light.

One of her most commonly used abilities is to create a magical shield which glows softly and sparks upon impact. It's semi-translucent like Scanlan's hand but doesn't move or change shape (though it can change size!)

Certain abilities cause her eyes or hands to glow yellow and of course her astral self glows yellow all over.

Her magic is pretty straightforward. If the spell affects or relates to another object it causes it to glow and offensive spells resemble targeted beams of light that shoot out directly from her hands.

Keyleth

Keyleth's magic is by far the most diverse in the series and her magic reflects that.

Her signature spells/abilities are wildshape and whatever she uses to create and control vines. In both cases, these abilities happen without any kind of magical glow around them and therefore aren't colour-coded in the same way as other spells.

Spells that do involve light and colour usually reflect the element or school of magic associated with them and I think it was the right choice because it makes it easier to identify what she's doing. If the spell daylight, for example, was any other colour it wouldn't be so obvious what it's doing.

All that said, a handful of Keyleth's spells ARE colour-coded, meaning that her hands, eyes, staff or a combination of the three glow green when they're cast. Her hands always glow green when she uses touch-based spells but it also happens at other random points with no particular pattern I can identify (for example her hands sometimes glow when she controls vines but at other times they don't)

And of course it's not just the main characters! Delilah's magic resembles jagged black shapes with an eerie purple outline. Zahra's magic is red and ripples outwards.

So what could magic look like in the Mighty Nein animated series?

Well, given her canonically pink spiritual weapon and spiritual guardians, I think it's safe to say Jester's magic will have a pink theme - though probably a warmer hot pink than Scanlan's pink-purple.

The one exception to this I think would be her cold-themed version of hellish rebuke which will likely be in white or blue to represent the element it's associated with.

Caduceus is also somewhat pink-themed but I imagine his magic might have a turquoise-green colour theme to match his armour.

Molly/Lucien's magic will be red themed for sure in classic blood-magic form.

I'm really not sure about Fjord but his spells might potentially have a blue theme given his affinity to the sea. They might also be a generic white or vary depending on the spell.

For Caleb I definitely think they'll take the same approach as Keyleth wherein his spells appearances are more determined by what they do than who's casting them. However I think if his magic is colour-coded (maybe just for touch-spells like Keyleth) it will be an amber colour somewhere between yellow and orange.

Dunamancy is usually depicted as black and purple so I'm curious to see how they'll distinguish it from Delilah's necromantic magic. I can imagine them maybe doing something black with lots of tiny stars, like a glimpse into space, which would look very cool and also feel appropriate.

What do y'all think?

I would truly love to hear other people's thoughts on this!!

[andmaybegayer]

How do you take macro photos?

If you're interested in macrophotography you're in luck, because it's one of the most accessible fields of specialist photography. While you can get pretty deep, e.g. product photography for large companies, basic but quality macro gear will probably set you back somewhere between USD 300-600.

The most basic things you need for a macro rig are a camera with interchangeable lenses and a flash, a wide-ish angle lens, and a lens reverser. You also need something to diffuse your flash. That's what I started with, here's what it looks like and what kind of photos you can get with it:

Camera Body

I have my old Canon 600D, a mid-range APS-C DSLR from 2011, any camera body with swappable lenses will work. APS-C and MFT cameras have the benefit of lower cost and cropping your image significantly, so they're good choices. Mirrorlesses will work but I've never used one, there may be pitfalls I'm not aware of, I think you might need an extension tube, do some reading.

A flash or way to add a flash is necessary because down a reversed, small-aperture lens, in anything other than broad daylight there won't be much light getting through the sensor.

Lens Reverser Ring

A lens reverser screws into the filter thread of your lens and allows you to mount it backwards, so you need to know what lens you're using (filter thread) and what body you're using (mount). Canon EF and Nikon F-mount are pretty easy to find, if you're working with something less common you'll probably have to buy online, e.g. for a 52mm thread Sony mirrorless you'd want a "52mm E-mount reverser ring"

Since you're reversing the lens you lose all aperture and focus coupling, we'll address that a little bit in the next section.

