#I spent 3 hours making poses for this one scene

[songmingisthighs]

Kitty Baby Princess

group : ateez

pairing : bf!mingi × reader

genre : smut, relationship

wc : 6.4 k

warning : possessive!mingi, unprotected sex (wrap it up to prevent an oopsie), slight voyeurism, panty giving, sniffing, and licking (literally one scene), sleazy-ish san making an appearance, switch!mingi, kinda rough sex ??, freaky shit, nasty language, cumming untouched, slight degradation ? (m receiving) I truly blame @byuntrash101 for turning me into this kind of a person. idk what to tag here anymore this fic is debauchery. lmk if i should add anymore warnings thanxx

a/n : THANK YOU @byuntrash101 FOR GIVING ME THIS IDEA FROM THIS >:D and ofc for letting me run with it <3 i hope you suffer as bad as me thanxx and i admit i kinda went overboard with this? but like... it's mingi ?? and i wanna do the original hc justice

a/n/n : i spent 7.5 hours on this mostly because i procrastinated bc it was 12.30 fucking am and it's 8.06 am rn i hath nawt slept yet. I hope this fic make sense tho, i hate to see this as a fail so pls lmk where i messed up

buy me coffee ?

Mingi was starting to think that inviting you to dinner was a bad idea.

It's not that he doesn't love having you around because God, he wished you'd just move in with him. It's not that you don't fit in with his friends because WooSan has made you an honorary dumbass trio which caused Seonghwa to pop a vein. And it's not because you didn't know how to dress up because you absolutely do. Which was the main reason anyways because Mingi kept eyeing you from the couch like a lion preparing to pounce on his prey but as much as he wanted to fuck you in the middle of the room, he didn't know if you'd be open to that.

So he sat by himself, biting his bottom lip while his eyes devoured your whole being. You, who were not even doing anything but stand near the dining area talking to San and Seonghwa with your short skirt and frilly sleeves. On one side, Mingi would like to do nothing but rip every bit of stupid fabric off of you in one tear because how dare they cover you up from his sight? But on the other side, he wanted to appreciate how pretty and delicate and absolutely ethereal you look in mundane clothing. When Mingi's tongue darted across his lips, he could almost imagine how you would taste and the sounds you would make. He had made you sit on his face so many times that the taste of you will forever be embedded in his tastebuds and mind. Just the thought of eating you out in that stupid, stupid skirt made him clench his jaws tightly.

Mingi might think that he's so slick, but in reality, you've been feeling his gaze on you since the moment you detached yourself from his lap and went over to talk to Seonghwa and San. Mingi is rather straightforward when it comes to you and what he wants (so technically you) and even when he wanted to play his feelings off, you knew him better than that. So the whole time you talked with San and Seonghwa, you have been intentionally striking poses that will allow Mingi to get a flash of your skimpy underwear or poses that will accentuate your figure be it your ass or boobs. Mingi, God bless him, loves you for whatever you had to offer him. When asked by Wooyoung whether he was an ass or boob man, Mingi literally said "I'm a (y/n) man," and you made sure to reward him that night by letting him overstimulate you to the point of crying and cockwarm you through the night and wake you up with a rough pounding. Safe to say that was the first time you said I love you to him (his was the first time you went down on him). Not to be a total attention whore, but you loved knowing that Mingi had his attention completely on you even when you two were not in close proximity. It was as if the two of you owned the world and the others were mere decorations.

When San and Seonghwa excused themselves to go get the delivery food that arrived in the middle of San telling you Wooyoung's latest prank attempt that almost resulted in their fridge almost breaking down, you made your way to your boyfriend whose smoulder melted into an adorable pout. You chuckled at the sight and let your body fell into his opened arms with your knees trapping his left thigh and your thigh that was between Mingi's legs rested so close to his crotch. Upon impact, Mingi immediately wrapped his arms around your body, resting his chin rest on your chest as he looked up at you, "Tell me why we can't bail this dinner and just hole ourselves in my room and fuck?" he whined, hands travelling under your skirt to cup your asscheeks in his big and warm hands. Your eyes widened at the sudden gesture and your head immediately shot to where San and Seonghwa were, making sure they didn't see you in such a position. Looking back at your boyfriend, your hand slapped his shoulder as his hands found their way inside your panties to caress the soft skin of the flesh he liked to spank during sex. "May I remind you that you invited me for DINNER and not sex?" you pointed out, lips threatening to curl into a smile at the feeling of Mingi oh so affectionately stroking your ass. Mingi groaned and buried his face between your chest, "You MAY remind me, doesn't mean I have to like it," he grumbled, suddenly biting on the inside of your clothed breast, forcing a yelp out of you.

Sometimes you wondered how you could be so soft for your giant hunk of a boyfriend. Sure, he's tall, muscular, big, and big, but he's your baby just as much as you are his, or maybe even more. You couldn't help but feel bad at his use of dejected voice and you really were planning on staying the night over anyways. So you decided to give him something to hold on to. Literally.

