#I just got a bunch of these resin things I need to find a use for!

[otterloreart]

The Unicorn Project

So, if you've been following along you might have noticed my attempted unicorn cast didn't work out very well. My silicone mold turned out bad (it was my fault: i realized I got vaseline on the model and put the mold on top of that); my resin is yellowing; I ran out of silicone.

So! I bit off more than I can chew at the moment. I kind of have to accept that I won't be able to complete this anytime soon and it should be a long-term goal. And if I'm going for it... well I should go for it, right?

I'm considering opening a gift list up since I've compiled a bunch of the most expensive items I'll need to do this RIGHT. That being: Good quality silicone mold material, soft casting resin, colorants, all the ingredients for toy wax... yes I want to learn to use toy wax! I would prefer to be able to refine the stuff I make in toy wax. But I'd also need like a $50+ wax manipulating machine.

I'd need to mold in silicone, make wax, cast the wax, clean up the figure and then re-mold in silicone again, lastly casting in urethane resin (the apparently best option for this right now is gotta be the one listed, its really just the only thing available that can be rotation casted by hand, dries semi-translucent although not transparent and is semi-flexible)

I'm not a fan of amazon but it is one of the few ways to 1. effectively get a wide range of things not readily available in stores and 2. open up an accessible wishlist to people who are interested in seeing this project through.

I mean on top of this I would need nylon hair (NOT something you can find on amazon) and probably other things I'm not even thinking of.

Right now it would cost about $150 for most of theses supplies minus the wax melter- I actually need to check with my dad that he doesn't have anything similar. He just has a lot of weird stuff lying around.

So yes! Is this more of a pipe dream than a real plan? Maybe! But the more I plan and think about it the more realistic it is. Someday, my little ponies, someday.

[zoomzooomfast]

Style things in my SP AU

 so because I am normal about Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski I have a Bunch of headcanons around them mostly in high school and older that I haven't stopped thinking about for 3 weeks 

- Stan and Kyle are Both Bisexual and there TfT and Kyle is a trans man and Stan is Non-binary and uses They/He pronouns 

-In High school Stan Played Football and Lacrosse and Kyle played basketball and Figure Skated 

-Stan had a varsity jacket he just refused to own or wear it himself but he always had his partners waring them with Kyle ending up being the permeant owner once they graduated 

-Kyle dated Wendy for a bit in high school where Stan ended up having an executional crisis where he wondered if they were gay and he dated craig for a few months and then he dated Kenny for a bit after that. Then Stan had a mental breakdown to Wendy and Wendy told him if Kyle is cool with it we can be poly

-Kyle was cool with it and the 3 of them where together till Wendy broke up with both of them because they seemed better being just the two of them. 

-All of the core 4 ended up going to Denver for collage and the 4 shared a 3 bed apartment where even though Cartman and Kenny knew Stan and Kyle were dating they both came up with stupid reasons why they shared a room

-After they graduated collage Gerald offered to get Kyle a house of which he took up fast and Then Kyle and Stan lived together there for a while

-But Stans things that made Them fun in collage became a problem and Kyle was sick of him. Kyle kicked Stan out and told him if he can get himself together then he can come back into Kyles life

-Stan left South Park after that for 6 or 7 years just living in different places around Colorado 

-Kyle during this span of time got Married to a childhood friend Rebecca who no one in his family liked she was to quite for anyone in Kyles family or life to like her. They had there Son  Ezekiel “Zeke” Rebecca hated the nickname. The marriage lasted about a year and half after Zeke was born.

-The marriage ended when Kyle came home from work one day to find a letter from Rebecca saying that she was a lesbian and has been having an affair with a woman and left him to live her best cottagecore lesbian life.

-Kyle had a full mental breakdown with him ending up resining from his job and staying home most of the day high and drunk watching a box set of red racer that Craig gave to Kyle for Zeke 

-Luck for Kyle this around the time Stan felt like he got his life together he was a little shocked when they showed up to Kyles house to see his best friend who he knew as the level headed psychologist both high and drunk in a weird way it remined Stan of there dad.

-Stan instantly developed a connection with 2 year old Zeke. And because of that Stan knew he need to help Kyle get his life together starting with getting Kyle somewhere to go so he wouldn't just drink and smoke

-From Stan just trying to keep Kyle Sober and busy by just running around Kyle learned that he was going to have a second child and that caused a less fun round of  a mental breakdown 

-Kyle ended up working as a secretary for his dad till his daughter Tabitha was born and then Kyle felt the need to get back to having real job. So Kyle applies to be the elementary schools counselor which he got

-Stan very happily took up Kyles offer of watch my kids and you can live here rent free

-Shelia comes over a lot to help Stan with cooking and to just be able to talk to her sons partner because Stan would actually speak. The first time Shelia came over she asked Stan about an engagement ring and what season him and Kyle want to get married in. Stan was there was what where just friends we haven't dated in years. Shelia had to sit down and go back over everything that Stan and Kyle have done in just the past 11-ish months. and if Stan was sure they weren't engaged or hell even married yet given that Stan is in reality just a housewife

-Stans “Proposal” as just Stan sitting in a chair in Kyles living room asking if he could be Kyles “House Husband” and giving him a ring that Shelia gave to stan saying that Kyle would like it. and He did, Kyle also played it as very chill

-After Stan Fell asleep Kyle went to the kitchen and Sobbed over the Phone to Ike

I don't have the between of them Getting married and Zeke being 12/13 years so thats all I got 

[pbandjesse]

It was a pretty nice day. I feel tired but in a nice way. Like I accomplished stuff and feel good about it.

I slept okay last night. Waking up was hard. But it's all good. James had gone for a ride before I woke up. And when I got up they were here. They made the bed while I got dressed and ordered us bagels for pick up. And very soon we were off.

We drove to Charles village first to get our bagels. And then off to camp. We got there a little before 930. And it was a beautiful day. A little cold but the sun was out and I was feeling good.

We checked in with Elizabeth and she gave me the key for the supply building. And then we were off.

Me and James went to the lodge first and ran through the programs. Then went and got the supplies. James was lovely and carried the heavy stuff. Love them so much.

We set up smaller versions of three of the programs. We also set up the intro. I don't think I could have done this without James. They ran around getting B roll. They talked me through the script. And kept me from repeating myself. It would have been so much worse without them. And really I was just having fun doing this with them. It was such a nice my morning.

It was hard to film and not feel awkward but I did my best and looking back over what we filmed I think I did a good job. I made James lead the cordage part of the program and be in the games portion with me. It was just fun and I love making them a part of something I really care about. And they know so much so that's also really helpful. Both about Native American history and about filming/directing. They are the best.

We worked for about 3 hours and then went to the office to chat with Heather and Alexi. I brought up the full time stuff and they are like yes let's make a time to have a more formal conversation and talk about how much I should be paid. And I don't know when that is but I am glad they understand that's going to be the big deciding factor. Fingers crossed that what I need is in the budget.

We left there and headed to hunt valley. We went to Michaels so I could get the resin I like. And then walked over to the Wegmans to get groceries.

We wandered around there. James gets uncomfy when they don't know the layout of the grocery store but I like a hunt. It was nice to wander around and find the things on our list. Which we have been pretty successful with sticking it. Proud of us.

We headed back to the city next. The sky was getting cloudy. James was tired but still took me to artist and Craftsman so I could get smooth on mold making mix. I was surprised that Michaels didn't have it but I have a gift card for A&C so it was like getting both things for $20. Excellent.

James's energy was a little off. They weren't themselves. But we would get home. And struggle to get our stuff inside. A bunch of it fell out of the car and then my necklace came off and stuff rolled under the car and we were both frustrated. But we got it together and got it inside.

Where there was a birthday gift for me!! It was the MCR Tshirt Tucker got for me. Amazing. I am thrilled.

But then my blood sugar dropped like crazy and I started shaking and seeing black spots and was desperately trying to open the chocolate raisins and peanut butter pretzels I got at the store. And once I ate I felt a lot better but that's as scary.

I hung out on the couch and tried to get myself together. James would heat us up leftover pizza which was good. Better then it was last night. And once I felt okay again I would go start making my mold.

I didnt realize this was a slow setting version of smooth on. Weird. No idea why you would want that but whatever. I had to mix two sets to fill the container but I am excited to be making molds again. I always loved mold making and resin casting. And I'm excited to do it again!!

I left the mold to set. I'll check it tomorrow. And went to hang out on the couch and drew on my tablet. Which is going super well. Having the solid bear base I can just pluck and draw on over and over is perfect for me. I made a little musuem educator with a BMI apron and an oyster and knife. And then I made a basket of strawberries. It feels nice to have some direction with this project. Maybe I can figure out how to make some of them into enamel pins. We will see!

I got a little cold and moved to the bed. And eventually I fell asleep. When I woke up it was sleeting and raining. James was here and said they were going to make bread and spaghetti for dinner. I asked for some of my leftover salad. And then I went to take a bath while they cooked.

It was a nice little bath. And it was so nice to have dinner together. I love my James so much.

After dinner we went to their room to watch the last of us. I worked on my knitting which I am behind on. But I got 5 rows done during the hour show. It was a really good episode. I am glad Jess and James convinced me to sit down and watch it. Sweetp cuddled up with me and it was so cute when he flopped on me. I love my cat so much.

And now we are in bed. I am tired and it is rainy and windy outside. But I am happy. I hope you are all having a good night and are cozy and warm. I have a busy day at the museum tomorrow!! Wish me luck!!

[quilleth]

I was going to say now that a cat isn't using my arm as a pillow i can post an unboxing for the dream valley vanora head, but freya decided to nap on me again xD (it's ok she's older--14 this month!-- and her health's not very good so she can use my arm as a pillow if she wants). i just need to type one handed i guess lol

so the reason the box felt so hefty when it arrived? is because this is what the box for the head looks like! cushioned and padded inside and that black outer is fabric! like damn this is a NICE box y'all (featuring uninterested inspector #2)

She came with a postcard print of Adria and one of Vanora, and the COA (also really nice. like wow dream valley lure me in with nice boxes and holo coa printing! unfortunately they're not releasing the body as a human body so i probably won't actually be getting more from them, but never say never!)

She also came with a nice pair of eyes that sadly, won't work for anyone I need eyes for and couldn't get a nice picture of, but they're a pretty purpley grey

My lack of spatial reasoning strikes again because i thought these ears were a LOT smaller xD I almost feel bad that i'll just be using them to test dye formulas

The Dream Valley White is a warm toned white more like a cream color as opposed to the paper white from Loongsoul (and Ringdoll and Charm Doll I hear, though I don't have any white dolls from them). I'll have to keep that in mind when I look at dye formulas.

These ears are SO cute! I don't think the 1/4 bunny girls have the same detailing on their elf ears, but the new jellyfish girl does i think. I think this could be really fun to paint for my Vanora, since she is a genasi and I usually draw her with some pink/ coral on her ears (like fishy fins without actually giving her more fin like ears)

I apparently have a thing for sculpts with slightly open smiles like this xD Idk i just think it's cute! and it matches the first dollmaker thing I made of my Vanora.

She also has a cute profile!

now I just need to figure out a body for her. Interestingly, she's listed as having an 8.6 cm neck, but when i was looking at her it seemed larger, so I thought I'd see if she could fit the 62cm Loongsoul boy body which has a 9.4 cm neck. Her head fits fine and moves ok on it, but the aesthetics don't look good to me (the neck looks too thick, and obvs it's a boy body), which is good to know and keep in mind when looking at bodies for her! Some of the 60-65 cm girls have like 9.5+ cm necks, so I'll know to avoid those ones. Also it was just generally funny xD Her head is 21.5 cm and Bai Jue (dollhua) is like 19, so it's definitely a shift in aesthetics in my bunch I'd say xD

The only thing making me waffle about it (other than there not being muscle bodies in the 60cm ish range) is that i could (should?) get a body for her and figure all that out now, or I could get a head for Faolan now and try placing a custom order for their bodies through Resinsoul at the same time (cen for him and asking if they could do a custom muscular girl body like i've seen them do with their 1/4 dolls before). The latter would potentially save me needing to dye as much (easier to request a custom body color to match the dyed head than try to dye a head to match i think) and potentially be a bit cheaper, but if i get her sorted now, then i can customize her and potentially have better luck getting a switch head in milktea rose for him if i find one i like second hand or get really lucky and they rerelease Ryuzo again. Most of the dolls i've got bookmarked for him second hand are normal resin, so I'd have to dye them a light tan. Which i don't mind per se, but also milktea rose and ryuzo are really pretty xD But if I don't get something for him now...then the heads i do have marked might sell by then...and then i have to find another option! There is one head that's tan that I have bookmarked, but it has a pretty faceup already and I'd feel bad wiping it :/

Decisions are hard ><

[disease-danger-darkness-silence]

Things I need to fix on my car

(Best case scenario | Worst-case Scenario) This is all based on whether I am physically capable of the work involved, and whether I have the tools to do the job. My car is the 2014 Chevy Impala. The 2006 Kia Rio5 I'm giving to my daughter, although that needs some work too. IMPORTANT STUFF IS MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK * The two most important for the Impala are the ABS sensors and new tires, honestly.

* ABS sensor and wire replacement on wheels: ($20 | $100) I may be able to fix this for almost no cost, if the sensor and sensor wire are OK, but I'd have to get some steel hangar strapping ($9) and figure out how to best secure it away from the axle, because that's what keeps wearing out the ABS sensor wires.

* New tires: ($500 | $750) Mine are falling apart. I could get some used ones for $200 but then they'd need replacement again in 6 months.

Windshield: (Free | $225) I have a resin kit to fix the chip/s in the windshield, but the entire thing is really pitted and I think it may crack this winter, regardless of a fix.

Fix wiring on side-windows: ($45| $200) If I can get a trim-pull kit ($21, or $40 with a big set of clips), I can probably just fix the wiring myself with a soldering iron and some replacement door clips ($6). If not I need a body professional to do it.