Lens

I use the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with this body. The lens you use doesn't necessarily have to be compatible with your camera since we aren't using its mount anyway, but you do want to make sure you have some way to set the aperture, either by a manual control ring or by setting it on-camera and then taking the lens off while the aperture is closed, which is what I do.

35 and 50mm vintage primes are popular because they have decent quality glass and manual control rings so you don't have to fight with it. You want a pretty short focal length, since a reversed lens works backwards (shot focal length: tight angle, long focal length: wide angle) so probably don't go much past 60mm.

Focus isn't really something you use since it's very hard to get the level of fine control you'd need, most people lock focus to get a certain frame and then very carefully move the camera to move the focus plane.

Flash Setup

I've run a bunch of different flash setups, originally just the stock pop-up flash and a piece of paper stuck to the camera body which actually works great. These days I run a Godox TT6600 with a bounce card either on the body or off the body with a remote trigger, which is actually worse than the paper trick but it's easier to work with and more reliable, so it makes me more likely to shoot.

Your ideal flash diffuser is a big hood you basically envelop your subject in, you can make or buy those.

Altogether this looks like this:

And takes photos like this:

The hardest part is just nailing focus, you're usually at somewhere around f2 or less equivalent and your working distance is centimeters, making your depth of field razor thin. If you're using a DSLR your viewfinder will be super dim and you'll have to practice to get focus down, but it's not too bad. If you have a mirrorless or a nicer DSLR you can turn off simulated exposure to get a bright viewfinder and even use focus peaking.

[loousir]

[Gorgon] Some Secrets Should be Said

Gorgon Male x Unaware/Oblivious Male Reader

Eros

Warnings: Tiniest ammout of homophobia/racisim, smoochin in a supply closet, YOU MAY BE IN HIGHSCHOOL BUT YOU ARE 18

Masterlist

---------------------------------------------

It was an early Monday morning. The usual early birds were arriving at school, you being one of them. Rumor was going around of a new student getting enrolled. There were only three high schools in this small town; One for monsters, one for humans, and one for both. You were enrolled in the one that shared with monsters. The overall relations in the school were good, other than the typical high school antics.

You had just been dropped off by your sibling and we're walking into the building. A few people smiled your way and you smiled back, heading to your first hour. The teacher was a Satyr and she was a bubbly as ever, happy to see you in the morning. "Good morning (Y/n), we have a new student coming today." Your ears perked up and you looked over to her.

"Ah, we do? So the rumor was true after all?" She laughed and said, "Yes! He's gonna make a bit of history here." You became confused at her statement as you walked over to your seat. "What do you mean by that?" You asked setting your bag on the table. "I might get in a bit of trouble for telling but..." She walked over, her hooves clacking on the floor as she did. She leaned in on the table, "He will be the first Gorgon to be enrolled into the school!"

She seemed overly excited about the new student but you smiled at her enthusiasm. "You seem awfully happy about that. Is he in our class?" You asked, sitting down in your chair. Her smiled seemed to get wider as she nodded. You paused for a moment and leaned back. "Does that mean he's gonna sit by me?" She nods again. "Yep! You are the only one without a table partner. I'm sure you'll be fine. He's a nice kid." She ruffeled your hair and you swatted her hands away. "Auntie, you know I'm taken right?" She isn't your biological aunt but she's very close with your mom so you call her it for fun.

She laughed and walked away saying, "He's a cute one." You sighed and rolled your eyes as you pulled out your phone. You opened Snapchat and sent a message to your boyfriend.

You took a cute selfie, looking down at the phone while your forehead rested on the table.

Aunties super excited about our new student.

Ngl, I kinda am too. She said he was a Gorgon and I think she's onto my facination with cute snakes xx

You sent the snap and put your phone face down on the table before resting your face on your bag. A minute or so passed before you got a message back.

It was a black screen but he usually sent one. Admittedly, you have never seen him but you respected that since you fell in love with his personality, which was charming as ever.

Don't go cheating on me now ;)

I might just have to show you I'm cuter xx

You smiled and took another selfie.

So that means I get to see you then??? Game on babe xx

You smiled as you sent it. Yeah, it was cheesy flirting but it made you happy none the less. A few seconds later he messaged back with another black screen.