Looking at where Seonghwa and San were (still making sure that the restaurant got their order because your carnivore of a boyfriend and his roommates are very particular about their food) just in case, you pushed yourself slightly back which confused Mingi. He was about to ask what you were doing when you suddenly turned around so your ass was facing him and bent down. The sight of your panties got Mingi's jaw to drop and when you pull them down to reveal your bare cunt, Mingi's mouth immediately felt dry. With eyes glued to the folds where he usually buried his face, Mingi's tongue automatically slipped between his lips and he leaned forward to get a taste. Much to his disappointment, however, you grabbed your panties and turned around. "What are you doing?" you asked with a raised eyebrow. "What are YOU doing presenting yourself to me like that? Now come on, let me get a taste," he whined, grabbing your hips and flipping your skirt up to expose your bare cunt to his eyes. You let out a yelp of surprise when he got close to actually burying his face between your legs. Extreme measures had to be taken so you reached for his throat and pressed on his jugular enough that he choked slightly, allowing you to push him back against the couch, "You are not about to eat me out in the middle of the living room where your friends could see us, you hear me?" The way you sounded so serious and the pressure you put on his throat managed to make Mingi's head spin a little, loving how you took over. You retracted your hand to allow air back into Mingi's lungs, holding yourself back from mauling him from the way his eyes fluttered. You just know that he was getting so aroused.

While Mingi was distracted, you slipped your panties into his palm and leaned close as you heard Seonghwa and San walking back slowly with food. "Something for you to hold onto until after dinner," you said before giving him a soft peck on his cheek and retreating to help Seonghwa and San with the food. It took Mingi a couple of seconds to realize that you were no longer on top of him and just as he was about to be disappointed, he noticed your frilly panties in his hand and he perked up. His head snapped to look for you, giddiness evident in his eyes. You were taking the food out of the plastic bag when you noticed Mingi grinning widely at you, a sight that made you smile to yourself. That smile fell however when Mingi blatantly dangled your panties in front of his face for him to take a big whiff, making a whole show of fluttering his eyelids and rolling his eyes to the back of his head. Your face reddened immediately and you would've screamed had Seonghwa and San seen what Mingi did which thankfully they didn't because San had his back to Mingi and Seonghwa was in the kitchen.

Trying to be as discreet as you could, you gestured for Mingi to stop doing what he was doing but much to your dismay, the man spread your panties in his large hand and stuck his tongue out. You knew where that was going but when Mingi actually took a fat stripe on the spot that made contact with your pussy, your knees almost buckled and you were sure that your face was burning so hot, smoke should be coming out of your ears. It was a miracle San didn't realize what was happening.

Thankfully, Mingi immediately shoved the panties into his pants when Seonghwa called him out for dinner. Yes, he shoved it INSIDE his pants so that his cock wouldn't miss your cunt so much, or so he told you when he whispered directly into your ears as he pulled your chair like a gentleman. Gentleman my ass. What kind of gentleman shoved his hand inside your skirt as he made conversation with his dormmates? What kind of gentleman trace the slit of your pussy as he asked you how you were? What kind of a gentleman stuck one of his fingers between your folds when he pretended to reach over you to get a side dish? Freaky bastard. Nevertheless, the same bastard that made you clench your thighs as you silently hoped your arousal wouldn't stain the cushioned chair. It was bad enough that he was teasing you, but Seonghwa was sitting across him and San was across you, they could've easily seen what Mingi was doing and based on how you were biting your lips, they could've easily made an assumption on what was going on.

You decided that you might want to get some revenge on Mingi. The more he touched you under the table, the bigger your desire grew for him to have a taste of his own medicine. Your opportunity came when Seonghwa said he had prepared dessert for you after knowing that you would be joining them for dinner. Of course, as a polite guest, you offered to help him which means Mingi's hand had to momentarily part with your cunt. But of course, to tease you, Mingi stuck his slick-covered fingers into his mouth as he made eye contact with you, smirking when your eyes once again widened. This time, San noticed the interaction between you two, however, staring confusedly with an eyebrow raised but not saying anything, not even to point the behaviour out.

As you moved around the kitchen with Seonghwa, you made sure to sway your hips as sensually as you can, knowing that your boyfriend was staring at your ass the whole time. It wasn't like he was being subtle about it anyway, you saw how hard he was biting into his chopsticks, he could've bent them easily. Too focused on teasing your horny boyfriend, you almost forgot where you were and what you were doing and it made you clumsy as seen by how you accidentally dropped the spoon Seonghwa handed over to you before he reached for the plates in the cupboard. "Whoops!" you said, bending down to grab the utensils on the floor as you flash your boyfriend your bare, glistening cunt. The sight was enough to elicit a groan out of Mingi which was caught by San, thinking that his friend was hurting. But when San saw that Mingi was staring at something, he instinctively turned to look at what Mingi was looking at too which was a bad idea because he hadn't planned on seeing one of his best friends's girlfriend's pussy on full display. His eyes widened in shock and he so wanted to tear his eyes off but he couldn't, he couldn't even help but be affected, suddenly very aware of the fabric of his underwear that rubbed against his cock when he started shifting around in his seat.

"(y/n)?" San called out mindlessly, surprising you enough to the point that you immediately stood up and turned around. Mingi's daze was also broken when San called out to you and it didn't have to take a damn genius to deduct the fact that San totally saw your pussy, it was all over his face; the shame, the blush, and if you look closer, the way he started to uncomfortably tug on his pants. The three of you stayed in your positions, frozen, not knowing what to do or say while Seonghwa remained oblivious.