* Radiator drain and fill: ($45 | $200) I'm pretty sure I can do this myself. I need a fuck-ton of distilled water ($2), a bunch of radiator cleaner ($10), an oil pan to hold the old antifreeze in ($15), and winter antifreeze mix ($15). But if I can't, I need to take it in to a mechanic.

* Transmission drain and fill: ($175 | $1000) Also pretty sure I can do this myself. Transmission seal ($14), sealing oil pan ($15), transmission fluid (dextron 6, 5.3 qts, $35/gal), transmission filter ($28), transmission gasket ($9) and grease ($2). The biggest expense will be a new torque wrench (~$50), as mine died. Still cheaper than a transmission tune-up from a pro.

* Oil change: (75$ | $90+tip) Can definitely do this myself but I don't know that I wanna because laying under the car hurts my back a lot. Same with the other stuff. Blegh. Oil pan ($15), oil (full synthetic 5W-30, 6 qts, $7.50/qt or $28/5 qt), oil filter ($7), drain plug gasket ($15). Need a torque wrench for this, too.

Tune-up: ($124 | $250) I for sure can do this myself, basically just need to change the spark plugs. My car takes extra-special iridium plugs so it'll be a little pricy for six of them ($11x6). Need to get cabin ($24) and engine air ($24) filters, and a fuel filter ($10), too.

Fix bumper: ($30/$70 | $300) I'm pretty sure I can do this myself but I need spare clips ($6) and some filament ($15) for my 3D pen my sister got me. I also need to find said pen, or buy a new one ($40). And I need some sturdy, different-grit automotive sandpaper ($8).

Paint touch-ups: ($69 | $500) Car paint is expensive. I'd need automotive primer and the paint itself, and a topcoat, or have a pro do it. It's oddly important because it keeps it from rusting. I can get a kit in my car's color (WA636R) for ($69).

Wind deflectors for windows: ($65 | $) Pretty sure I can install these myself. If not I have to have a body shop do it and idk that I care enough. It would help with retaining heat in the winter and cool in the summer.

* Windshield wipers: ($52 | $92) Definitely can install these myself, it just depends on what brand is available when I go in for them - cheapest 22" driver's side is showing for $23 at Autozone, and 21" passenger side is showing $23 as well. Also need winter-rated window wash fluid ($5).

Detailing ($175 | $450) I can either do this myself by purchasing some things, or I can pay someone to do it for me. Things would be: drill wet-sanding kit ($19), drill brush cleaning kit ($36), upholstery cleaner ($19), upholstery protectant ($17), interior cleaner ($12), headlight cleaner ($20), protectant ($25). I already have a steamer, drill, and wet/dry shop vac (although there's a bomb accessory kit I wanna get regardless for $27). Either way, the car needs to be deep-cleaned, inside and out. It's bad. Although, now that I think about it, if I invested $300 in equipment (better steamer, larger chemicals, power washer) and chemicals, I could do detailing for friends and family and get my money back fairly quick, and I need to detail the Kia for Adrienne anyway.... Hm.

Things I need to do for the Kia for Adrienne

* Remove old bearings and install new ones. (Already have bearings and tools, just no hand strength to remove bearings. Need biiiig mallet.)

* Polish and fix headlights. (Need polish and some more UV resin, as well as bulbs.)

Get quote from fast glass about rear windows, or make a better mold of the rear windows and make better resin replacements.

* Pull oil pan and replace plug. (Have plug already, need impact wrench flex set).

* Change oil and oil filter. (Need oil and filter.)

* Change engine air filter. (Have filter.)

* Fix locks and handles. (Need trim pulling kit and spare clips.)

Deep-clean. (Need detailing kit, turtle wax, rainx, and dent-puller.)

* Fix windshield (either resin kit or replacement windshield).

* Find key and copy. Look into if it'll take a fob.

Alignment and struts.

Fix the pull for popping the hood.

Tires possibly.

Transmission, radiator, and engine flush.

* Fuel filter and cabin air filter.

Possibly paint to fix any rusting that may be occurring.

* Battery needs to be charged and possibly replaced.

[triflesandparsnips]

Update 1: Let's talk about SOAP.

So-- unlike the previous adventure into Stede's likely household cosmetics, wherein I basically got the ingredients, spent half an hour carefully destroying my kitchen, and ta da, lip balm-- making Stede's soap will be somewhat of a Process.

To start us off: There are three things you need to know immediately about Stede Bonnet's lavender soap.

1. It probably wasn't completely "lavender" scented.

The majority of the extant recipes for scented soaps in and around Europe didn't really do "single" scents-- it was usually a fun mix of herbs, spices, resins, and, uh, animal parts, with a base scent of one or more floral waters and oils.

Figure 1. Regarding animal parts, please meet the musk deer; or, Sir Not Appearing In This Recipe; or, "quick boys, get its semi-viscous-secretion-filled exocrine glands, we need 'em to smell fancy."

As an example of one of these recipes, Sir Hugh Plat's 1609 recipe in his Delightes for Ladies required orris root (dried and powdered iris rhizomes), cypress, sweet flag (A PSYCHOTROPIC, WOO), rose leaves, lavender flowers (finally), and rosewater. This big mix of yummy smells, common plants, and very very expensive and imported ingredients is pretty in keeping with most of the scented soap recipes I've been able to find for Stede.

(Though, note, if we take a SHARP LEFT TURN into, oh, I dunno, medical horror my beloved, the odds of more heavy use of lavender go way up. BUT since we're just testing the concept right now, let's save that for later experimentation.)

2. The first step in making scented soap... was to buy some plain white soap.

So far as I can tell, all extant recipes for scented soap are basically the household equivalent of doctoring your instant ramen noodles. This strikes me as intensely funny, since, like-- Stede. Store-bought pirate, store-bought soap, cmon follow me on this, this is very funny.

Figure 2. Man who definitely gets the joke, I'm pretty sure.

...Anyway. Uh. Very briefly: Western soap was strong as fuck, mostly good for laundry, was soft or liquid even if you salted the fuck outta it, was made with smelly animal fats, and wouldn't take pretty herbal scents worth a damn. (It was also called "black soap" because of the color of the potash lye used to make it. Remember Ed's happy "soap!" from the English camp? The square bar of black soap he held up? That's probably what it was supposed to be.)

Figure 3. Little did the prop department realize that someone would get entirely too invested in the fucking history of soap.

But over in Syria, and brought to the rest of the Mediterranean and elsewhere via the Silk Road, was this cool stuff called Aleppo soap-- and it was white, solid, gentle on the skin, almost scentless, and could be mixed with herbs and spices and icky animal parts to smell very fancy indeed.

Of course, people in the West wanted it badly because it was great, but it was also expensive as fuck, so there was Big Business in backwards engineering the stuff-- which a bunch of European coastal cities/countries with access to high quality olive oil and the ability to make soda ash (a significantly gentler cousin to potash) managed to do, including Castile, Spain, Marseilles, France, and Venice, Italy.

Soap recipes from Stede's time and earlier predominantly start with some amount of "Venetian Soap"-- spellings of which might also be "Venice-Sope", "Venise sope", "Saponis Veneti", etc. The goal was basically to start with a white hard soap, and Venice wasn't the only place that had it, but it made for a useful shorthand. Other soaps that seem to have occupied the same ecological niche were "Spanish", "Castle", "Saracen", "French"... and, of course, "Castile", which seems to have become today what Venetian Soap once was: a shorthand for olive oil soap. Neat.

Figure 4. The earliest reference I've found so far to Venetian Soap, from a 1558 translation of an earlier work-- though this image in particular is from a 1595 edition.

But anyway: Basically, step one to modern recreations of Stede's lavender soap would be "buy some fancy shit olive oil soap."

And finally...

3. The finished, scented soaps were called WASH BALLS.

I mean sure, some recipes were just called "a white sweet Soap" or "a muskified Soap"-- but uh. The majority were labeled "a delicate washing ball", "washing balls", "an Excellent Wash-ball", "Perfumed Wash Balls", etc.

(Listen. This is also very funny. I don't know what to tell you. Get on my level, it's great down here.)

Figure 5. This guy gets it.

They were named wash balls because the remade Venetian soap were typically, uh, spherical, for reasons that are mostly guesses on my part but amuse me anyway. For size reference, though, "little" balls were listed in 1706's Bate's Dispensatory as being about 2 or 3 ounces in weight, so we can imagine a regular size ball as being about 4 or 5 ounces (as a reference, a bar of modern Dove soap is 4.75 ounces).

They could also, according to Barbe's 1696 The French Perfumer, be stamped with a sigil and have a delicate gold leaf applied to the raised edges afterwards to make them super fancy, and if you think I'm not keeping that idea in my back pocket for Stede "Why Not Have an Entire En Suite Installed On My Giant Midlife Crisis-Mobile" Bonnet, then hooboy, you have not been paying attention to my entire, like, jam.

Anyway.

So where's the soap, Trifles

Did I not say that this was a process.

I wanted to keep things simple, and also start with as close as possible to what Stede would've had-- which, in the show, amounts to all of three words: "yummy lavender soap".

Figure 6. The evidence, Your Honor.

"Yummy" here is obviously "very very nice", not a quality of its taste, just as the "sweet Soap" referenced in at least one extant recipe refers to the scent and quality, and, again, not the taste.

(Although... there were recommendations in the manuals of the time that the soapmakers taste the soap mixes and the lye to determine whether they were cooking correctly. So... make of that what you will.)

Anyway, if it's yummy and it's scented, it's going to be that nice solid white soap, and likely shaped into a ball. And, if I was going to be Accurate, I needed to buy some.

Stateside, the closest I could easily find to a period-accurate formulation was "Kiss My Face" brand olive oil soap-- hilarious to imagine, but it's green in color, which is Not what soap made from very high quality olive oil that's been allowed to dry and age properly should be -- so I said to hell with the inherent humor of the brand name and instead went really method: Say hello to Nabulsi soap, a next-door neighbor to Aleppo soap.

Figure 7. What up, boys.

Nabulsi soap's been made the same way for centuries, with the same ingredients-- and unlike Aleppo soap, which has laurel berry oil (an ingredient Western soapmakers apparently did not successfully discover as part of their backwards engineering), Nabulsi soap is closer in ingredients and process to what the Western soapmakers were doing than just about anything else I could easily get my hands on.

(In particular, I think Nabulsi soap is still made with soda ash made from barilla, a salt-tolerant Mediterranean plant that was a key reason why these soaps were fucking amazing. Barilla farming and soda ash production was big business until 1792 when Nicolas Leblanc decided to personally ruin my dreams by discovering a way to artificially create sodium carbonate -- the primary active ingredient in soda ash -- thereby causing the collapse of barilla farming and my current inability to order barilla lye online.)

Figure 8. That asshole.

Anyway, I figured Nabulsi soap was just as likely to show up as an expensive ingredient in an apothecary shop as any other soda-ash-and-olive-oil soap, and a lot closer to whatever Stede's household would've used than more modern soaps. So, reader, I bought some.

Most of the recipes I found required that the white soap be scraped or grated and then left in the sun for several days. Behold, in progress:

Figure 9. A partially scraped bar of Nabulsi soap, a potato peeler, a "holy shit don't cut yourself" safety glove, and thou.

These little bastards took maybe an hour to scrape down, but I switched off frequently with my child, who would've apparently been the one Victorian kid who volunteered to spend all day at the factory, so your mileage may vary.

I would say that Nabulsi soap isn't entirely scentless, but what scent it has is very light and fresh, not at all overpowering or chemical-ly. In future, I'm going to try a cheese grater or, if the gods smile upon me, a microplane.

Figure 10. The entire 7 ounce bar, reduced to smithereens.

This tray is now lightly covered with a see-through lid and in a sunny location in my studio-- per Wecker/Culpepper's 1660 Cosmeticks, I'll leave it to dry like that for the next 6 to 10 days (though I'll likely stir it every couple of days, to ensure it's equally... whatevered).

While I wait on the soap, though, I knew I should turn my attention to the final riddle: "lavender".

Lavender is a toughie, ingredient-wise -- it wasn't the herbal most frequently added. Powdered orris root (Iris rhizomes), cloves, and storax resins (like bezoin, liquid storax, labdanum, and their various offshoots and adulterated variants) were the usual culprits. A couple of recipes called for lavender flowers, but certainly not the majority, and rosewater was usually what would be added to that dried, grated Venetian Soap when the soapmaker was ready to reform it into wash balls.

In fact, scent-wise... cloves smell spicy/sweet/warm, the various resins all apparently smell warm and vanilla-y, and orris root smells "sweet, soft, powdery, suede-like"-- so lavender, which actually has a huge spectrum of possible scents depending on the variety used, might either soften the soap's entire scent profile or kick it into spicy overdrive. But without the lavender, I do wonder if, somehow, this would be yet another historical cosmetic that somehow smelled like COOKIES.

But! We are making Stede's soap here, so lavender it is-- and of a sufficient quantity that Ed would specifically identify it as the lavender soap.

While the majority of recipes call for the grated soap to be reconstituted with rosewater, both Cosmeticks and Salmon's 1685 Polygraphice mention using Oil of Spike in addition to or replacing the rosewater. Oil of Spike was made of spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia), which seems to be one of the spicier lavender boys. I, tragically, did not have spike lavender or store-bought Oil of Spike readily to hand-- but I did have some dried French lavender (Lavandula stoechas), several bottles of olive oil, a recipe from 1623, and too much time on my hands, SO GUESS WHAT:

Figure 11. Local over-invested idiot decides, why the fuck not? Let's make some goddamn Oil of Lavender.

Figure 12. Local over-invested idiot sees no reason to be concerned about current life choices, hobbies, use of time and effort.

The recipe is from Markham's The English Hus-wife, and it's its own goddamn adventure-- but for the time being, let us say that I am now waiting 10 days on the soap, 12 days on the lavender oil, and for my next trick I should probably grind up some cloves maybe.

This will surely end well.

For those who may or may not remember my mostly historically accurate Stede Bonnet lip balm, get ready-- I'm going to start experimenting soon with mostly historically accurate lavender soap.