Hmm, I just might lol

You sent that you love him too and put your phone in your pocket. Smiling slightly as you looked up to see that some other students were starting to show up. Soon enough, the first bell for class to start rings and students filter in, taking their seats. Five minutes later, you still haven't seen a certain Gorgon as the final bell rings, saying anyone who wasn't there was late.

Gotta get to class, message you when I can

Love you xx

Mrs. Hucksburry stood at the front of the class, writing some last minute things on the board. "Alright class," Most of the students quiet down at her words. "As you may have heard, we have a new student today! I want you to treat him with respect as he is one of us," She said referring to her fellow monsters. "He is the first of his kind to be enrolled into our schools system." Right as she finished speaking, the door opened to show a rather handsome face and a the obvious 'hair' that came in the shape of several small, darkly colored snakes that seemed to form some sort of style.

He wore rather nice and stylish clothes, very 90's -esk. Mrs. Hucksburry smiled more and looked over to him. "Good morning Mr. Lamollot, glad to see you made your way here." He smiles a cute and almost shy smile, making a pair of girls in class giggle. You watched and tuned out what they were saying before seeing he was looking at you.

You waved to him as he walked over to your table. "I'm guessing you're (Y/n)?" You smiled and nodded, "That'd be me." You put your bag on the floor next to the table and he quietly sat down next to you. "I'm Eros by the way." He was quiet when he spoke as class had officially started. You pulled out a notebook with a pen/pencil and made a message page.

You have the same name as my boyfriend!

You tore the paper out and slid it over to him while he was getting his own notebook and pen. Notes were handwritten on the board since the projector broke and hadn't been replaced yet but no one seemed to mind. The paper was slid back over to you.

Really? What are the chances of that?

His hand writing was nice for a boy and you looked out of the corner of your eye to see him smiling. You smiled too and wrote back.

Who knows but I think it's cool

You slid the paper back and he took a minute to slide it back but you patiently waited since you would have done the same. He didn't write anything on it.

You seem pretty chill Eros, wanna hang out at lunch? Also can I see your schedule? • 3 •

The paper was passed back for the fifth time during class and all it said was his schedule along with a "Sure!" underneath. You told him that the two of you share the same schedule. WhAt A cOiNcIdEnCe.

You looked over to him to see him looking at the paper. He looked up to you and you smiled. Eros smiled back and took the paper to ask.

Do you have early release too?

You read it as he wrote and he looked up to you. You nodded and he wrote again.

Wanna go chill at the park?

You shrugged and nodded again when he looked up to you. He smiled and nodded as the two of you went back to working on class work. You hadn't noticed it before but, his snakes seemed to be interested in you, which you thought was cute.

--- Skip to Break ---

An hour and a half had passed and the two of you had talked a bit throughout the time. The bell for break just rang and you got up with Eros. The two of you walked out to the hallway. "Let me make a stop by my locker real quick then we can go to next hour and chill there for break." He nodded and leaned against the locker next to you when two girls walked up to him. They were the same pair from first hour.

"Hey Eros, wanna hang with us at lunch?" The "leader" asked, standing in front of him. "Yeah that'd be like, totally cool if you did." Her buddy said, standing next to him. "Oh, sorry, me and (Y/n) al-" She cut him off with a scoff. "Oh you mean halfie? That kids got an imaginary boyfriend. How about you just ditch him and come eat with us." Eros looked over to you to see you had tensed and slowed your movements.

The girls focus turned on you, making you bite your lip. "Do you think you could not ruin this guy? He's like, super hot and doesn't need to be tainted by you." You looked away and felt a vibration come from your phone. You took the chance and opened it to see a message from your boyfriend. She smirked, "Did your 'boyfriend' text you? What'd he say?" She asked in a taunting tone.

You ignored her and opened the message. It was a new picture of the "super hot" guy standing next to you looking down to his phone.

Wanna dip babe?

These bitches are annoying the fuck outta me lol

The three of you looked up to him surprised as you closed your locker. He awkwardly smiled and said, "Guess I had to ruin that surprise cause some bimbos wanna fuck a gay guy." He laughed and walked over to you, grabbing your hand. You were speechless.

How did I not connect the dots earlier? Am I really that dense?