You were damn embarrassed to have been caught in that position, flaunting your princess parts (or so Mingi calls your pussy) to your boyfriend's dormmate. Despite it being an accident, the shame was still very much real. You couldn't even dare yourself to look up, not even when Seonghwa asked about the cake he bought. You managed to play it off as you inspected the cake, making up crap on the spot to justify your not looking him in the eyes as you talked to him. What were you supposed to do? You didn't know what to do if San was looking at you which he so totally was and Mingi witnessed all this. He saw how San was sneaking glances at you as his cheeks were tinted red. What caught Mingi's interest was that the blush and San's mannerisms didn't show shame, it didn't even show that he was sorry for even seeing you in such a state, heck, not even disturbance. It was the shade and mannerisms of a man who was appreciating someone in a sexual manner. Mingi didn't like that, Mingi didn't like that one bit. He had hoped that by putting a hand on your thigh San would stop his stare and obvious intrigue but of course, that did nothing.

"You know hyung, I think this cake is great, it's sweet but it's not so sweet," Mingi stated after having a spoonful of cake. "Oh? I think this cake is on the sweeter side," Seonghwa said, raising an eyebrow and trying another bite. Mingi shrugged as he finished his cake, "I don't think so because nothing is as sweet as my (y/n) here," he made a point of winking at you before staring at San in triumph. But much to his surprise, San didn't bat an eye, he wasn't threatened. Heck, he had a look of intrigue and knowing his friend, Mingi realized his mistake of calling you sweet. He was willing to bet his gaming setup that San was totally thinking about how your pussy must've tasted.

Luckily dinner came to an end rather quickly because Seonghwa had to rush out to deal with a Hongjoong emergency (aka Hongjoong had just started unpacking the last of his boxes after moving into the new dorm MONTHS after). There were four of you left alone in the dorm; you, Mingi, San, and damn awkward silence.

"Well," Mingi coughed as he grabbed his dishes from the table ever so slowly so he could get his brain to create some kind of excuse. San stood up while shaking his head furiously, "No, no, you... You leave the dishes to me, I'll take care of them tonight and you can take over my turn next time," San said, smiling to his friend though the smile didn't reach his eyes. Nor was it his usual smile, it seemed rather restricted. Surprised, Mingi blinked confusedly at San, "Uh... It's okay, I can-" "No, you should spend time with your girlfriend. Think of it as me doing you a favour," San cut him off, shifting his eyes at you who was already looking at him with wide eyes. For a moment, San was reminded of the image of your cunt to which he immediately shake his head to erase the image from his head as if he was an etch-a-sketch. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't quick enough as Mingi caught the look on San's face and he could feel his blood boil, hating the idea of his friend thinking about his baby's princess parts.

Abruptly, Mingi tugged your arm to stand up, "Thank man, I'll be sure to do you a favour next time," he smiled curtly, wanting to leave the dining area immediately to get some damn privacy. San wasn't surprised that Mingi acted as such because the behaviour was very much similar to the time Wooyoung talked about your tits after a trip to the waterpark. San was just hoping that Mingi wouldn't superglue his mouse to his mousepad before an important game.

Figuring that you were in the clear, you moved to follow Mingi, bidding San a good night and telling him that you had a good time out of sheer politeness. Seeing as you were interacting with him again, San stopped you by calling you, making you turn around while your boyfriend waited by the hallway that led to his room. "I-I," San had to clear his throat, acknowledging that what he wanted to say was rather embarrassing. But he swallowed his shyness and just gave you a smile, "I-I'm sorry for what happened earlier, I didn't mean to look at..." He trailed off as he gestured to your body awkwardly. While you were mortified that he brought up the topic again, you were glad that he didn't explicitly said what he did. Thinking that the situation had passed anyway, you smiled back and shook your head, "No worries San, it was an honest mistake," you assured him.

"For what it's worth," Just as you were about to join your boyfriend, San made you halt your steps once again. You tilted your head slightly which made Mingi feel irked because you were paying his friend too much attention for his liking especially considering the fact that the particular friend had seen something he shouldn't and that Mingi was needy. "You had nothing to be ashamed about, you have a very pretty... Kitty..." San said, not realizing that he had glanced lower at your body and even let his tongue dart out slightly to lick his bottom lip before looking at you straight in the eyes again, "Mingi is indeed a very lucky guy just as we all have said. But tonight I got a confirmation."

You couldn't even answer San when Mingi pulled you into his arms and shielded you away from his apparently sleazy-adjacent friend, "Thanks man but she knows I'm so lucky to have her," he said through gritted teeth. Now he's absolutely pissed.

In a flash, you were tossed onto the bed in Mingi's room. Your body bounced slightly and while you were still in a daze of surprise, Mingi crawled on top of you. "How fucking dare you," he growled, diving down to capture your lips in a desperate kiss. You yelped slightly when Mingi shoved his tongue in your mouth out of the blue. Though he looked pissed because his face looked pissed and he's 6 ft tall with the proclivity to wear anything and everything dark, his kiss showed his real emotion. "Does he not think I already know that I'm so lucky you let me love you?" he whimpered into your mouth when your hands grabbed the hair on the back of his head. "Baby, you know how much I appreciate you for letting me love you, right?" he asked as he pulled away. Your heart skipped a beat at the sight of his reddened pouty lips and hazy eyes looking at you, seeking for your approval. You lifted your body slightly with one arm as the other went to cup his chin between your thumb and index finger, letting your thumb swipe his puffy bottom lip that was glistening in your mixed spit, "Of course baby. You're my Minnie Minnie Mingi, you're the only man I allow to touch me however you want," you then leaned closer to blow directly to his ear, making him visibly shudder, "You're the only man I allow anywhere near my princess parts," when you bit down to his ear lobe, Mingi's arms buckled slightly and his eyes rolled to the back of his head while his cock strained against his pants.