So... I guess be prepared for me to accidentally explode more shit, hooray.

[medicinemane]

Saw something that made me go... wait a minute... I feel like you'd almost have to be able to mod Genshin to get these pics

Well it turns out you can, you can turn Amber into Mumei or whatever else you can find or make (assuming you had the skills to make it), but that's not the really interesting part

The interesting part is... you can host private servers

So that's what I've been spending to day doing, getting that set up. Wasn't hard, just has a lot of those little setting up a server problems, combined with jank like having to give yourself quests rather than them auto triggering, and various other issues here and there

That said, it's so much more fun than real Genshin. I just gave myself a bunch of the currency and rolled on some gacha. I wanted a specific character, so I just gave them to me

Also I've just been running around the countryside doing lay lines because not only could I give myself the resin you need to claim them, it doesn't even drop

It backs up what I've said, Genshin is a really great game that causes burnout due to liveservice bullshit. When you strip the mechanics that are trying to pry your wallet open, you're left with a really good fun casual game with so many cool and fun characters

And when you can just get them, you start finding out stuff like how fun some of the combos you can do with two 5 stars you wouldn't have ever gotten. You could give yourself enough copies to max them if you wanted. I'm taking it a little slow, but I can do that anytime I want and experience what they're like at peak power

Liveservice models strangle the fun out of games. They're there to make infinite money, the end

Toxic trash, they're a blight on videogames, but they've got the money to fund it, and they make a lot of money, so... I don't see how it goes away, not when people reward them so much

(Bonus note, they prey heavily on things like gambling addiction, emotional attachment to characters, and a whole host of other predatory strategies. While I think that society as a whole buys in more readily than it needs to, I'm 100% not condemning everyone who spends money or even whales on them)

(I'm kind of complaining about those real consumer whore types who'll gobble down whatever trash mcu or disney throw at them no matter what, but like... who is and isn't that when it comes to people spending on liveservice games, I refuse to even speculate. There's no direct judgement here, and sympathy for anyone hurt by this shit. There's just also a degree of being tired of people as a collective never pushing back very hard and... us ending up where we are)

[littlewalken]

Mar 4

The MST3K riff of Dr Mordred was watchable. I'll have to rewatch it a few times to see if there are any jokes that really stand out. The writing is decent, the cast takes some getting used to but they have the spirit. And it's on me for not seeing if the Gizmoplex is free, which it is, to have watched it sooner.

But if you're sensitive about people joking about Jeffrey Combs, Jeffrey Brush was unavailable, don't get your panties in a bunch.

After all it's Full Moon Entertainment and they're putting their bare cheeks up against the glass.

Found a craft oven out in the wild, and a small Ottlite on sale, so working towards hopefully making new doll heads is looking better. Still need to get to the resin casting and other craft supplies in the closet to organize them better in different tubs then get out the spare bodies, or at least four of the China clones I can use for New Monkees.

Past Little Walken tries to be a good provider for Future Little Walken and in the grand stress of the shit they've been thru it's okay current Little Walken thought the New Monkees molds got fucked up in storage because they weren't with the AMP molds.

What I'm really looking forward to trying is the pellets you melt, use, and melt again for something else. While it was good that the NM molds were make of a 2 part silicone I got at the craft store and wanted to try there are times when a head is at a partially good stage, usually the face is looking great, but the rest isn't. So having temporary mold for the face that becomes redundant, like a previous draft of a story, could be solved by reusing the mold making stuff.

In the meantime I have the soft gelatin mold stuff, y'all know what I mean, that biodegrades but it only works if you're pouring in to it. Still tho back in the stone house I make a bunch of face plates that way when I had a batch that weren't going to dry properly.

Something something kids and pets around use Amazing Mold Putty because it's food grade something something soft molds for hard things hard molds for soft things something something Sculpey molds maker for little experiments with resin something something 1/12 scale Daft Punk helmets arriving soon I think I'll put screw top jewelry findings in the top then make push molds them paint and put those on my charm bracelet because how I painted the doll helmets has held up and I want to be able to copy them just in case something something

I used the 3D printed keychains that can easily be found online for my 1/6 scale robots. They're a smidge big to be realistic I suppose but it works for dolls.

[hassians-sernuk-boyfriend]

okay documenting some of my findings with the added disclaimer that most of my technological knowledge comes from playing factory games and staring into space.

ill toss a read more for people who aren't feral about natural materials and videogame object deisgn like I am actually

!found polymers! - rubber tires in the Pavel's shed - I don't think this can be anything BUT rubber? and also all the other tires are wooden. blaming Leta for now - rubber heels on Sifuu?? - I don't think the crenelated boot she has can be made of anything not rubber either. both the tires and her shoes have visible treads.

Hoses/tubes - water towers have hoses that could be a few things. - probably treated leather though? also nevermind they're just copper all the way down. they're pipes and i was wrong - several of the wires are just rope. I do not know how they work - the spring fever string lights look very like they are plastic-coated wires? but also they are tied off so they are not actually wires at all i guess.

Paints/colors - we know they've got pigments from shells/coral and they probably also have gems/metals/bugs. Their gems are more saturated and purer than ours, so probably they get used more than normal earth would. - bases include: oil (oil paintings), glass/sand (ceramics and tinted glass), water/alcohol (wood staining and paper), and resin/turpentine (wood coating/stuff we'd use acrylic for)

Lighting/Energy - YO WHO KNOWS - still absolutely mystified by this all I assume I simply cannot understand the ways of flow but lemme document what I found - lightbulbs exist. I can't see a filament in them - fluorescent style bulbs exist in jel's shop??? maybe indicates gaseous use of flow??? - some of the lanterns simply have nothing in them and glow anyway - Moonstruck lamp is implied to be a salt lamp imitating the style of Umbraa crystal lamps, implied to be related to flowstones. also it's made of palium and flow planks so god (a dragon who is the moon) knows - cooking seems to be done on charcoal and wood.

Textiles - after stalking all the townsfolk around to stare at their clothing, it looks like they mostly wear cotton, predictably - Zeki seems to have a leather coat and a silk? vest I think - some cute twill on Kenli - Hodari's heels seem to be wood + leather - Sifuu and Reth have hairbands with no visible seams, but I think maybe they're covering up hairpins of some sort? - Jel has a lovely little manual singer machine with a foot-pedal and I'm now obsessed with it - bobbins with glass beaded ends - cute ribbing on some items that need to stretch w/o elastics - Hassian has cute lil ties on his leggies to keep his pants legs tight

Jewelry/knick-knacks - lot of carved wood, blown glass, ceramics and metal - we can probably assume bone/shells too - gems aplenty - lotta leather cords, cotton/silk strings, and ambiguous rope but I don't know enough about rope to guess the material - drawings of Sabine include TWO (2) donuts-hung-in-hair, like Sifuu, who has only 1. Not sure the material but now I'm curious about the significance

Disposable goods - the library has a water cooler with 3 cups on it. maybe paper? - Zeki's capsules seem to be scrap leather I think? - lotta jars seem to be sealed with string, cloth, and probably wax - wax seals - paper and also printing. the Maji Market posters have a gradient to them, so it's not just block printing??

Machines - i am losing steam here but - machine oil of some sort. i forgot what this is made of - ball bearings - we know they've got a number of alloys and also that palium is better than all of them or something - seals are probably wax and oil/fat/etc.

BAMBOO - I remembered that the maji shrine has a bunch of bamboo - the medical cots seem to be woven bamboo also - there is no bamboo growing anywhere

will add to this later as I collect things. anyway that's what I've got rn. staring into the abyss and drinking my coffee

today I am obsessing over what materials are available in palia (again) and running around trying to document their technology

[mizutori-heiko]

Mizutori’s bakudeku fanfiction master list [complete works]

Really really good writing by these incredible authors. In no particular order! These are all Top!Bakugou and Bottom!Deku. If A/B/O dynamics then it’s Alpha!Bakugou and Omega!Deku. Yes, I have preferences.

Canon World – until 15k

What The Fuck Did You Just Call Me? by reading_raindrop | 8,303 | Izuku starts calling him Bakugou and it pisses the explosive teen off a lot more than he thought it would.

Oh right, you were a little sh*t by SaysiWrites | 5,653 | When Midoriya Izuku gets hit by an age-reversion Quirk, the last thing anyone expected to find out is that Toddler-Izuku is a little shit. Except for one Bakugou Katsuki, who has seen this phase one too many times already. (Bonus+ the entire Little Sh*t (Kidfic) series)

Do Not Disturb by surveycorpsjean | 10,010 | Apply enough force, and something is bound to break.

And Atlas fell by supercrunch | 15,185 | They move in together, after a while. Katsuki joins Best Jeanist and Izuku trains under Gran Torino. They still take comfort in each other every day, curl up in bed and kiss and talk about how life is going. Their live are tumultuous, after all, what with villains and training and rescuing people every week. It’s nice to have something certain. At the end of a day filled with violence and adrenaline, Izuku knows he can come home to someone concrete. It’s perfect. Being a hero is scary and grueling and uncertain, but this part is just right. And then, one day, a child dies in Izuku’s arms.

be loved by bonnia | 5,403 | The kidnapping incident leaves bakugou traumatised about being touched on the back of his neck, and midoriya decides to take matters into his own hands.

Big Protein by Mysecretfanmoments | 13,683 | Bakugou Katsuki has a thriving hero career, an agent to manage his famous attitude, and absolutely zero romantic interest in anyone. With the exception of his favourite health food joint refusing to expand to his city, his life is pretty damn perfect—so why does a viral video revealing Deku's stash of dirty mags involving him and Deku together turn everything upside-down?

Chocolate cake and resin preserved flowers by Anoksun | 11,396 | Izuku loses his memories. Katsuki struggles not to lose Izuku too.

Twin Stars by theperksofbeinglarissa | 8,435 | When Deku saves a woman's life, her quirk is accidentally activated. Her quirk? She reveals a person's soulmate. A star-shaped mark appears on Midoriya's left arm... and on Bakugou's as well. Kirishima is the only one who knows that Bakugou is Midoriya's soulmate, and Bakugou isn't taking the news very well. Can the twin stars of class 1-A work out their differences and find their happy ending?

Unhealthy Fixations by Thesis | 12,522 | Izuku is an adult who knows better than to crush on his childhood bully. AND YET.

Like the Moon by osakakitty | 14,781 | Katsuki Bakugo is having constant, erotic dreams about Izuku Midoriya. He isn’t sure why, but they won’t go away. In order to make them stop, he needs to figure out what Izuku Midoriya means to him.

Worth a Second Shot by cinnabee | 13,080 | Katsuki and Izuku celebrate registering as a Hero Duo together with a big party. What could go wrong?

Like Something Out of A Shoujo Manga by Merrywetherweather | 2,971 | Deku ends up in a rather interesting quirk accident, one that triggers flag events as if he were the protagonist of an otome game.

Canon World – 15k++

Blood Moon by lalazee | 94,860 | The Thank-Fuck-We-Aren’t-Dead Sex had started then, and had never really stopped. Then came the feelings and the fights. The ego, the pride, the jealousy. And then there was Us.

The Way You Used To Do by edema_ruh | 669,463 | During a battle, Midoriya gets hit by a villain whose quirk detaches his soul from his body. Stuck in a ghost-like state, the boy enters a race against time in order to save himself from permanently dying. Much to his luck - or lack of it -, the only person who can see and talk to him in this state is no one other than Kacchan.

Just Like Breathing by MD_Daydreamer | 35,423 | Izuku got engaged. He didn't mind. If that made Uraraka happy, he could do it. He thought his life wouldn't change much.But then, Kacchan went to live in the USA.

briar roses (and hundred years of sleep) by vannral | 15,951 | In which Izuku is hit by a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Quirk, Class 3-A tries to find his True Love and get them to kiss him, and Katsuki’s very angry about it all.

"what's your type?" by sapphicflower | 20,192 | In order to increase their popularity rankings as up and coming pro heroes, Izuku and Katsuki participate in the most popular late night talk show for hero duos - ‘Heroes Rising!’. They’re killing it, obviously, because they know each other from inside and out. Until one question stumps the two of them: “What is your hero partner’s type?”

and it was Just Right by cinnabee | 23,759 | Katsuki spends two years post-graduation in a furious one-sided competition with his childhood friend and rival's promotional photos - until they finally run into each other, and, well. You shouldn't believe everything you see in magazines. A love story about size differences.

Notice Me, Nerd by useless_donut | 40,000 | Bakugou is in love with Midoriya. He doesn’t hide it, in fact it’s so painfully obvious that the entire class of 3-A has him figured out in a matter of months (days, in some cases). Too bad Midoriya is the most oblivious motherfucker out there, and Bakugou is too damn stubborn to actually ask him out. A love story as witnessed by the class of 3-A.

in your dreams, nerd! by sapphicflower | 37,639 | In a strange and unexpected set of circumstances, Izuku and Katsuki find themselves sharing their dreams together whenever they happen to fall asleep at the same time. Being hopelessly in love with each other, they don’t mind it all that much. What better way to spend time with your crush than in a stupidly vivid dream?

Hear Me by my_name_is_Levi | 22,419 | It wasn’t as if nightmares were uncommon for the freshman class of Yuuei. They’d seen plenty of things, heard and felt and witnessed enough travesty in their lives to last them a lifetime. But Midoriya Izuku was screaming, and no one, not even Bakugo Katsuki could ignore it.

Bridges by supercrunch | 18,018 | Bakugou is signed up for a Calvin Klein modeling gig. The thing is, they really do need the money. And Katsuki's technically the leader of this bunch of morons, so he finds himself taking the job even though his pride will never recover. And even though nobody thought to tell him that he'd be working with his ex-boyfriend. You know, the cute freckled guy from high school who went and broke his heart. So, yeah. This whole situation kind of sucks.

objective truth by mamalade | 15,390 | Izuku gets hit with a truth quirk, as one does. He seems to be handling it well—until Katsuki shows up.

catharsis by dollcewrites | 15,071 | It's been six years since Izuku graduated.It's been six years since he confessed to his childhood friend; his classmate and his inspiration. It's been six years since he deleted Bakugou's number, asked his friends not to mention the name, spent every last effort of his heart turning off the TV and averting his eyes from the newspapers. It's been six, long, long years since he gave up on Katsuki Bakugou ever loving him back.