"It's a shame too. I was considering being friends, until you insulted my boyfriend, that is." He locked your fingers and looked back at the two. "Go suck a dildo, whore." Eros flipped them off and walked off with you around the corner, looking for a private spot. "Anywhere there won't be eavesdroppers?" He asked quietly. You nodded and lead him to a back room.

You opened the door with the key you had and let you go in first. The room was pretty nice considering it was useless. You turned on the light at set your bag down, Eros doing the same. "Are you really my boyfriend?" You asked stepping closer to him. He blushed and nodded, "I... I think so... I kind of ruined the supr-mm!" His eyes widened as you connected your lips to his. You pulled away and were about to speak when he connected them again, pressing his body into yours slightly.

He pulled away and you smiled, a blush was covering your face. "I've wanted to do that for so long." You said looking up to him slightly. "Me too." He said, hugging you close. "Why did you lie to me about being human?" You asked, resting your face on his chest. "I was... Scared of how you'd react if I told you the truth." You pulled away and looked up to him. "Are you kidding? Look what I was missing out on!" You said, making gestures to him.

Eros smiled and laughed. "I have a question for you though," You tilted your head slightly. "Why did they call you halfie?" You looked away and brushed back the hair around your ears. The tips of them were pointed much like an elf's but not as long. "My dads an elf. They like to use it as an insult since they're full and I'm not..."

Eros smiled again and nuzzled his nose to the crook of your neck. His snakes were gently booping their noses against your cheek as if giving you small kisses. You giggled at the sensation and he hummed to ask what was so funny. "Your snakes are cute." You said gently intertwining your fingers with them. He gently kissed your neck and rubbed your sides. "Well, they love you just as much as I love you." He said closing his eyes and hugging you.

You smiled and removed your hand to cup his cheek and make him look at you. His golden eyes were half lidded as he did. "Well," You said almost mocking him in away. "I love you and your snakes too." His eyes closed as he leaned in and yours did the same, both of your lips connecting again.

Eros pressed himself into you as both of you kissed. You pulled away first for air and he kissed your cheek and jaw lightly. You checked your phone when he pulled away he asked. "I'm curious how you got a key to a janitors closet." You leaned up to him and kissed his cheek. "My biological uncles the principal and he gave me the room to chill if I need to. It's usually where I would hang out for lunch but I dont really need to anymore since early release and all."

He "ooh'd" and nodded. "Makes sense. Wish I had a place like this at my old school." He looked back at you and his eyes went to your hair while you were checking something on your phone. Eros almost hesitantly brushed his fingers through your (h/c) hair. You jumped slightly at the sudden touch but enjoyed it none the less. "We have 4 minutes by the way." You said closing your eyes and leaning into his hand.

"Your hair is really nice. It's so soft." He smiled when you did and he gently kissed your nose while removing his hand from your hair. You tried your best to make it look like how it did before. "Sorry." He said gently with a small laugh. "Don't be, let's head to next hour so we can get this day done with and hang out." He nodded at your words and you grabbed his hand as the two of you grabbed your bags and quietly made it to the class you're meant to be in.

--- Skip to End of Day ---

The last two hours of school they had went by pretty quickly. The bell for lunch and early release seniors rang, making most people rush to leave or go to lunch. You and Eros lagged behind, waiting for the halls to clear a bit. He gently grabbed your hand as you finished putting your bag on. "Do you wanna go to the park or my house? I have a car so it doesn't matter too much on which you pick." He said with a small laugh.

You blushed and shrugged, "I would probably like your house since it's kinda cold out right now..." The two of you walked out of the class, hand in hand. The pair of girls from earlier watched with hatred/jealousy as the two of them walked out together. They were all going the same way so they got to see Eros walk you to his 1969 Blue Camaro.

Eros unlocked the car and opened the passenger door for you to get in to which you gladly accepted. You set your bag down by your feet and buckled as he set his bag in the back and got in. "I hope my dad isn't home." He said closing his door and starting the car. "Why do you say that?" You asked as he buckled his seat belt.

He sighed and leaned back on his seat. "He doesn't actually know we're... Y'know, dating. Or if he does he has no clue you're a guy..." You nodded and looked to him while he backed out from the parking lot. "We can still go to the park. I'll survive I'm sure." You said softly. "Plus I kinda wanna wear your jacket..." You mumbled the last part while looking away but he heard and smiled, acting as if he didn't hear.