You pulled back slightly and pouted at him, "And... Didn't you say you wanted to have a taste of me?" you batted your lashes at him. That absolutely wrecked Mingi's resolve because in one swift movement, he had pushed you all the way to his headboard while opening your legs widely. When Mingi was face to face with your glistening, pulsating cunt, he couldn't help but stare at it while biting his bottom lip, momentarily appreciating it in all its glory. While it technically was rather embarrassing to have your pussy be stared at like that, it was a regular occurrence for you and you knew you had nothing to be ashamed or shy about. How can you? Mingi worshipped the ground you walk on and it made you feel like a goddess. "Still so fucking wet for me," he said to himself as he swiped two of his fingers on the mess of the wetness. Due to not wearing panties and rubbing your legs together the whole night, your arousal was spread everywhere. While Mingi was very possessive of you, oftentimes saying how he didn't want to waste a single drop of your princess nectar, the sight of the glistening even glittering mess was a sight to behold to him.

"Fuck baby, how can your pussy look and taste even more delicious than that damn cake?" was the last thing Mingi said before he attached his lips to your cunt, eliciting a gasp from you.

Mingi took his time eating you out, truly devouring you whole and enjoying every single second of it. To say that Mingi was obsessed with your pussy was an understatement. It seemed like he knew your body better than yours because he understood what every tic, squirm, moan, and arch of the back meant. He knew that you loved how he use his tongue to trace shapes on you and rather than simply flick and nibble on your clit, you love how he use his nose to bump into it. You had even joked that you knew that Mingi was perfect for you due to his pointy nose. No matter how much you love him bumping his nose on your clit, it can't beat how much he absolutely go batshit crazy when you use his nose to get off when you sit on his face. Just the thought got him grinding his hips on the bed. Seeing this, you grabbed Mingi's hair and pulled his face back, causing him to whine. "Did you just hump your bed? I thought I was the only thing your cock wants to make contact with?" you huffed, pouting at him though only meaning it half-heartedly. Mingi shook his head slightly to loosen your grip on his hair before he leaned his head on the junction of your thigh, peppering kisses on the outer lip of your pussy. "Sorry, I can't help but imagine fucking this pussy... My baby's pussy... My baby's pretty pretty pussy," he moaned before engulfing your cunt once more. Though his mouth was busy pleasuring you, his eyes never left your face. He loved the way your face contorted into pleasure when his tongue breached your hole to gather your slick and push it up to your clit as a lubricant so his nose could move more seamlessly. The intensity of your reaction was what got him excited but the knowledge that he was the one who was doing those things to you was what got him addicted. The best part for Mingi though was when you grabbed his hair to fuck yourself on his face. Your hips went wild to chase the kind of pleasure only he could give. When you use him like that, Mingi feels like he is nothing but a toy you used to get off and he feels honoured above anything else.

Just as Mingi was enjoying the feeling of your arousal down his chin while his tongue was fucking you, your hips stopped moving. Mingi was too into his headspace that he initially didn't notice your halted movements, in fact, his mouth only moved on its own automatically, lapping your juice as he flicked, nibbled, and nudged on the sensitive nub. "Baby," you whined out loud, forcing Mingi to slip out of his headspace momentarily to reply with a low hum as his tongue was busy gathering every last drop of you. "I don't wanna cum on your tongue tonight, I wanna cum on your fat cock. I wanna cum while I ride you," you whined, bordering on begging.

Hearing that you wanted to ride him, Mingi pulled away from your cunt with a smirk, "Oh? My princess wants to ride me using her... What did San called it? Your kitty?" he chuckled mockingly. You whined and kicked your legs slightly, embarrassed that he used such language at you and especially using his friend's words on you. Slowly, erotically, Mingi climbed over your body whilst slowly pulling your top off and shoving it down your waist, "If I feed the kitty my cock, will it purr?" he asked as he leaned down to suck a mark in the middle of your chest. "Can the kitty even take my cock, baby? Can my baby's kitty princess part take my load when I cum inside?" you looked down to see his lips wrapped around your right nipple, "Remember when we had sex the first time? Remember how your pussy can't take me? I barely hung onto my sanity that time because I wanted to make you mine but I had to be gentle. I don't think I can be gentle this time," he pouted, leaving your nipple to leave a string of his spit that later dripped down your stomach. Wanting his cock inside you immediately, you nodded frantically, "Yes! Yes! My pussy is already perfectly moulded to take you, Mingi, please, I will ride you so good, I want your cum in me," your hands were wrapped around his neck tightly as you tried to ground up to his hips, wanting to feel his cock on you immediately.

Luckily Mingi couldn't say no to you especially when you became that whiny for him. It was endearing, really.