Here here, my friends and me (You are my familia) by Jeka | 128,832 | Bakugou Katsuki has made a great job of ignoring the fact that he is tragically in love with Deku, someone who could never love him like that and let's face it, he doesn't deserve. Now that he can't ignore it anymore, he has to find a way to keep his childhood friend and move on for his own sake. Or so he had thought, maybe he can have Deku, after all. Izuku has everything he always wanted in life. But suddenly he has to navigate the most important relationship in his life through different eyes.

Canon World – Jealous! 

Hands Off by SaysiWrites | 7,140 | When a new girl at school starts flirting with Bakugou, his friends quickly become invested in the idea of their friend experiencing love - even if he doesn't seem at all interested in her. What they don't see is Midoriya fuming in the background. But how can he get rid of her when they've spent so long keeping their relationship a secret?

Surfaces by surveycorpsjean | 25,225 | Katsuki has a new girlfriend, but something isn't right. As impossible as it is, Izuku can't help but wonder what it'd be like to be called Katsuki's girl.

Green-Eyed Beast by SecretKiwi | 4,721 | Everyone wants a piece of Katsuki Bakugou, but they should beware of the Green-eyed beast always lurking close behind him.

Green with Envy by Sol_Morales707 | 2,611 | Izuku Midoriya is not as innocent and pure as everyone thinks he is. The truth was he was very jealous and willing to do anything for a certain blonde.

Happy Camper by Arysa | 7,074 | Wanting a break from the stress of dealing with the rookie Pro Hero grind, a handful of students from Class A decide to go on a camping trip. Izuku's excited to relax and catch up with everyone, especially Kacchan. But, well, Kacchan's... Kacchan. And dating Kirishima.

How to stop time: kiss by Teddingtons | 31,693 | Deku finally asks Uraraka out. Everyone's supportive except Bakugou who can't even look him in the eye. Deku seeks him out after and is hit with truth.

What I Deserve by s_the_queen | 16,671 | When Izuku starts dating a student in General Studies, everyone is happy for him. She's super sweet and really caring. But something doesn't sit right with Katsuki.

Deku's Already Fucking Taken by asdfjkl129 | 20,704 | 5 times people don't realize that Deku is already in a very happy relationship and try their hand at asking him out, and then in Bakugou's unique and special style, get very firmly corrected, +1 time where no correction is needed.

His by sister_elric | 6,206 | Izuku would like to consider himself a pretty level headed individual. Sure, he had the occasional tunnel vision, especially when it came to training. And hero work. And Kacchan. But, overall, Midoriya felt as though he typically kept his cool. Well, maybe that was a stretch. But, at the very least he could understand his own emotions. So, it surprised even him when an unfamiliar emotion coursed through him as a first year approached his boyfriend, Katsuki.

Down the Red Line by MinervaHope | 7,804 | Izuku has been able to see the red strings of fate since birth. It's no surprise that his is connected to Katsuki.

Canon World – Fake Relationship Goes Wrong

how he should’ve known (and how it turned out) by vannral | 43,918 | In which Katsuki and Izuku pretend to be a couple to avoid journalists, the plan backfires magnificently because of course it does, and the act goes on. Includes feelings, pining, domestic fluff and jealousy.

Vicious by feelslikefire | 105,173 | Midoriya and Bakugou wind up in the very last position either of them thought they'd be in: Hero Partners. It's not fun, but they learn to cope. Their first big assignment together takes them undercover to infiltrate a cult, but the situation turns out far more sinister than they first thought.

What I can never tell you by Mikacrispy | 27,067 | After living in the US for 5 years, Izuku returns to take care of a concussed Bakugou who believes they're engaged. Now, Izuku has to pretend he's in a relationship with the man he's loved for most of his life, knowing that it's just a matter of time until Katsuki gets better and realizes it's all a lie.

Not-Dating by MiraChaDoodles | 14,290 | Katsuki takes Deku on a not-date to save his career, only to find himself wishing it were real.

we'll do the things that lovers do by ethereals | 29,544 | Izuku gets an invitation to Shouto's wedding and Katsuki is PISSED that he asks Kirishima to be his date (also he wasn't even fucking invited

Canon World – Friends With Benefits (?) 

Four Times Bakugou Katsuki Doesn't Intend to Sleep With Midoriya Izuku (And the One Time that He Does) by fallingraine85 | 17,601 | He hadn’t planned for any of this. He isn’t about to go delving into the ball of yarn that is Midoriya Izuku’s heart; he isn’t equipped to try and untangle and make sense of it all. He isn’t about to try to analyze how he’s feeling about all of this, either.... How many times can you repeat the same mistake?

We Wear Chains on the Weekend by surveycorpsjean | 35,086 | Well, in a day of revelations, it turns out that Izuku isn't as vanilla as Katsuki previously thought. Unfortunately, that fascinating discovery is overshadowed by Izuku's dumbassery, because he has zero concept of aftercare."Don't go to anyone else," Katsuki says, because screw it. He can do a better job anyways. Or; Katsuki finds Izuku on a bad drop.

Just for Now by Shiro_Kabocha | 48,135 | Katsuki's parents are out of town over a school break and to keep him from getting up to any shenanigans, they ask Izuku to house sit with him. What are two teenaged boys to do when left alone to their own devices? (Bonus+ the entire Just for Love series)

safe in the darkness by yoonskisses | 20,855 | Izuku and Katsuki had been meeting up secretly for months, with absolutely no feelings involved. Or so Katsuki thought at least. The dorm gossip about Ochaco and Izuku's new relationship seemed to set a spanner in the works for their arrangement.

Alternative Universe – No Quirks

Bluebird by EtherealBeing | 53,108 | Dialing a wrong number was no unusual occurrence. Everyone did it once in a while, and Katsuki was well aware of that fact. However, possessing this knowledge made it no less aggravating for him to discover — a full two minutes into his rant about his day — that he’d been venting his frustrations to a complete stranger. As if that wasn't enough, said stranger was also inexplicably determined to hear his story to its end.

Someone Borrowed by mynameis152 | 138,996 | It felt like hours that he stared at Izuku, coming to terms with the fact that a man, his childhood best friend, whom he hadn’t seen since their senior year of high school, was there in front of his very eyes. Then his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched before he uttered through gritted teeth the very name Izuku had longed to hear for years. “Deku.”

Dark Side of the Sun by Synnie | 51,598 | Staying up too late playing video games, Kirishima wasn't expecting to get an urgent call begging for help. Next thing he knew, he was letting his classmate Izuku Midoriya take refuge in his apartment - without consulting his always angry roommate.

Manage Me by Justaperson1718 | 10,756 | Izuku becomes Katsuki’s model agent.

Don't Set Your Drink Down by Crandberrycrush | 88,424 | With sudden clarity Izuku realized he had broken the first rule of going out. Never leave your drink unattended.

Livewire by pretty_rekless | 18,160 | Per Ochako's request, Izuku downloads a gay dating app in hopes to finally find a partner. Except every single one of his leads keep ghosting him or standing him up... That is until one hot, fiery blond enters the chat. Grindr/Tinder AU fic.

Drinking Watermelon by warschach | 8,906 | Katsuki works as a camp counselor, and Izuku is a boy made of summer heat and sunlight.

Precious Pet by Mikacrispy | 6,379 | When broke college student Midoriya Izuku found a job that offered lodging, food, and good pay for four hours of work each day, he thought it was too good to be true. But he called anyway. Turns out all he has to do is to be the spoiled little puppy of a rich businessman.

Our Eleven Summers by Dark_Mage_Ayumu | 34,472 | The first time Katsuki met Izuku was when he was eight. For the next eleven years, Izuku changed his life, and no one even knew. Their relationship was something they shared in secret.

sticky note crushes by ladyofsnails | 3,239 | Katsuki hates his roommate. The green-haired, freckled, artsy son of a bitch with his dumb pun t-shirts and paint-stained hands he can’t fucking keep to himself. Katsuki can’t leave a single assignment or paper out in his room because that idiot will just grab anything to draw on it. He’s like a shark that can’t stop swimming else it’ll die – he can’t stop drawing. Ever.

Don't Play Pretend by SweetSide | 10,103 | Actor AU: Deku and Bakugou get the leading roles for an upcoming TV Drama. They weren’t aware that they would be working with each other for who knows how long. It would’ve been completely fine if they weren’t exes.

97.6 FM by jamjars | 32,249 | Izuku can’t stop listening to the radio host with the deep voice who sounds like he’s stuck in 2010. It’s a harmless crush. That is until he starts calling into the show under the pseudonym Deku.

Read {between} Your Lines by greatcloudninja | 52,252 | Midoriya Izuku, up-and-coming actor, has finally hit his big break (...), Bakugou Katsuki, who has been acting for over twenty years.However, Bakugou seems to have it out for Izuku, leading to tension both on and off set. When some incriminating photos surface, the studio suggests (...): having Bakugou and Midoriya fake a relationship to get ahead of the rumors. 

I’m not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts by PassingShadow | 5,522 | Izuku is a professional cuddler and Katsuki is his new client that’s just a little rough around the edges, and needs a natural healing touch.

Alternative Universe – Quirkless Deku

A Good Old-Fashioned Tattoo AU by lalazee | 14,437 | After their paths had split, Bakugou & Deku meet again as adults. While Bakugou begins to repent for the kid he used to be, he also starts to prove himself as he the man he is now.

Call Me a Safe Bet (I'm Betting I'm Not) by WTTTD | 10,803 | He wished he had some sort of heads up before seeing Deku again for the first time after nearly two years, looking like the essence of a lazy Sunday, smiling and surrounded with brand new, adoring friends. It was a little fitting that Katsuki burned for him so badly. (Support Department Deku)

In Which Kacchan Has a Ruff Time by OneshotPrincess | 14,511 | Bakugou Katsuki gets quirked into a dog, gets adopted by an unknowing Izuku and generally has a very rough few days full of realizations

While You Were Sleeping by Belkacaramelka (annabelleg) | 71,197 | The one where quirkless fanboy Midoriya Izuku rescues Pro Hero Todoroki Shouto, gets mistaken as his fiancé while he is in a coma, and gets caught up in the most unlikely fake engagement... until his childhood enemy and Todoroki's classmate Bakugou Katsuki tries to catch him out, and they both end up discovering a lot more about each other than they'd expected.

Let Me Assist You Personally by Seeress | 32,806 | Izuku is long-suffering Personal Assistant to #1 Pro Hero Dynamight.Dynamight can't keep a PA to save his career. They all quit crying after a few days weeks. Enter, Izuku��with enough money problems to brave the jaws of the cranky beast. Childhood friend turned glorified paid slave. Somehow it all works out. ‘Kill them with kindness’, his mom had told him once. If that were true, Bakugou Katsuki would be stone-cold dead by now.

Smile For The Camera by kurokonekokilled | 19,179 | Midnight has a cam site, home to millions of users, but one catches Katsuki's eye when he goes scrolled through it in search for something to help him release a little stress. A live stream and the best orgasm of his life later, his wallet is lighter, and he might be almost as obsessed with this Deku guy as the cam boy is with him.

Just Like The Comics by brichibi | 24,935 | Where Izuku works at a comic book shop because that’s as close to a hero as he’s gonna get, and Katsuki plays the part of heroic ex-boyfriend who is good at everything except winning Izuku back... maybe

Alternative Universe – Quirks

Get on my Level by Mikacrispy | 92,273 | Bakugou Katsuki is a Pro Hero whose boss demands him to take an intern. Midoriya Izuku is a UA student who needs an internship. When the two of them are put together, they learn about what it truly means to be a Hero and what it means to be in love.

A/B/O – Secret! Baby

Home by Emerald2402 | 87,214 | Midoriya Izuku left Japan in a rush, moving to America without a word to anyone else. But then almost 11 years later he arrives back Home and Bakugou Katsuki's Alpha is furious. Fuck that, Bakugou is furious, because Midoriya Izuku, an omega he tasted one time, has been keeping a very big, very blonde haired, green eyed secret.

Those Under the Same Stars by PerpetuallyPerturbed | 325,553 | When Katsuki Bakugo left Izuku Midoriya five years ago, he thought it was for forever. He put aside dreams and wishes of the omega to focus on his career. He was going to be the best hero, after all. He couldn't have an omega getting in his way. So when he's stopped on the streets one day by a pup begging for help for his mom, he isn't prepared to face what he gave up, and what the consequences of his actions were. (Quirkless Deku)

A/B/O – Quirks

Mark Me. Make Me Yours. by decadentbynature | 10,062 | Midoriya is the only Omega at UA and he's been hiding it well but there's one issue that threatens to expose him: his attraction to an Alpha, Bakugo. After being told to give some paperwork to Bakugo, Midoriya lets him into his dorm room and is immediately overwhelmed by his scent. Unable to help himself, he gives in to his urges, only to be discovered by Bakugo but instead of becoming enraged, Bakugo decides to give Midoriya exactly what he wants

Claim Me by ScientificallySinful (VampireGaaraCheesepuffs) | 114,449 | Being an Alpha has nothing to do with Katsuki's success as a Pro-Hero, the same way Deku's Omega status hasn't kept him from becoming Number Two. Secondary gender doesn't mean anything nowadays and “mating” is an antiquated practice. So when Izuku, his rival, asks Katsuki to Claim him in the middle of the night, there is only one logical thing to say. “What the fuck?”

Change of Plans by Mikacrispy | 185,965 | Alpha Pro Hero Bakugou Katsuki never planned to get married to some random omega but what he wants isn't an option anymore. One for All wielder Midoriya Izuku has suffered injustice too many times and doesn't plan in allowing his secondary gender to dictate how he must live his life. Falling in love was never in the plans.