"There's one close to my house we can go to. It's pretty cool if you wanna go there." Eros said while stopping at a light. "That sounds good." He smiled again and looked over to you before looking back at the light. Seeing it change to green, he stepped on the gas again and headed to the destination.

---

The ride was comfortably quiet other than the occasional comment about something in the passing scenery. "Ok, we're here." Eros said, parking his car in the relatively empty parking lot. "I've never seen this place before. It's really pretty." You said as the two of you stepped out.

"Yeah. It's pretty quiet here. I usually hang out here after school. I have never been home "on time" since I got a car 3-ish years ago." You smiled and held his hand as he locked the car and put the keys away. "I'll take you to my favorite spot. There's all kinds of secret areas thanks to the trees." He said with a slight child like glee. You giggled like the school boy that you are as he dragged you along through a beautiful walkway that was shaded by the trees. "Gods it's so pretty here." You said under your breath.

You walked for what felt like forever before he shifted to stand behind you, wrapping an arm around your waist. He removed his hand to show one of the few non blank pictures he sent. "Oh wow." The winter sun was shining over the neighboring town, giving a good idea of just how small it was. "We have a cliff?" You asked suddenly, making Eros laugh and hug you close to his body.

Eros smiled as he took a turn off the path and up a small hill. He stopped and gently let go of your hand, covering your eyes. You reached up to remove his hand but he stopped you. "W-what are you doing Eros?" He giggled and started walking, making you grab onto him afraid of running into something. "Eros?!"

"Don't worry babe. I promise it's nothing bad. I know you'll like it."

"Kinda crazy right?" He said before resting his chin on your shoulder. You nodded as his snakes gently booped you're temple and cheek again, making you smile. You reached up and gently placed a hand on Eros' cheek, rubbing your thumb against his jawline. "Wanna sit down? I have two and a half hours before I have to be home." You nodded again and he pulled away, leading you over to a fairly large tree.

He took off his jacket and tossed it up onto a branch before jumping into the tree himself. You were surprised before he reached down to help you up. "C'mon, it'll give us some privacy just incase anyone comes over here." You somewhat hesitantly took his hand and he helped pull you up onto the thick tree branch. He leaned back against the trees core, letting his legs hang down and inviting you to do the same against him.

The two of you sat in comfortable silence again while he hugged you close, resting his head against your shoulder. "I love you. A lot." He mumbled softly into your ear. You smiled and held onto the top of his hand that was holding onto your stomach. "I love you a lot too." You mumbled back. "Oh and, do you wanna wear my jacket now? I noticed you were shivering ever since we started walking."

You blushed and looked down to the tree branch and ground below it. "I didn't think you heard me say that..." He giggled and leaned forward a bit, grabbing the jacket off the branch it was hooked on to. You moved forward and he helped you put the slightly bigger jacket on. You snuggled into the lingering warmth, taking in his soft cologne.

"Your jacket smells good babe." Eros chuckles and pulls you against his chest again. "Well, it's got my favorite cologne on it so if course it smells good." You smile and let your head fall back against his shoulder and he kissed your temple.

"So. Do you wanna explain yourself a bit?"

-----

3261

Minimal spell/grammar checking, also set up for a part 2?

[live-digital-love]

Utsuro and Akane at the fair

You've waited so long for this, and all I can do is apologize.

♡ Utsukane | Fair Headcanons

It isn't anything new that Utsuro is a very... tired and lethargic man. He won't move a muscle for days, hardly even breathing, unless Akane asks him to do so. Even then, there are times in which he'll only manage a blank stare before going unresponsive again.

Thankfully, those are only the bad days. Akane wouldn't know what she'd do if that was all the time...

On the average days, she can convince him to actually get up and move around. On good days, he'll even agree to go somewhere with her to stretch out "those sad little bones," as she cheerfully puts it. Today, she wrote him a list of places she thought might be fun, and he cast a lingering glance at one in particular: a travelling fair that happened to be in town.

Akane only really considered what he would even be able to do once they got there. Rides might be fun, but wouldn't he make them malfunction waiting in the line? Maybe. Let's not risk that until later, to not rise too much suspicion, hm?