With steady hands, Mingi flipped you both over so you were straddling his hips. You leaned back on your arms to stare at the bulge straining against its confines between Mingi's legs with a twinkle in your eyes. You knew what was under his trousers, you've seen it multiple times but it never gets old; the excitement of seeing it strain and then pop up like jack-in-a-box. Well, in Mingi's case, it's jacking into a cunt. But it works. Whenever you are presented with the opportunity to undress Mingi, it always feels like opening a present because it actually feels like a present. How can it not? It's only for you and you get to play with it Mingi always lets you take your time with him as he gets to experience the joy of seeing you thrilled just from seeing him.

Slowly, you unbuttoned his pants and when you unzipped his pants, pulling them down just past the midsection of his thick thighs without bothering to take them off completely, you were shocked to see your panties still there. "Mingi!" you exclaimed as you pulled the frilly, flimsy garment like a magician because as soon as the panty was pulled, Mingi's cock popped up tall, spurting some precum on your thigh. Scratch that, soiled frilly, flimsy garment. Your eyes were wide in surprise and wonder, fascinated with how much cum there actually was and excited with the thought that the same amount of cum would be inside you momentarily. Perhaps more.

Mingi looked away in embarrassment when you showed him your panties, completely forgetting that it was there in the first place. With his arms crossed on his still-clothed chest, Mingi pouted and mumbled out an explanation. "It was all your fault for giving me your panties and letting me play with your pussy during dinner, and then to make shit worse, you flashed me your entire pussy when you know I want to bury myself in it 24/7. That's why I came," his cheeks were red which showcased his embarrassment even more but you couldn't understand why he would be embarrassed for cumming from his own girlfriend's teasing. So you cooed at him as you reached to cup his face, urging him to face you, "Aww, baby you don't need to be embarrassed for cumming in your pants like that. I find it absolutely adorable and it's a great ego boost to know that you were so affected by me," you said as you peppered kisses down his jaw. Mingi's embarrassment slowly faded when you told him you liked how affected he was by you. "Really?" he asked, looking at you who were now trailing kisses up his toned stomach as you pulled his shirt off. Nodding, you didn't let your lips stop their path up to Mingi's nipples, "Of course, sweetie. How can I not love the thought of my baby so infatuated by me?" you smiled against his skin.

All of a sudden, Mingi pulled you up so your face was right in front of his. Inhaling the scent of you sharply, Mingi let out a shuddered exhale before speaking out, "Well, you need to remember that this baby needs to have his cock impaling your pussy, so please, please, pretty please fuck yourself on me."

Finally, after so many back and forth between you two, you moved to position your opening above Mingi's awaiting cock after giving him a soft peck on his lips. You knew Mingi loved seeing himself fill you up and you can't disappoint him so you leaned back and opened your legs to hug his hips perfectly with his tip pressing on your cunt. The heavy tip already provided a thrilling stimulation that got you biting back a squeal. Without warning, you lowered your hips so that Mingi's cock would enter you slowly. Mingi was watching how his cock filled you up very closely with his jaw hanging open due to the warmth your cunt provided. His hand reached to part your pussy lips apart so he could see better, not realizing that you had thrown your head back from the additional pressure he accidentally gave to your pussy. "F-fuck," you whimpered, thighs trembling as you finally got all of Mingi inside you. Even after having sex with him (or the more often making love sessions), you still needed time to adjust to him first before actually jumping into action. Mingi hated seeing you struggle no matter what came after that, so to help you, he gently stroked your thighs with his large and warm hands, "I'm sorry that I'm too big," he pouted. To some, it might sound like a brag, but it truly wasn't and thankfully you knew that.

Copying his expression, you pushed yourself to wrap your arms around Mingi's neck loosely and gave him a small smile, "Why are you apologizing? I love your big, fat cock that got me drooling just from the thought of it," you gave an experimental movement by pulling your hips up to see how he would feel only to find nothing but pleasure that was accompanied by a slight pressure. "I love how you could fill me up for days with your stupid extra large cock," you lowered yourself again until your hips met again and Mingi moaned loudly as he threw his head back, "F-fuck yes! My cock is stupid! It's so so stupid for filling you up so good." Tilting your head to the side, you brought Mingi's face back to yours again, "But do you know what I love most about you?" Somehow Mingi managed to look both sexy and innocent when he shook his head, wanting to hear your answer so obediently. "I love the feeling of your cum being dumped inside me because that's how you truly make me yours, you left a part of you in me and I love it beyond anything else."

At the first roll of your hips, Mingi grunted and let his head fall on your shoulder, wanting to keep you close. But you had another plan which involved him laying on his back on the bed. So you pushed him down by his chest which earned you a whine from the giant of a man but you immediately pressed a finger on his lips, "I'm in charge now and I want you lying there on your back looking pretty while I use your dumb cock." Mingi would've protested had it not for the way you started fucking yourself on his cock with your knees trapping his hips as an anchor for your movements. Sure, Mingi loved fucking you into his bed or making love to you under his sheet on a rainy morning, but this? You taking control over him while being on top? It makes him feel like a king while still being doted on. "You love riding your lover, don't you?" Mingi teased as he moaned, loving how tight you were gripping him. "I do, baby, I so fucking do!" It didn't come as a surprise that you let out a loud moan. You both were very vocal in bed what with Mingi's tease and begs and the praises you gave your boyfriend.

What you didn't take into account was the fact that the door to Mingi's room was never closed. So it shouldn't come as a surprise when San walked past the room only to halt in his tracks, getting the second surprise of the day. San felt like he should say something, but considering how you reacted to him seeing your pussy, San felt like he had to tread carefully. How? No clue, eyes busy looking, brain malfunctioning.