Going Feral For You by ANGIE_fic | 17,977 | Bakugou has an aggression problem that might have to do with his Alpha. His job is on the line because of it. So what do you do with a pent up Alpha? Yes.Rut. (Quirkless Izuku)

i live for you, i long for you by jeonjeonggukkkkkie | 19,165 | The five times Izuku hinted he wants Katsuki to spend his next heat with him, and the one time Katsuki took the hint.

Baby's First Bloom by ContraryBee | 44,945 | Izuku blooms for Katsuki one warm day in their third year of middle school. What follows is both boys learning about themselves, their bond, and the society they live in.

As Fate Would Have It by ScientificallySinful (VampireGaaraCheesepuffs) | 88,737 | Katsuki Bakugo had plenty of reasons why he wasn't mated yet, not that he was going to explain why to just anyone. But now, Ground Zero was running out of time. If he didn't find someone soon, he'd lose his position as a Pro-Hero and he'd never get to be #1. So, when he finds out there's a male Omega recently arrested for prostitution that's headed to prison if he too doesn't get a mate…well it must be fate. (Quirkless Izuku)

A/B/O – No Quirks

Gravity by warschach | 71,477 | Izuku is back in his hometown and plenty hasn't changed much from the 8 years he was gone. Except, Katsuki Bakugou, the alpha king of their small town. He's hotter- because that's fair, right, God? -, stronger, a now-famous pro fighter, and noticeably nicer this round.Not that he cares, pfft. (Fine, he cares.)

Nine Months by greatcloudninja | 23,303 | Omega Midoriya Izuku connects with Alpha Bakugou Katsuki through an online singles ad. Izuku pays Katsuki to help him with his heat, ending up pregnant in the process. What follows is a pregnancy filled with ups and downs, but whatever hurdles come their way, they can make it through together.

The long dark by Ominous-Anonymous (Ominonymous) | 13,289 | He could have been really dangerous. He could be a fucking murderer for all he knew. But Izuku Midoriya, ever the reckless daredevil, was not thinking of that when he got into a car with a complete stranger. Completely ignoring the part where his mother always taught him to never gets into cars with alphas he didn't know...

[archived-kin]

obey me cast + their genshin mains

i woke up at like three in the morning and scribbled this all down

not a formal writing piece so i haven’t formatted it like one, but i thought this was a fun idea!!

lucifer: diluc

they both have Fatherly Issues (in very different ways though)

probably inwardly makes fun of diluc for not liking wine

doesn’t really have any emotional attachment??? he just keeps diluc because he does a lot of damage and helps kill enemies quick

he actually has pretty good luck with getting 5 stars before he’s even hit pity, but he has awful luck on the event banners in terms of getting the featured 5 star - he’s never once won the 50/50 when he actually reaches it

gets really good artifact and weapon drops though so all of his levelled-up characters have super overpowered kits

he’s never actually looked up any recommended character builds, he’s just smart enough to figure out what all the stats mean and build his characters accordingly

has not touched his serenitea pot since he got it

not actually great with battle strategy and elemental reaction, he just tries to hit as hard as he can at all times

all of his characters are built dps because he doesn’t know how to build supports or healers

never teleports anywhere (he still hasn’t even unlocked half the waypoints)

didn’t realise the statues of seven healed until really late into the game

doesn’t bother with the reputation quests/bounties

all of his characters are still on that black glider that amber first gives you

it took him ages to finish the archon quest in mondstadt because he didn’t want to go into the cathedral

mammon: zhongli

accidentally got zhongli on like his very first event wish and has mained him ever since

he thinks it’s really funny that zhongli never has money (even though he also often has no money)

apart from that he likes the idea of playing the character that literally makes all the mora in teyvat

was actually considering switching after he finished the liyue archon quests because he absolutely hated how zhongli handled the whole thing but he didn’t want to give up that big pp damage

still doesn’t know that you can climb up onto dvalin in the stormterror battle

mixes and matches artifacts, but the ones he does use have really good stats and sub stats though so the lack of a set bonus doesn’t make much difference

didn’t realise you could increase talent levels until ar 50

loves doing the blossoms of wealth and hasn’t let his mora drop below 100k ever since he accidentally used it all up levelling his team to lv60

immediately does a wish as soon as he gets enough primos, unless it’s an event banner for a character he doesn’t like

he also ignores the story and hangout quests for the characters he doesn’t like

dabbles in the serenitea pot but doesn’t have the patience to really commit to it

forgets to do his commissions until the very last minute and lets his resin fill up to 160 before remembering that he’s not supposed to let it get full

is terrified of spiral abyss on a molecular level

levi: barbara

he loves idols so of course barbara is his favourite

has her built dps and does more vaporise damage with her charged attacks than some people’s 5 star bursts

ended up building lisa as a dps too because she makes fighting the oceanid for the cleansing hearts much easier

somehow still gets barbara to heal enormous chunks of hp as well??

has all three of her talents crowned, she’s lv90 and so is her 5 star weapon, plus all of her artifacts are +20

he likes getting the event 5 stars even if he’s never going to build them, they just make him feel superior in his luck

has really bad artifact drops which makes him really frustrated because he knows exactly how to build his characters with the perfect stats, he just can’t get the right artifacts!!!!!

keeps getting crit dmg, crit rate and atk% sub stats on defence circlets and it makes him die a little more on the inside each time

he despises jean because of how she makes barbara feel and desperately wants mihoyo to make a moment where jean tries to fight something but fails and barbara then steps in and takes it down immediately

never gets barbara’s constellations with makes him very upset because he wants c6 so BAD

nearly cried when he got barbara’s happy birthday voiceline

somehow got his serenitea pot to adeptal energy 20k within like two weeks but it doesn’t look good?? it’s just a whole bunch of 4 star furnishings shoved wherever there’s room

is pretty much always online at any given time

has nearly every single achievement in the game (goddammit just GIVE HIM THE RELIABLE HELPER COMMISSION)

satan: diona

this is not up for debate

he saw her in the character archive and immediately decided that if he didn’t get her he was quitting the game

luckily for him it was xiao’s banner around this time and he managed to get c3 diona from that alone

much like levi with barbara, he managed to build her so that she does enormous amounts of damage but still performs her shielding/healing really well

he prioritises her over everyone else but because of this diona is still his only fully-built character

all talents crowned, all artifacts +20, etc

hates draff with all his heart and refuses to buy anything from him

will murder you if you refer to diona as a loli in front of him

i’m aware keqing also sort of looks like she has cat ears but as far as i know that’s just her hair???

if anything i feel like satan wouldn’t like her because he’s offended that people think those chunk of hair look remotely like a cat’s cute lil ears

chose all his other team members based solely on whether or not their skill set would benefit diona

refuses to use any of the characters lucifer uses and got legitimately angry when he found out lucifer had started building diona to help with spiral abyss

spends like five minutes at a time making diona jump into water because he thinks the cannon ball animation is the cutest thing in the world

if a boss he’s fighting manages to kill diona, he gets so angry that he pretty much obliterates it immediately after

asmo: lisa

partially because she’s pretty and her personality is right up his alley, and partially out of pettiness because he sees so many people slandering her

doesn’t know how to build anyone, he’s only got a good lisa build out of sheer luck

none of his other characters have remotely good builds. like, maiden’s beloved on tartaglia?? really, asmo???

squealed when lisa called traveller a cutie

talks to her while he’s running about doing quests or battles

plays pretty sparingly so his ar is relatively low and he barely has any characters outside the starters

usually gets levi to one shot the bosses for him when he needs to ascend/upgrade the talents of his characters

(levi agrees because it gives him a pretty big power trip)

he also likes kaeya and has him in his team but lisa’s magic is just so pretty to him

spends all his primos on the standard banner trying to get lisa constellations but he still only has c4

all of the solo boss battles he’s won were only won out of sheer luck

adores the concept of the serenitea pot, but he doesn’t like a lot of the furnishings available

desperately wants a character customisation function

died seven times trying to do the stormterror fight and had to have levi do it for him in the end

still doesn’t done any of the story quests that you need a key for

spends most of his free time finding some pretty landscapes, changing the time, and taking pictures of lisa doing one of her idles against the sunset

beel: xiangling

decided he liked her as soon as he did her story quest

he’s only gotten up to floor 4 of spiral abyss because he only did floor 3 to get her

still only has c2 :((((

always has to have snacks with him while he’s gaming because xiangling’s voice lines remind him of how hungry he is

desperately wishes she was real because he wants to taste how good her food is for himself

likes cooking a bunch of dishes in-game, but he also gets frustrated because they all look so GOOD and he can’t eat them

doesn’t really know how building works but he does vaguely know what stats are good and how set bonuses work

doesn’t like hu tao because she’s mean to xiangling >:( plus belphie despises her and beel rarely likes anything his twin dislikes

is low-key upset that xiangling’s story quest was so early in the game because he didn’t appreciate it enough at the time and he hasn’t seeb her in-game for ages

still doesn’t have any 5 stars apart from the traveller, but he does have literally every 4 star in the game

is the type to bring xiangling to pyro domains but luckily she does some pretty good physical dmg as well so his teammates don’t get as mad

takes some time out of every day to find every food/ingredient vendor in the game and buy out their entire stock

still has never run out of mora somehow????

belphie: qiqi

i made this choice partially because of that one halloween belphie ur where he’s dressed up in a jiangshi costume

aside from that i feel like she just sends his big brother instincts haywire

he cried a little bit when he read her backstory, not gonna lie

like satan, he will kill you if you call qiqi a loli

somehow managed to build her as a physical dps that does like 5000 per hit?????

(he has unholy artifact luck and all of qiqi’s artis have atk, crit dmg and crit rate as their stats and sub-stats, plus aquila favonia)

he started out building her as an all-around dps but then he realised that her burst and skill couldn’t do much in terms of damage since they’re healing-oriented, so he decided to build her physical since that the only type of dmg she can constantly apply

and qiqi still heals reliably because her healing is scaled off her attack, which is like monstrously high???

qiqi hates hu tao so of course belphie does too

he still refuses to do her story quest and didn’t touch her banner or character trial

really really wants a qiqi banner for constellations but is aware that that is incredibly unlikely

doesn’t trust baizhu and wants zhongli to adopt qiqi since he seems like a much more reliable dad

heard the theory that xiao is the adeptus that killed qiqi and therefore also despises him even though it hasn’t even been concerned or anything

diavolo: eula

don’t get me wrong diavolo definitely gives me pyro vibes but i feel like he’d just feel so bad for how the mondstadters misunderstand and mistreat eula in her story quest that he’d immediately go to spend all his primos on wishing for her

he’s got r2 broken pines and a full pale flame artifact set with some pretty decent stats and substats on her so she does pretty enormous damage

it’s lucky that eula’s move set doesn’t require anything too strategic because all diavolo does is button mash

all of his characters are physical damage dealers because he doesn’t really know how to do elemental reactions

(because of this though he’s awful at fighting a lot of the bosses, especially the oceanid)

his favourite boss battle is the weekly golden house trounce domain because he can always smack childe down really quickly

he’s stinking rich so he can afford to spend just about as much money as he wants to get any character he wants

like he got all the way to pity on eula’s banner and lost the 50/50 to mona but he just bought more primos and got all the way to pity again to get eula

on the other hand he got broken pines twice in two ten rolls on the weapon banner and he wasn’t anywhere near pity for that

he joined levi along with satan and asmo to have a go at doing the golden house fight in co-op and he managed to pretty much oneshot a lv90 childe in phase 1 and phase 3 with just eula’s burst

(he spent phase 2 recharging it)

barbatos: venti

this is at least 70% because venti is also called barbatos

he somehow knows pretty much everything there is to know about building characters well and he’s built venti with both attack and elemental mastery

got venti on his first banner and managed to get to c4 on his rerun

doesn’t appreciate how much venti drinks and actively buys the non-alcoholic juices from angel’s share to give him as if that’ll help????

is terrified of fighting the wolf because it’s immune to anemo

(don’t ask how he managed to get the hurricane seeds for ascending venti)

can pretty much fire off venti’s burst as soon as it’s over because his energy recharge is somehow also insane

diligently collects all the recipes and masters every single one of them

his serenitea pot is literally so perfect looking????? i don’t know how to describe it everything just fits together flawlessly

diavolo offers to buy him primos because he’s got more than enough money but barbatos doesn’t wish a whole lot so he usually refuses

(diavolo knew he mained venti and liked him though so he bought him a bunch for the rerun anyway)

he still doesn’t have any five star weapons but stringless works really well on venti anyway so he doesn’t mind

doesn’t really like co-op, prefers to just wander around in his own world

simeon: yanfei

simeon definitely gives me hydro vibes and he probably mained a hydro before yanfei, but i feel like he happened to get her on zhongli’s banner and decided he really liked her as soon as he started trying her out

he adores her little ‘boom boom!’

she also works really well doing big damage with vaporise which is good because simeon plays a lot with luke, who mains barbara

he low key identifies with how yanfei doesn’t want to focus on her identity as an immortal half-adeptus because simeon himself often wants to forget the fact that he’s a divine being and just live peacefully

often forgets that yanfei gets a lot of her dmg from charged attacks and just keeps doing normal attack combos until he registers the scarlet seals and realises he needs to hold the button down

nearly all of his characters were basically backseat-built by levi and solomon

even though his team is pretty powerful he still dies a bunch because his battle strategy is just ‘stand there and keep hitting the attack button until it dies’

keeps running off of cliffs and forgetting to plunge/glide and just dying to fall damage

back when he was like ar20 he accidentally wandered into liyue early and immediately got killed by a treasure hoarder

spent like ten minutes of his first stormterror fight just running off the end of his platform before someone told him he was meant to glide

luke: barbara as well

if you’ve seen my post about barbara and luke being siblings you’ll understand why i’ve made this choice

aside from that luke just likes barbara because she’s one of the nicest characters in the game

plus she’s a deaconess in a church and he’s an angel so

unlike levi he’s got her built purely as a healer, but she heals so MUCH

luke’s entire team is just support characters?? but their support is so good that they kind of make each other dpses in their own right??