Next option was the festival games, which... also. Were not an excellent option, as he can't exactly play them fairly. To be fair, the fair itself doesn't play them fairly because they're rigged. Wouldn't two "unfairs" make it a fair competition, then?

To Akane's surprise, Utsuro was the one who picked out a game. The lights surrounding the booth caught his attention and he wandered over to it. It was a stand that had towers of bottles to be knocked down. Usually, some of the bottles are glued or stuck together so that they can't all fall.

But Utsuro simply took one of the balls and handed it to Akane.

She was pleasantly surprised now, looking between him and the ball curiously. "Huh-? You don't want to at least try?"

"... Everything would fall. Even if I dropped it."

"Right. But why are you giving it to me? I can't win anything."

In lieu of a response, he leaned in far too close, a hand drifting by her side to guide her near. He gently guided her hand to point at a corner of one of the bottles.

"... There," he mumbled. "Hit it there."

His slurred words rang through the haze that ebbed on her mind. It grew stronger whenever he drew too close, and could linger for days or weeks at a time. She always welcomed it eagerly.

But now, it drew away once he moved.

... He's allowing her to do it on her own.

Any toys they won through this process would have been given to Utsuro to hold, though Akane herself offered to do so. He seemed very content with a certain stuffed bear in particular. He got to keep that one.

She also introduced him to what cotton candy was, after she found him wandering away again to look at a stand. He stared blankly at the treat up until it was in her hands. As they sat down at a table not too far away, she could have sworn he actually looked... pleased with the small piece she put on his tongue.

[morallygreyvigilante67]

Tracer headcanons:

- I mentioned in a previous post that she probably saw a lot of shit while she was lost in time that she can't talk about in case it fucks up the timeline.

- Because of that whenever she mentions an event she's always really vague about it unless she's absolutely certain it already happened in the current timeline.

- Everyone always finds it really ominous because she refuses to elaborate, especially when it's just a one word message marking some anniversary or milestone that hasn't happened yet.

- She has a clock in almost every room of her apartment.

- She also keeps a couple of calendars that she actively uses.

- One is for the usual things like birthdays and anniversaries.

- The other one is where she notes down events she remembers glimpsing in the time-stream, no one else is allowed to look at it.

- She used to hangout a lot with Genji & Cole if they didn't have any missions lined up.

- Genji is the best training partner.

- They only really started since they were both adjusting to their respective 'enhancements' at the same time but they kept it up afterwards.

- Their training sessions basically ended up becoming really elaborate games of tag.

- No one really knows when she started hanging out with Cole but it was kind of a unanimous agreement that it wasn't a good thing.

- Lena & Genji? Chaotic but manageable.

- Lena, Genji & Cole? Memories of the incident lasted long after the organisation disbanded.

- One side effect of being able to manipulate your own personal timeline is an insane metabolism.

- She can either go for weeks surviving on nothing but the occasional snack, or she can clear out an entire fridge in a couple of hours.

- This also applies to alcohol.

- She either doesn't get drunk at all or she's knocked out after the first drink, no one ever knows which one it's going to be until it happens.

- Her medical history gives Angela grey hairs for that exact reason.

- She used to blink face-first into the wall a lot when she first got the accelerator.

- It didn't really hurt so it was more of a mild inconvenience until she got used to actually using the device.

- Sometimes she'll impulsively recall when she trips over or walks into something.

- Someone just spots a flash of light and they immediately know what happened.

- She can take the accelerator off without being dragged back into the time-stream as long as she still keeps it near her, but it was a while before she felt comfortable enough to actually do it.

(Note: She's seen not wearing it in the comics so the anchor itself has some range to it, she just has to wear it if she's going somewhere or if she wants to use her abilities.)

- The only people she doesn't always wear it around are Emily, Winston & Angela.

- The former because their apartment is small enough that she doesn't have to worry about being too far away from it if she goes into a different room, the latter two for maintenance & medical reasons respectively.

- She ended up befriending Mei fairly quickly when the scientist managed to regroup with them after the recall.

- Their experiences with time are different but it was comforting to find someone who could at least partially understand the experience.

I might do a part 2 if anyone's interested?