You were so caught up with bouncing on top of Mingi to take notice of your guest. Your whole sense was filled with Mingi and it was just so addicting. On the other hand, Mingi noticed San as soon as the man walked by, having the advantage of facing the doorway. While Mingi as a boyfriend is the type to get jealous and very possessive if he found anyone eyeing what is his, Mingi as a lover has no problem reminding people who you belong to, what it takes to satisfy you, and who was the only person who could do it. Mingi couldn't help but think that it was the perfect opportunity to send a message to San. So he sat himself straight and pulled your body close to his so your chests were pressing together. The sudden movement made Mingi's cock hit a different spot in you, the spot that had you squealing Mingi's name as the muscles of your thighs constrict,

"Aww poor baby, let me take over for you, love," he said sweetly to your ear as he eyed San carefully. San should've run to his room, put on his headphones and blasted something loud but he couldn't, he couldn't stop looking at how his best friend's body was tangled with his lover so intricately, so intimately.

Mingi simply wrapped an arm around your shoulders as the other was anchored on his side while his feet spread slightly and were planted firmly. The way Mingi began thrusting into you was something you couldn't replicate. His pace was fast but his movement was precise, it was rather animalistic and painfully addicting. Your head lolled to rest on the side of his neck as your arms wrapped tightly around his broad shoulders, moans spilling out of your mouth incoherently. "Tell me baby, who's making you feel this good?" Mingi asked, eyes maintaining contact with San's, "You! You! You, Mingi! You!" you moaned whimpering when he managed to find your g-spot, causing your legs to snap shut which signalled Mingi that that's where he should be hitting. With precision, Mingi started hitting your g-spot continuously without his speed ever faltering. "Louder! I want everyone to know who you belong to! Who your pussy belongs to!" Mingi smirked when he saw San's eyes widen. "You, Song Mingi! You're the only person w-who- Ah! Who ca-can fuck me l-like this! My body, my pussy, belongs to you, my love, I belong to you!" you cried out pathetically, completely oblivious to the fact that San was listening in the whole time.

It didn't take long for either of you to reach your climax what with being sensitive and having to hold off sex since dinner. You were still sensitive from the way Mingi ate you out so when Mingi began thrusting into you at a bruising strength, you found yourself biting down on Mingi's shoulder, ensuring that a mark would be left behind there. The impact from your bite sent Mingi reeling, with his hips halfway into a thrust, his thighs shook as his ass clenched, cumming hard inside you, painting your insides with his seed. "That's it baby, make me yours. Fill me up so I'm filled with nothing but you," you babbled as your hand reached to stroke Mingis's hair. Mingi's thighs were still trembling slightly as he emptied himself inside of you but at least he was seated down and his body was able to relax slightly, leaning his own head on yours as his grip on your waist remained. The moment felt so intimate that San scurried away to hole himself up in his room. Mingi could only imagine that San was jacking off to him and you fucking, San should only be so lucky to have witnessed not only Mingi's treasure (your cunt) but also the way Mingi made his claim on you.

As you both came down from your high, you remained in your position, not wanting to be separated just yet as you find the other very comforting. Mingi was stroking the skin of your lower back with his eyes closed, enjoying the praises you whispered to him whilst peppering kisses on the skin of his shoulder.

He was content then, being in his own space with the love of his life.

Especially after letting someone who crossed a boundary witness Mingi claiming what is his. Not that Mingi would mind teaching him another lesson.

network :

@cultofdionysusnet @sandsofire @kflixnet

taglist :

@kodzukein @phenomenalgirl9 @skzatzloveismonsterous @memorymonster @thesolarplanetarysystem @dreamlesswonder86 @maddiebabyxoxo @imababywolf @do-you-actually-care @marievllr-abg @ilsedingsx @wasteitonserendipity @bbymatz @noonaishere @honeyhwaaa @ateezourstars @yoonjunshi @yoongiigolden @camillelafaye @charreddonuts @kpopnightingale @starryunho @atinct @mirror-juliet @hyuckilstan @jayb17 @kpoplover718 @haatohwa @x-bluee @erinaimeex @blackb3ll @mingiholic @angelicyeo @vampcharxter @meowmeowminnie @marvelous-llama @kawennote09 @hongjoong-lovebot @stopeatread @spooo00oky @jwnghyuns @cutie-wooyo @asjkdk @shinotani @aestheticsluut

[changingplumbob]

As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest): Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc), Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims), Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas), Writing the dialogue/story, Editing the photos.

I was sent the tag by @mariapaulaaah, @simscici and @deardiaryts4! Thank you friends 🫂

First of all my brain panicked for the simple reason that it doesn't explicitly say what we're ranking them by? Like what the scale is. Yes it's 1-5 but is it putting them in order or ranking each step as 1-5 on its own merit? Is it by enjoyment or difficulty or time allocated?

I decided to do by how much time I spend on each.

Editing the photos: 1

This would be zero if possible because it is RARE that I will actually edit my photos. I will move what is in the screenshot folder to SBL or DD and crop (or in the case of Dating Deanna I have decided to add borders to try and make the posts flow more like if you were watching them). I have chronic fatigue and figuring out some kind or gshade or reshade seems like a waste of energy when I already enjoy what my screenshots look like.