his strategy is to keep his whole team at full hp and deal relatively small but very steady increments of damage

unfortunately this means he isn’t great at the artifact and weapon/character enhancement domains because they’ve got time limits

wants to have a pretty serenitea pot but he just can’t get it to look how he wants it to

like levi, he doesn’t like jean because of how she makes barbara feel (and also how jean just refuses to take any sort of older sister role for her)

got her to c6 on a single event banner because she just kept coming home (he wasn’t complaining though)

is contemplating building her dps because he thinks it’d be cool if she did a bunch of damage like levi’s barbara

likes to just sit and wait for her to do her dancing idle because he thinks it’s cute (will immediately make her move and cut off the other one though because it’s about jean and he doesn’t like her)

solomon: albedo

they both look sensible but they’re both just mad scientists on the inside

doesn’t really know how albedo’s burst and skill work, just keeps tapping buttons whenever they’re available

if he didn’t have albedo he’d probably main a catalyst but he relates to how curious albedo is about just about everything

(plus he does like his design)

always gets the limited time 5 star on his first ten pull on the event banners????? is he using his magic somehow??????

and also somehow gets really good weapons and artifacts????

he knows enough about artifacts to know what to put on who so all of his characters are really well built

he’s the type with eight lv90 5-stars with lv90 5-star weapons and fully upgraded artifact sets in his character showcase

his signature is ‘hack me i dare you’

constantly getting friend requests from fellow players who want an op friend to help them in domains and against bosses

but unfortunately even if solomon has a bunch of overpowered characters he is very bad at using them

gets all the elemental reactions wrong, uses the wrong element against the wrong enemy, forgets to do things like putting albedo’s skill down before his ult, and he can’t aim with any of the archers

like i said he just taps buttons and hopes for the best

because of this he’s still at floor 6 in spiral abyss

[kyinpeachichu]

Gorou Grooming (Gorou x reader)

============================

Since no one’s doing it I did it! Here’s a oneshot where we groom Gorou’s tail! (you’re actually Lumine or Aether so you decide who reader’s gonna be)

Everyone on watatsumi island knows of the ever-victorious-pointy-eared-general. And so does a very particular traveler.

In fact it's only been a few days ago when she had gone to the grand narukami shrine with Gorou to confornt Yae Miko about her teasing.

And they failed (k.o.)

But it did get you thinking about it. It might be rude to think about but she has been wondering about his ears and tail.

It's not the first time you've seen someone that’s part animal. You've met Diona in Monstadt, but she wouldn't let anyone lay a finger on her ears or tail. Not like you ever wanted to.

But Gorou..... his was more...... tempting. Especially when he wags it around when he's happy or how his ears twitch when he's listening in.

Not to mention....... fluffy.

So it's no secret that traveler wanted to get a little taste of the majestic floof on his behind.

But you've been restraining yourself self. It could be rude, no, VERY rude to just walk up to general and fuff his tail.

Even if he spilled his secret of daydreaming about someone grooming his tail for him-.......

Wait.......

AND THATS EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO!!!!

It been a good few days before traveler last came to see him. And after your comissions and other regular chores to do, you had a bunch of free time on her hands (-while waiting for resin)

And since this whole "Gorou grooming" thing has been in the back of your mind for a while, you decided- "why not?"

So whilst in Inazuma, you found the store that Yae miko had mention while teasing Gorou.

There was no surprise when you found that it was some sort of cosmetics store-salon that offered services and products.

Did Gorou actually visit this place?

You looked around the place to look for the stuff you needed.

"Having trouble traveler?" You hear a familar voice from behind.

You turned around to see the one and only shrine maiden, Yae miko. She looked at you with that same steely yet beautiful smile that could see through your soul~

"Yae Miko" you greeted. "I have to say, I never expected to find you here of all places traveler. Are you looking for products? Or maybe services, I have plenty of recomendations." Yae spoke, as if she were advertising this place.

It was kind of embarrassing to say, but she could practically read our minds anyway. And you did have questions that needed answers.

"Actually I'm not here for me." Traveler said

"Ah, so you finally followed my advice the other day. I was only joking to tease him but I never thought you'd actually do it." The pink fox stated, already figuring out your motives.

Yep, she can read minds.

Miko continued "Well then, I have just the thing."

(Timeskip)

You walk out the store with a shopping bag of products in hand. You've got all you needed and more (Yae reccomended some products for ourselves and maybe some for Paimon too)

But wait, are we just gonna walk over to Gorou and ask him to let us touch his floof? Not to mention groom it.

Well, we've got just the solution for that.

(Another timeskip)

You've arrived at watatsumi island. You greeted all the locals and all the resistance soldiers that scattered around the island.

Eventually, you managed to find just the general you were looking for. He was shooting some targets and using his geo vision. Still training despite the vision hunt degree being over. His ears pushed back in concentration.

You watch him shoot the arrow and miss the target's center by a corner, but his shot was strong enough to almost knock the straw-dummy off it's stick.

But then suddenly, a large gust of wind blew by, taking down 5 more training dummies, almost shredding the straw to bits. ("Aw, how can I smash all of these training dummies at once?")

Gorou was surprised but instantly figured it out when he looked to the person right next to him.

He smiled, showing his small fangs. His ears perked up and his tail wagged ever so slightly. "Traveler, you startled me"

"Hey Gorou" you greeted "just thought I'd stop by. Still training even though the vision hunt decree is over?"

"Of course," he replied, before quickly raising his bow and quickly shooting 3 dummies behind him, each arrow hitting only slightly off centered.

"Gotta stay in shape somehow." He added. "What about you? How are your adventures going?"

"Oh just a few commissions here and there. Maybe a domain or five and fighting regisvines and hypostasis'. Fighting the abyss and the fatui, normal everyday stuff." You answered while continuing to watch him train.

But your eyes were actually set on his ears, the way that push back when he focused on an aim of just sat there, being their fluffy selves.

"I'm not sure sure what you mean by 'normal everyday stuff' those all seemed like hero work." He joked, shooting down another dummy.

"Oh pft, I'm just a traveler. I just happen to encounter things on the road." You humbled.

"Right, a traveler that single handedly fought the Raiden shogun and ended the vision hunt decree." Gorou praised, walking to the dummies to collect his arrows.

"I wouldn't say, 'single handedly'." You continued your modesty. "Oh stop being so modest traveler, I know about your journey through Monstadt and Liyue. The Shogun isn't the first God you've defeated." Gorou spoke.

"Oh you're great too y'know, you're a general of an army despite all the other soldiers being older than you." You attempted to praise him.

"You got the position of Swordfish II almost instantly from her excellency. Although my position as general is technically higher, that's not something you should just brush off." Gorou started shooting again.

"You know what, I'm gonna prove it. I'm gonna prove you're an awesome general, and an awesome fighter." You said pulling out your sword while walking around the small circular training field.

"Let's spar, you and me,"

"Spar with the great and powerful traveler? I'm not so sure I stand a chance." Gorou was saying, but it was clear he agreed. He started to follow, walking on the other side with his bow ready.

"Oh I know you do. Tell you what, I wont even use any elemental energy." You said while playing and spinning your sword like it was a light baton.

"Alright seems fair to me. First to get knocked to the ground wins." Gorou set the victory bar.

"Sure, and one more thing." You said, stopping in your tracks, you stood on the grass-less ground and gripped your sword by the handle.

"Lets make this fun. The winner...." you trailed off, you then raised your sword, pointing it directly to the dog on the other side of the circle. "- gets the loser to do whatever they want for the rest of the afternoon."

"You set a high price." Gorou said with a smirk, his tail raised in eagerness. "one you're gonna have to pay!"

You both then charged at each other!

Gorou shot a crystalized arrow in you direction but you dodged it by making a quick maneuver to the left, quickly your sword thrust towards him but he was quick on his feet.

He lept off a training dummy and shot multiple arrows at you from mid air.

You dodged every single one of them but the third arrow missed you by a hair.

You turned to face him but he was no where to be seen. You could hear his quiet footsteps running around the forest of straw training dummies.

It felt like being hunted by a wolf. The animal hiding amongst the plants biding it's time, then when all goes quiet.... it strikes!!

You turned around and used your sword to deflect his arrows, but those fractions of a second allowed him to get close.

He pounced on you, using his bow as a makeshift sword that repelled you and almost took you down, but your sword caught it and your foot moved just in time to maintain your balance.

It was all a matter of strength now, he held both ends of his bow with both hands, while traveler gripped her sword tight by the handle. Two weapons compelling against each other, trembling at the strength of their holder.

"See? What'd I tell you? You were about to put me down back there." Traveler grunted pushing the sword forward causing him to almost lose his grip.

"You're going easy on me aren't you? I appreciate it but I know that you lack in strategy!" He grunted back, pushing his bow forward and regaining is stance.

"Agh- I admit, I always run into danger without a plan. But the thing is...." you eyed his footing, it was strong, but can easily be taken down. "I still know how to fight!"

Traveler then pulled a move by using her own foot to make him lose his balance. For a second the force that compelled against your sword had disappeared, and you kept it that way.

You know Gorou was quick on his feet and he was capable of regaining his balance quick, so you gave him one final push.

You shoved your weapon against his and made him fall right on his bum. "Ow-"

You pointed your sword at his throat, only mere inches apart. He looked up at you, breathing heavy still trying to catch his breath.

You looked down, smiling at your victory. You two waited there a while until you lowered your sword and extended your hand to help him up.

He smirked in a friendly manner before taking your hand and getting back on his feet.

"I have to say, I should've seen my loss a mile away, even if you weren't using any elemental powers." He said, dusting himself off.

"Hehe, sorry, I don’t like losing..." you playfully apologized. "Did you get some good exercise?" You changed the topic.

"Yeah, It was fun too. I could learn a thing or two from you." Gorou said, doing just a bit of stretching to get his body to calm down from that battle.

"Well then oh great and mighty traveler, what would you like me to do?" He said in a playful sarcastic way, putting his hands on his waist.

"Wellll?" Your cheeky smile widening.

"Well what?" It took him a second to remember "oh..... right" his ears drooped down in slight worry.

"Actually, I have something in mind. Come with me." You said, putting your sword away and walking off with Gorou following behind you.

(Timeskip)

You both walked not too far from where he trained.

"Ah, perfect" Traveler said when she eyed the spot.

It was like the rest of watatsumi island, purple grass, blue plants, trees branching out in a way that made them look like corals.

But what made this place convenient was the flat rocks that looked like benches and the few but large empty pink sango-pearl clams that sat by the clear-water stream.

Gorou followed you through the bushes and under the shade of the tree. You patted the corner of the rock, motioning him to sit.

His ear twitched in confusion. Nonetheless he followed and sat on the edge of the rock bench, tail resting across the rest of the bench.

"Ok, You are to sit still, relax, and not do anything. Don’t even leave your seat." You instructed rather firmly.

"That's an...... odd punishment...." Gorou said, looking up at you. He can already sense that something's up.

Oh no....

You simply smiled before going behind him and sitting on the other end of the bench.

He turned around to see what you've been doing and he was surprised to see you pull out a familiar looking bottle from your inventory....

With the full picture in his head, his face flushed bright pink before protesting "wa-wa-wait Traveler I-"

"Brush before use, use water to rinse before and after..." you muttered, reading aloud the instructions on the bottle.

Gorou found himself at a loss for words. He suddenly remembered that day at the narukami shrine and how he spilled all the beans infront of you.

He was too embarrassed to even talk. He looked away in embarrassment with his face buried in his hands and ears flattened in shame. He could hear you digging around a paper bag and mumbling things he didn't want to hear.

"Lather gently into hair, then brush again after thoroughly dried-"

His mind was already flooding with mental images of what you're planning to do with him. And the worst part, it was all about to actually happen!

"I think I've got it. Well then you lost Gorou, it's time for consequence!" You said a little too cheerfully for his liking.

You scooched over closer onto the bench with a brush in hand and lifted Gorou's resting tail over to your lap. He stiffened at the sudden touch, his ear went straight up and so did his tail. "-Myah-!"

"Gorou" you called, patting down his tail back onto your lap "I told you to relax didn't I?" Traveler reminded him,

His ears went back down before he turned around half-way. Enough for you catch a glimpse of his bright red face. "W-why... out of all things to ask of me...." he cried quietly enough to be a whisper.

"CUUUTTTTTEEEEE!!!!!💘😍" You couldn't help but internally sqeal. But you had to control yourself. (Unfortunately)

"The only thing I'm asking of you is to literally not do anything. You've wanted this haven't you?" You spoke.

"I was hoping you'd forget about that..." He turned back around, his tail still resting on your lap.

"Come on Gorou, it's fine. I dont mind one bit. I'm the one who started it remember?" Traveler reminded him.

He turned back around, ears seemingly relaxing and his face still peach pink.

"So uh tell me. What about this bothers you so much?" You asked him.

Gorou turned forward again, he was hesitant, but he managed to answer "Well..... I-I'm not sure. Maybe it's because... you're the one doing it or- Mm!!" He jumped at the first brush stroke.

"Go on, I'm listening." You spoke calmly, continuing to brush his tail.

Gorou continued "m-maybe because...... maybe because....." his tone softened and so did his posture.

Gorou's had his brushed tail by others but it was only once or twice by some lady in a shop Yae Miko dragged him into that one time. Usually during those times he'd squirm and struggle to sit still (much to Miko's amusement)

But your touch was somewhat..... different. It was more gentle, familiar. Like he was comfortable in your hands. You were a trusted friend, and not some professional stranger in a shop that Yae miko shoved him into.

The environment helped too. He was on watatsumi island, his home. Right next to a stream under an otogi tree's shade. Not to mention the privacy. No one to see him be relaxed and vulnerable.

He found his statement unfinished when he started to calm down. To actually enjoy the brush's rough bristles smoothening out his fur.

You smiled at the sign of him finally calming down.

"-Because you've wanted this for a long time?" You continued for him. "Maybe...." Gorou breathed.

"And that you never thought it would happen?" You added.