If I "edit" my photos it is turning them black and white, or mucking with the hue, light, saturation etc if it is that awful in game time where sims are outside and it is too dark because the sun has set but the outside lights are not illuminating properly yet.

Styling the Sims: 2

So what I do is I give my sims makeovers at key life stages then I just leave those outfit options for them to change in to. For example Byron has 3 everyday, 2 athletic, 2 sleepwear, 1 formal, 2 party, 1 swimwear, and 3 each for hot and cold weather. I don't put much thought in to telling him what to wear on a certain day, what he gets in after his shower is what he stays in.

Exceptions to this are specific events that require a different outfit. For example the pictures at the cooking school. I went through everyone I wanted in the scene and simply selected from the apron options already in my game. Normal age up makeovers take around an hour for me.

Setting up the Scene: 3

I think you probably don't have to have been following me for long to know that I am very much still learning how to build. I like the look of clutter but not at the expense of functionality. My sims need to be able to exist in the environment living their normal life without a bunch of routing fail messages. I will build if I need a new house or a specific set but even then it's sporadic. I try to have characters interact in existing environments as much as possible to avoid new places.

That said sometimes I need novel sets (like a coffee shop) so I look on the gallery first and make small edits. Sometimes all I need is a room so I will furnish the inside of a box. The cooking school set for example is one big box put on top of RCCC in a photography save so you still get city outside the windows. Each short side of the room is basically the same, just minor clutter changes. Each set of benches has the same decor sitting on top. Doing this build along with Byron's therapists office took 2 hours.

Posing the sims: 4

This takes me longer than building because omg trying to search through my poses is hard. Thank goodness for searchable pose player, how did we live without it? If I want to get say a family picture it can take me anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to find what I'm wanting and get everyone in place with the light right.

Also I've had to get in to using poses with accessories more with Byron's gen as they play instruments that we don't have in game. I was talking with Zen earlier about how it takes me forever! I can never remember which microphone accessory a pose uses but I have four so I needed to set Kerry up with four different outfits, each using a different microphone, that I could click through once she's posed. Also Rachel's lashes conflict with her bass guitar to I need to change those but you know my faceblind self doesn't always catch it in CAS.

Writing the dialogue/story: 5

Hands down I will spend the most time writing! I love writing. But see all that other stuff I talked about earlier, that might take me several hours in game to set up and follow through but I will spend probably double that amount of time writing.

This is pretty much my view when I'm writing. I'll have a folder open with the pictures I have cropped/saved as well as my writing document. The numbers help me keep track of what post it is I'm working on and how I want the pictures to appear. Then the big boxes are where I just write away. Each post goes through several edits as I upload and check on it in the queue before it posts.

I would tag/pass it on but the anxiety over not knowing what we're actually ranking them as/by makes me reluctant... ummm, I'm not sure who has done it so ignore if you have/don't want to but @matchalovertrait, @eljeebee, @simmerbeans, @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants

[hazelvrr]

Chapter 1: The fair

S/n: As promised here's chapter 1, let me know if I should continue with this fic as I've never written a full fic before so I might be rubbish, also it's not proofread but any mistakes should only be minor. No use of y/n. I tried to capture their personalities to the best of my ability but they are so funny that they're also extremely difficult to write. I tried to not repeat any scenes from the movie, they still happen unless I mention them differently but I didn't want to sound like a broken record.

Summary: you get ready with pj and josie for the fair and they question your friendship with hazel and then you see her at the fair.

Warnings: none

Word count: 2.1k

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

The fair was the one thing you looked forward to at the end of summer. Pretty much everything else about summer ending absolutely sucked but at least there was the fair.

Every year as soon as August rolled around, you were counting down the days until you could ride the ferris wheel, get cotton candy and most importantly, see hazel for the first time in 3 months.

Your 'best friend' hazel, if you could even call her that, volunteered at some charity or association of some sort all summer every single year without fail, so you couldn't see her for 3 months straight, which always drove you crazy.

You weren't quite sure why, after all, it was the same with pj and josie because they were away at some abstinence camp for the youth or as pj called it 'an anti sex cult run by a bunch of jealous old nuns who dont get any and are trying to ruin her life because shes hot as fuck' (her words, not yours) so you didn't see them either but you couldn't care less, so why were you so bothered about not seeing hazel?

Either way, you were super exited about this year's fair and had decided to get a ride from josie (only because you were embarrassed to tell anyone cool that you had failed your drivers test 5 times over the summer and had acctually managed to get yourself banned from the local dmv from 'assaulting your driving instructor' which you only did because he totally had it in for you) so naturally you thought it was a good idea to get ready at her house with her and pj.

BIG MISTAKE.

You should have known that pj and Josie, being the horny pervs that they are, spent the whole evening scheming about getting the cheerleaders attention, and how they were planning on getting possibly the straightest teenage girls you had ever seen in your whole life to fall head over heels for them.

Absolute losers.

You were so used to their antics that your brain had completely tuned them out as you applied your eyeliner, sitting beside pj, faces pushing eachother out of the way to fight to look in the tiniest mirror on josies desk.

You had stopped listening after josie had started ranting about the size of Jeff's penis, you were planning on stuffing your face with corndogs in less than an hour, and that was really putting you off the idea, that was until you heard josie say your name.