"I guess..... I-I know I'm supposed to be happy with this and all but.... it's just that-.. well it's.... n-not the first time it's happened...." He said nervously.

"Yeah, Yea Miko mentioned that you might've visited a shop or before." Traveler conversed, still focused on his tail.

"Oh uh..... y-you heard that huh?" Gorou said.

"Yeah, sorry. A-am I making you uncomfortable?" Traveler asked, the pace of her brushing slowing down in slight worry. You could still technically force him since you won the battle, but you didn't want him to feel bad.

"No no no. Not at all. Infact I-" he cut himself off, debating if he should just tell you he's actually enjoying himself.

You smiled, and laughed lightly, you got the message. "I know, and I'm happy you're taking this alot better than I thought you would."

Silence followed. You continued on with your brushing, letting him know what was going on behind him. Making sure he's comfortable and relaxed.

"Kay, I'm gonna brush the underside now. Do you mind holding it up for me?"

"Mhm..."

He complied and raised up his tail, showing the white patch of fur under it.

You brushed upwards (since that was where the fur was going.) And judging from his reaction..... he liked it when the brush hits near the base of his tail..

A couple more strokes late you broke the peaceful silence "ok, you can put it down now." His tail went back down to sit on your lap.

"I'm gonna start on the sides now."

"Okay..." he said softly, as if he were about to fall asleep.

You started to brush the sides of the tail, starting with with the left, the side facing you.

A comfortable and peaceful silence made a pleasent atmosphere. For both the Traveler, and Gorou.

He even began to question himself if he deserved this "punishment" from losing that battle earlier. It felt more like a reward that he didn't earn.

He turned around slowly, to catch a glimpse at how you're doing. You seem very relaxed as well. Smiling while you gently stroked his tail with a brush.

The sight of you enjoying yourself made him happy too.

"Ok, I think I'm done."

"It's over already?" Gorou sadly thought.

"I'm gonna start washing it now." You announced before reaching over to your shopping bag.

"W-Washing it?" Gorou repeated, ears perking up and tail spiking slightly.

"Yeah," you took out the shampoo bottle from the bag "just gimme a sec."

You moved aside and let Gorou's tail lay on the stone bench before standing up with the bottle in hand .

You made your way to the stream. You dug two empty sango pearl clams out of the ground. One much bigger than the other one.

They were oddly shaped than the usual ones you'd find  but it made them convenient. Instead of looking like flower blooms on the ground, they were cup-shaped and some "petals" were merged together.

You scooped up some water from the stream, filling up the big shell-bowl and putting the smaller one inside to came it easier to carry both.

You carried the water bowl over to Gorou, spilling a few drops on the way, and placed it on a smaller rock behind the stone bench.

"Alright, turn around." You instructed.

"T-traveler... i-isn't this going a little too far-"

"Turn around Gorou." You said a little sternly, but your face and tone remaining gentle "please."

"I-.... fine.." He followed nervously and turned to sit the other way, with his tail now hanging behind the bench, being raised just enough that it doesn’t touch the water in the clam-bowl behind him.

Traveler then gently nudged the tail into the water. "Gyah!" Gorou gasped, his posture stiffening and his tail and ears raising up in alarm, splashing a bit of water on you in the process.

"Hey- Oh- I'm sorry is... something wrong?" You asked in concern. "No no..... i-it's fine. The-the water's just cold...." He explained apologetically.

He slowly put his tail back into the water, his ears and expression drooping down in embarrassment.

But you didn't mind, in fact, it made you smile. "It's fine. Ok, I'm gonna start now.... tell me if something's up ok?"

"Mm, yeah..." he softly replied.

Traveler then proceeded to remove their gloves and set them on the stone bench before dunking them in the water and gently petting his tail with your hands.

Gorou began to blush. He's thankful that his back was turned or then you'd see his face. The brush was a nice feeling but your hands were something entirely different.

Somehow they were even softer and gentler than before. And the cool water felt nice once he got used to it.

You started to pour some water onto his tail using the smaller sango clam shell you picked up earlier, thoroughly rinsing before adding the shampoo.

I have to admit, it was kinda funny to see his tail all skinny and wet. Anyways you opened up the shampoo and poured some onto your hand.

"I'm gonna add the shampoo in now ok?" You gently notified. He didn't answer but his silence felt like a silent yes.

You put your hands into his tail and began to lather the substance into the wet fluff, causing it to bubble and form sweet-smelling suds.

From the front, Gorou was feeling ambivalent. His eyes were squinting and he flattened his lips in an attempt to restrain himself from wagging his tail or making a noise. But small grunts and whines escaped his throat.

He wanted to relax and calm down to enjoy the experience. But he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

His tail felt cool and heavy thanks to the water, but with your hands gently rubbing around the wet fur, it tickled him more than relaxed.

And like I said, your hands on something he usually wouldn't let people touch, a sensitive spot that only he could take care of...... it was a little too much to take in all at once.

It wasn't bad, but although you were gentle, he felt pressure here and there when you needed to scratch more shampoo into the spot.

Traveler can sense the strain he's been hanging on to in his tail, but couldn't predict what he's straining himself from. Embarrassment? Joy? Did he feel uncomfortable? You decided to ask.

"Gorou?" You broke the silence. "H-huh? Oh.. yes traveler?" He spoke in surprise.

"Are you ok? If it's uncomfortable for you I could finish up quicker or-"

But he's said what he's said, and now it's your turn to obey. "Oh, ok. But..." You trailed off, taking your soapy hands off his tail for a second. "Let me know when you wanna take a break ok?"

"N-no... ta-take your time." He stuttered, barely keeping himself together. He couldn't tell if that was a lie to himself or not.

He wanted you to keep going, but he also wanted you to let him breathe for a second.

You put your hands back into his tail, this time, he didn't really flinch this time.

The instructions said to let it sit for 5 minutes for best results but you ignored that part and decided to just rinsed it off when you were finished.

You poured water onto the skinny tail to rid it of the suds. "I'm squeezing it ok?" You told.

"What?-" Gorou opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, your hands gripped around his tail and gently squeezed out the water by moving your hand down from the base to the tip.

The pressure of the grip was another feeling he'd never thought he'd have to sit through. And how you were gently pulling on it was another factor.

"A-ah~"

His posture and his ears stiffened up again. He prayed that you didn't look up to see his reaction. Keeping his tail calm so it wouldn't wag was hard enough.

You went for another squeeze at the soaked skinny tail to thoroughly get the water out

His ears pushed back and his eyes squinted, he bit his tongue tight. The pink that tinted his cheeks was going up in shades to red in an instant "Gh-!" He choked.

The traveler could sense it. "Relax." You reminded him, but one word wasn't enough to convince him fully obviously.

You squeezed it a second time, but this time he wasn't able to hold it in.

"Mmm~"

He let out a high pitched whimper. One that sounded much of an actual dog's.

The sound caught traveler's ears and she looked up at him in surprise. It didn't take a second for Gorou to realized what he'd just did.

"O-oh no, Traveler I-I'm so sorry I should've-"

"No no no, it's... fine."

Gorou turned around to face you. You met his aquamarine eyes and smiled. "If anything, I think I prefer it like that. Y'know, you not being so shy about going on puppy mode."

"P-puppy mode?" He repeated, his ears pushed back again as his tail wagged slightly. Face flushed with embarrassment and a small whimper following after.

You giggled politely and reassured him "Yeah, you don’t have to be embarrassed around me like this. Especially if it's just the two of us. Tell you what, one time, when I was fighting some hilichurls, I slipped on some ice caused by a mist flower. Hahahaha" you laughed at yourself.

"Ahahaha, that was embarrassing, the hilichurls even stopped attacking me to look at me. As if they were thinking 'what's going on?' Ahahaha." You continued to laugh.

"Ehehehe" you heard Gorou chuckle. He'd already turned back around. You were glad to hear him smile a bit.

But though he appreciated your efforts to make him feel better, it didn't really do much to ease the embarrassing feeling he had down his tail.

You stood back up and looked down at his skinny soggy tail that hung low behind the bench.

You picked up the sango pearl clams and dumped the soapy water on the plants nearby, the soil absorbing the water.

It probably wasn't too healthy for the plants to drink up soap water, then again, this was watatsumi island. There are literally bubbles, floating around the sky. So you weren't really sure if the plants were happy about the sudsy water or not.

Suddenly behind your back you felt a slight splatter of water, you snapped your head around to see that he shook himself, and the water out of his tail. Leaving the fur looking all spiky.

You wanted to screech at the sheer cuteness but nonetheless you contained yourself. You pretended not to notice, and took a deep breath to calm yourself down.

"Could you move back to the side?" You asked. He complied, and positioned himself again on the edge of the stone bench, his damp, spiky tail resting on the stone's surface.

Walking back over, you took the last bottle product from your paper bag. "Okay, 'gently massage onto scalp after shower.... make sure hair is damp..." You read aloud from the instructions on the back.

"There's more?" Gorou whined turning his head up at you. With his ears pushed back again.

"It wont take long. The instructions say its for hair but I'm sure it'll work the same for your tail." You un-screwed the plastic lid off the product bottle, dug your fingers in to take out a sweet-smelling- cream-colored-gel-like substance.

He gulped at the sight. His worried gaze followed you when you walked behind him to tend to his tail.

You sat yourself down and positioned his tail over your lap, reading the last of the instructions quietly. "Mm, I think I got it."

Without any further regard you put your hand in his tail.

"Ah-! Traveler please-"

Suddenly, from the tip of his tail you dragged your hand (with the product on it), all the way to the base of the tail, going against the direction of the fur.

"Gah!" He yelped, his tail and his ears perking up in shock. "What- ...what was that for?!" He turned to you, hugging his damp skinny wet tail protectively.

"That’s what the instructions said right? 'Massage onto scalp after shower thoroughly' " you quoted the instructions.

"You could've been more gentle! Geez." He scolded you

"Why? Did I hurt you? I-I'm sorry I-"

"N-no I........." He let out a deep frustrated sigh "My tail... it's... sensitive." Gorou confessed (although you already knew that)

"O-oh. I'm... I'm sorry. I thought it would be like... touching someone's arm." You acted oblivious. Lying through your teeth, you already knew it was sensitive. "I'll be more gentle. I promise. So will you....." you trailed off, eyeing the tail in his arms.

He flattened his lips, and his ears, before making a decision. Swallowing his pride, he said "F-fine...." He let go of his tail and put it down. He resumed to his original place sitting at the edge of the stone bench, while the tail laid across your lap.

You smiled, and then continued where you left off. You took a little more product from the container (because of the sheer amount of fluffy mass this man has) and this time, you were more gentle.

He squinted his eyes and tensed up bracing for contact. You kept your promise on being more gentle. But somehow...... this was worse.

You definitely more gentle this time, and he felt it. And I mean, HE FELT IT.

Your hands, greased with floral-scented product, running up his tail, getting right under the fur.

"Geh- a-ahh.... Hm-! Mya-ah-..." He moaned as quietly as he could. But being the only two people in the area, of course, you heard him.

But you spared him the extra humiliation by pretending not to notice by remaining focused on what you were doing.

He had to bite his lip to keep himself quiet. He tried to stay as still as a rock, but his fists were trembling.

Seeing his discomfort you hurried up the process, but again, it only made it worse.

"Ah-! Traveler wait-"

"I'm sorry, I'll be quick." You told him before massaging the rest of the product under the white-side of his tail. Things getting worse for him when your hand nudged into the spot closest to the base of the tail.

"Gyah!!" He yelped a little too loudly for his liking. "Allmost donneee." You assured him, smoothing out his tail but petting it down and combing the fur back to it's original direction.

"Done." You told him. After that he slouched over, elbows resting on his knees as he breathed heavily.

"Gorou..... you ok? I-I didn't hurt you.... did I?" You looked over to him in concern. "No no no, I-I'm ok. It was...hhh...hhh...just a little overwhelming." He breathed.

His heart calming down from the whole thing. Little did he know there was still, just one last thing.

"Ok, I'm just gonna finish up quickly so we can have some cake later ok?" You assured him, using his sweet tooth to cheer him up. "Sounds great." He replied. You heard the small smile in his voice.

You smiled back at him, before proceeding "Ok... next we dry it." Then you reached for the paper bag again and took out a fluffy pink towel.

You got to work by touching his tail once more with the towel, gently rubbing it around the tail, absorbing any water that your squeezing might've missed.

What friendly comfort you tried to assure Gorou before still stuck to him, but he squinted his eyes and bit his lips shut once more.

It didn't hurt, nor was he as embarrassed as he was before, but your hands rubbing around his tail was just something he wanted to endure quietly.

This was better than before, but it still left him with a heart throbbing feeling to deal with.

"Hmm.... drying's gonna take a while..... hey Gorou I'm gonna try something." Suddenly the traveler stood up, leaving the towel on the bench and Gorou's damp tail

Not leaving him a second to question you, you used your anemo abilities, sending a flow smaller gusts of wind blowing through his furred tail.

He didn't mind the feeling as much but it did surprise him. It took a little while but a while later, his tail was dry. His fur stuck out in odd directions messing it up again, but it was worth nothing that it smelled nice.

"Aw man, it's a mess." Gorou thought to himself after seeing the disheveled state of his tail. He reached his hand over the tail to try and smooth it out, but he found it to feel rather soft.

Not like it wasn't soft before. More like.... it was soft-er. You can see his eyes glisten at the feeling. His ears wiggling in excitement and his mouth hung slightly ajar in surprise.

You grinned before returning to your place. Sitting with his tail over your lap. Reaching to the side (where the paper bag was) you took out the same brush.

"One more thing ok Gorou?" You said holding the brush. He nodded before turning back to the side and awaiting for a stroke in his tail.

Then they were back to where they started. The traveler brushed his tail while he sat there, alt more relaxed than he was before. Yeah, this was his favorite part of grooming. The brush was his favorite tool.

You smoothed the last stray furs with your hand, before smiling at your work and announcing "Done."

You stood up from the bench and watched at Gorou admired his freshly groomed tail.

It was wagging rapidly, as if all the energy he's been holding is being released all at once.

He grinned at how light and airy it felt. Not to mention it smelled like flowers.

He stood up and  twirled with his tail still wagging. He held it and felt his own fluffy fur, and was happy with how it felt in his hands. So soft silky and smooth.

He chuckled before letting it wag again. You beamed at how happy it made him.

"Wow, thanks Traveler! It feels amazing!" He thanked you.

You laughed at him acting like a puppy and put your hand on his head in between his ears. Petting him on the head, you smiled and said "You're welcome Gorou. You were such a good boy."

"A-a wha??" He was caught off guard by the sudden comment, but you ignored him.

BONUS::

You continued petting his head, until you had a sudden thought. Feeling his hair (and maybe even his ears a bit) it gave you an idea.

"Uh... traveler... could you uh, stop.. petting me-"

"Hey Gorou?"

"Uh? Y-yes?"

"How would you like me to groom your hair and ears next?"

[tea-with-eleni]

2017, because I'd first seen the dolls way back in middle school (think 2007 or so) and was enchanted.... and in 2017, I had just enough money in christmas funds to get a bjd. As far as I remember, I've always loved dolls though.

Can't remember the company any more, but it was on an Emilie Autumn forum. I did say it was way way back in my middle school years. The first doll I liked was a Souldoll Lily C. I have since learned souldolls are dreadful at posing. It was a very disappointing discovery.

Not really! I'm less a fan of the masculine dolls. I prefer my dolls to be quite androgynous, because, well, I'm nonbinary and I like that I can sometimes find dolls that are as well. I tend to prefer more unique looking dolls from smaller companies these days - frappzilla and atelier momoni are wonderful!

Smaller. I have my Smartdoll ladies and would not want bigger for any reason. They're honestly almost too big themselves! MSD is good, but I adore my mature tinies. Momonita and Somni are just about perfect.... hm. I should really get those two back out again....

Atelier Momoni and Frappzilla! They're both so unique looking and I love seeing what they create. They're also cute without being weird about it and they pose nicely, which is one of the best things about BJDs. :)

No real preference. I have vinyl dolls, I have resin dolls. My favorite doll growing up was a little penny wooden doll from Mast General Store (because I was secretly born in rural appalachia in about 1920, based on the books I read and my favorite toys as a child)

Yes. This is true no matter what definition you use - I have the first doll I really, truly loved and tried to make Real, Velveteen rabbit style, and my first bjd. And my first Smartdoll, for that matter! They're all on my bookshelves.

I cannot possibly choose a favorite doll you guys. But I am currently enjoying the heck out of a little Frappzilla Dandelion Bloom girl, who poses shockingly well and has been a very enjoyable project thus far. I'm glad I have a second one of their dolls to work on! I will order more. I also have been enjoying my American Girl Claudie, who might be the prettiest doll the company has ever released, and I feel a great and mighty need to get my Somni back out again.

All of my dolls are, and have only ever been, themselves. They are small people that are differently abled based on their bodies and they have personalities that organically arise from those bodies.

hehehehehe..... kinda. I am an appalachian goblin at heart, and when I lived in the hills I attended a small local doll show that was technically focused on ball jointed dolls.... if you mean the original porcelain kind. It was mostly a bunch of very sweet little old ladies. I brought my ball jointed dolls because all doll people are doll people. But, see, I have one doll that.... she's kind of got an attitude. The only wig I've ever made that suited her fully had an undercut, her kindest faceup still gave her a bit of a death glare, her default expression is a scowl, that kind of thing. One of the sweet ladies wanted a look at her double joint system. She held her for a few minutes then caught my doll's eye and visibly recoiled because of the intense expression. I guess she was used to the slightly glassy porcelain dolls.

The photography side is one of the best parts! It got me outside and moving in college. I've been pretty zonked since moving to my current job, sadly, and haven't done much in the last few years. Again, want to get back into it again.

Um. Kinda? I've moved about 700 miles with dolls.

I don't really have a grail! I actually like my collection as is. The closest I have is that I would really like a home with enough shelf space for me to properly display all of my collection at once!

A non-binary realistically sculpted (think Dollshe Diana levels of realism, but preferably with a better joint system) adult elf doll. Preferably MSD sized. I would tolerate SD sized, though.

Don't be scared of the dolls! They are expensive, but they're also expensive for a reason: basically all ball jointed dolls, smart dolls, even nicer sorts of play dolls are made to be dolls first and foremost. You can, and should, play with them. You can enjoy them. It's really hard to permanently damage one through normal wear and tear. And also don't be afraid of what anyone will say, either. If you're wandering around town carrying a doll, you may get some odd looks or compliments but the mean spirited people will assume you're too crazy to be worth being mean to. You're an adult carrying a doll, after all.

BJD 15 Questions

I remember this were popular on tumblr a while back but since I haven’t seen one in a while I decided to make my own. I made them with BJDs and similar dolls like DDs in mind but feel free to use these prompts to talk about any type of doll! You can also skip any question you don’t have an answer for.

If you post on your own blog please tag with ‘BJD 15 questions’ so I can see your answers! You can also do it on Instagram or Twitter if you like.

1. When did you get into the hobby? Do you remember the reason?

2. Related, what was one of the first dolls you remember seeing? (A photo or in person)

3. Do you have a ‘type’ of doll you gravitate towards or do you like a bit of everything?(ie general look, size, ambience)

4. Do you like bigger or smaller dolls? How big/small is your limit?

5. Do you have a favourite company? What do you like about them?

6. Do you have a preference for resin, vinyl or other?(ie ABS and other plastics)

7. Do you still have your first doll?

8. Gush about your favourite doll.

9. Do you prefer dolls based on existing characters (official or custom), dolls based on your original characters, or dolls that are just dolls?

10. Have you ever been to a doll/BJD focussed convention (eg Doll’s Party, IDoll, Doll Show, Resin Rose, L Doll, Dollism, PNW BJD Expo, Melbourne BJD Emporium etc). Would you like to? Which seems most interesting to you based on what you know?

11. How important is the photography side of the hobby to you? Do you enjoy photography and sharing photos or do you like to keep things to yourself?

12. Have you ever travelled with a doll? Would you like to?

13. What’s your grail doll? If you don’t have one, do you have a ‘bucket list’ hobby wish - something you really want to be able to do/make/experience one day?

14. A magic doll fairy appears and decides to grant you a wish. She can make the type of (non-existent) doll you wish existed finally exist in reality. What is it?

15. What’s your piece of advice for a newbie?

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Forbidden Alchemy 101: Making Core Medals with Epoxy Resin

So obviously I've been posting a ton about my various resin experiments for the past few months, and a lot about screwing around making Core Medals with the stuff--even more now that I've got an Etsy store. Someone the other day asked if I was making them myself, and I figured it'd be fun to make a process post showing what goes into it.

There are a bunch of pictures, so hit the cut if you're interested in seeing what I get up to during the day when I'm not doing mind-numbing clerical work or trying to write!

I do all my work in my office, for two reasons: obviously I need to be near my work computer, since I've got an actual full-time job, and also because it's a good space with a door that closes fairly securely. Resin is not the safest craft supply and colored resin often looks like candy; I don't want my toddler getting into my stuff and giving us a reason to run for the nearest urgent care.

Step one of making a Core Medal, before I even start mixing resin, is setting up the gilded edges. I color the edges of Medals using mica powder, which gets mixed with a little bit of water and then painted onto the mold. Here are my supplies:

Palette of course, jar of mica powder (I have a ton of different colors, but the gold sees the most use and thus stays near my workspace), a little bitty coffee spoon for measuring the powder with, and an angled eyeshadow brush, which is what I use to do the painting--it fits well into the grooves of the mold.

This here is my TaJaDor mold, with golden edges painted on:

When the edges have been painted the mold has to sit for a bit so they can dry. Water in resin is a bad time, but when it evaporates it leaves all the mica powder behind for a beautiful golden finish.

(I also don't always do the edges in gold. Legend Rider Medals, of which I can do a few, get whatever color I think is most appropriate for them--for example, I just got an order for a Decade medal, which gets black edges because his suit is primarily magenta and black. You can see some leftover black mica powder in my palette, actually.)

Once the mold's dry, I get all dolled up for mixing resin.

As I said before, resin's not the safest stuff--I wear a respirator mask to keep from inhaling any fumes from it while I'm hunching over my mixing cup, and rubber gloves to keep it off my skin. (I'm going to be ordering some protective eyewear soon as well, for when I'm sanding, but my prescription is very strong so it's taken a bit to find the right place to order from.

I use two-part epoxy resin to make medals.

I love this brand. It's easy to work with, doesn't have a strong smell, and cures in a reasonable amount of time. (I can usually take things out of the mold in 8-10 hours if I'm careful, and then they're fully cured by the next day.)

It takes about 10ml of resin to make one medal, so I typically mix 40ml, 20ml of each part, to allow for spills and then pour any excess into another mold to make a keychain or something. It takes a solid 3-4 minutes to mix this stuff thoroughly, so I use big chunky silicone mixing sticks, which are reusable and easy to hold. Then, of course, it's time to get everything tinted!

The set I'm making here is TaJaDor, which doesn't really have notable color variance, so I don't need to split up the resin at all, which is nice. The translucent dyes I have are all named after stones, so TaJaDor gets a few drops of white dye to start, and then is mostly Ruby with a hint of the darker Garnet. (The white dye doesn't affect the end color except to make it more vibrant, which I think is important.)

Once the resin's been dyed, obviously it gets poured into the mold--here's a filled mold.

The cute little bird there is what's getting today's excess.

You might also notice that there are some pretty big bubbles in the medals. That's normal, especially with molds like these that have lots of fiddly details. I could pop them with a toothpick, but it's easier and more fun to use...

...fire! That's my trusty grill lighter, which I use to give the medals a going-over--the heat brings any bubbles to the surface and pops them. I have to be quick and careful about this step, of course, because I don't want to burn my molds. (I also have a heat gun, but since it uses hot blowing air, it unfortunately tends to make the combo molds overflow with how it moves the resin around, so I save it for other projects.)

At this point it's just a matter of time. The ones pictured here are currently curing, and will be ready for any finishing touches or hardware tomorrow, and of course I think you've all seen what the finished ones look like. Not sure what I'll do with the bird yet, I might make it into a keychain.

And that's how I make Core Medals! Isn't that neat?

[the-bjd-community-confess]

I have actually a genuine criticism for dark resins, and sculpts too kinda. Starting with the sculpts. I can never find a male doll in the sculpt I want. I'm looking for strong features, imagine a more realistic version of the Gerudo for a male doll, straight nose, kinda sharp and sculpted, without looking angry. You literally can't find any diversity in male sculpts specifically for brown resins. You either got like 2 afrocentric M dolls, and a bunch of sculpts where brown is just an alternate or "fantasy" colour for the sculpt, which I don't really count.

But now to the resin. You know the pale resins? With undertones like: White, Yellow, Pink, and the occasional mix of pink and yellow. Even fantasy colours are most often pale: Purple, blue, pink, yellow, etc. Almost all fantasy colours are either light pastels, or some mid range tone. Most of these tones are actually super easy to match even when there are a few shades differences, exception are mostly the fantasy tones, but even there you can wing it if it's the same colour group, so like pastel. Pale shades are pretty forgiving when you blush them properly, and only need two or three layers for a good match if you know what you're doing. Doing face-ups on them is also super easy because most colours obviously only need a few layers.

You know what isn't easy? Brown tones. You know why? Because while pale shades have like 4 easy categories, it's like playing art on easy mode bc it's like using a "white" sheer of paper to work on. and fantasy colours are rare but pretty distinct.  Brown tones are just a uncharted sea of shades after the leave the medium tan range. Brown tones can have red, blue, green, orange, yellow, purple, and even grey undertones, while the pale tones are 3 distinct categories + a mixed: White/neutral. Yellow. Pink. Then there's the "mixed" one which is a mix of some pink and yellow. There are too many shades of brown, and the thing is, they don't even seem consistent within one company. Understandable since darker tones seem more unstable/harder to mix well, and the end result can change based on outside factors. Adding to that the trouble of sanding, and seams, and how brown tones darker than medium tan are gonna get those weird sanding spots that just look terrible.

Face-ups? A fucking battle against the tides. If you have to match the tones, you already might have to spend forever figuring what undertone the body has, again, you got around 7 more difficult to distinguish undertones instead of 4, especially since brown tones don't even tell you what undertone to expect. You can't rely on promo pics either. Pale tones tell you what the undertone, Brown tones be like: Good fucking luck, homegirl/boy! if you want a perfect match, good luck. + Pale shades can be easily matched with pastels when used right. Brown shades need more heavy machinery, like an airbrush because pastels just don't work as well.

But ok, now you're at the face-up. How many layers are you gonna need until your pretty boy or girl actually show some of the pastels? Pastel-dust is absolute ass for layering onto a dark background, and it can quickly turn into caking it on and become muddy. So you spend hours trying to get those colours popping, and then... fuck, you got a muddy clown, because you both over and underestimated the power of pastels, and turns out you didn't realise how patchy it was getting. Well guess who's gonna have to wipe the entire face, re-match the head, and then hope the next round for the face-up is more merciful. YOU.

But halt you say. What about making it pop with water colours and acrylics, maybe gouache. Yeah sure that works, also might look super awesome. Or you end up like tons of people and give the doll those weird overlip beards when you try to frame the lips. Hell, even experienced artists regularly give a weird over the lip line, either in black, aka moustache, or white aka milkstache. Or maybe you just make the lashes look crusty because you realise that brown-black painted lashes literally seem to be invisible on the dark resin, so you try using lighter shades, and now it just looks weird. And do you really wanna rely of paint for the rest of your artist-career every time you want to do a face-up on brown dolls? Maybe you can use the pale base technique for eyeshadows, make a pale base with paint, and then put the pastels on that. But it's still not gonna do much with blush. TLDR: Working with Brown resin is fucking hard and time intensive.

~Anonymous