"Soo, have you spoken to hazel since school ended?"

Pj looks over at you with a shit eating grin on her face, "what she means to say is, have the two of you fucked yet?"

You roll your eyes at pj, not even dignifying her with an answer and turn your head to face josie, who was now stacking snapbacks on her head whilst looking in the mirror.

"To answer your question, yeah we've facetimed a few times and texted a lot."

"Oooo phone sex," pj giggles, "kinky."

You just flick pj in the head and begin applying your lipgloss.

Josie picks up one of the snapbacks from the floor and launches it at pjs head and instead misses and knocks over the mirror.

"Dude what the fuck." Pj hisses, standing up to go over to josies closet door to look at her outfit in the full length mirror, posing and checking herself out.

"Seriously though, when are you going to make a move?" Josie asks, backing away from pj and going to sit on the bed.

You look at her with a confused expression, "what do you mean, we're just friends."

Josie cocks her eyebrow and smirks, "please, you've been in love with her since 5th grade, you know it, I know it, pj knows it, pretty much everyone in a 10 mile radius can see it, except for hazel herself since she's an oblivious dork, but that's besides the point."

You go to answer but pj comes back over and sits back down next to you and you take the opportunity to escape and use the bathroom.

You take your time in there staring into the glass, turning your body around, checking that your hair is straight, your makeup looks good in natural lighting, oh and that your cleavage is poking through your tank top just enough, for no particular reason other than looking hot for yourself (well, that's what you told yourself anyways).

As you open the bathroom door to return to josies bedroom you hear pj and josie whispering, and being as nosy as you are, you press your ear up against the door to listen to what they're saying.

"Shhh she's gonna hear you" josie hushes.

"Shut up no she's not, that bitch couldn't hear a rocket land if it landed on the roof."

"How much did you say you wanna bet again?"

"50 bucks. If by the end of the school year they haven't fucked, I owe you 50 bucks, but if they have, you owe me 100."

"How the fuck does that work, why do I owe you double?"

"Because I'm fucking awesome... okay because I'm broke as hell and am gonna need the contribution for my homecoming dress so I can look sexy for brittany, duh."

"Yeah yeah whatever, its a deal, I think she's coming."

You once again roll your eyes at how pathetic they are. You swear to god that if you spent any more time with them than you already do, your eyes would permanently be fixed in the back of your head.

"Hey guys, you ready to go it's almost 8," you suggest as you open the door, "josie, what the hell do you think you're wearing?!"

"What do you mean?" She looks down confused at her spiritual playboy shirt, 5 carabiners hooked onto her pants' belt loops and her arm sling on her right arm.

"You look like dyke throw-up," pj cackles, standing up from the desk and following you both out of the bedroom door.

Josie looks back at pj as you're all walking down the stairs, "pj you can't say anything, look at you, you've got suspenders over your nipples like a goddamn freak."

Pj flips her off from behind her head and you can't help but giggle as you follow them out to the car and hop in the backseat.

"How'd you break your arm again josie?" You lean forward and ask as josie turns the keys and reverses out of her driveway.

"She flunked out of anti horny camp and fell out of her bunk rubbing one out," pj replies casually, looking down at her phone that displays brittanys Instagram posts from the summer, "fuck, she got even hotter over summer, how's that even possible?"

"Is isabel in any of the photos?" Josie questioned desperately, sneaking a peak down at pjs phone as she pulls up to a red light.

"God you're both pathetic."

You finally arrive to the fair, granted you're 20 minutes late because josie circled the parking lot at least 10 times as pj yelled at her to just fucking park, but josie wanted to make sure she could find a big enough spot.

You hand over your tickets and walk in, they're both muttering about something or other but you're not really listening, you're just scanning for hazel until you feel a tap on your shoulder and nearly jump out of your skin.

"Hey guys," hazel smiles, bringing you in for a hug, "long time no see, wait.. pj, josie, you never come to the fair?"

You point over at isabel and brittany standing a few feet away, where they had been gawking at them for the past 5 minutes.

"Ah, I see," She nods, I haven't seen you In ages I've missed you."

"Yeah.. me too," you blush, looking down at your shoes.

"Oh shit what happened to josies arm?"

"Masterbating."

"What, is her vagina made out of concrete or something?"

"No what? Hazel, she fell out of her bunk," pj scoffs.

"Can everyone please stop talking about my vagina?" Josie interjects.

"Soo hazel, what's this I hear about you volunteering at a slop farm?" Pj questions.

"The national meat association? Yeah it was good," hazel replies, "so did you guys get up to anything crazy over summer?"

"Yeah we killed this girl at camp for snitching on josie, got arrested, taken to Juvie and spent the rest of summer there, nearly died but they let us go when we told them that we're dykes and called them homophobic," pj explains sarcastically.

"What?! Are you guys okay?"

Josie facepalms.

You were about to explain that pj was being sarcastic when you hear cheering and you all look over to see Jeff appearing with the rest of the football team.

You all exchange disgusted looks and then pj notices that isabel and brittany are walking in your direction.

She snatches your corndog out of your hand and hands it to josie and then takes hazels cotton candy and hands her a wad full of tickets. Her and josie anxiously keep swapping the corndog and cotton candy mumbling to eachother until isabel and brittany are standing right infront of you all.

Josie drops her corndog, well actually YOUR corndog and kicks it away in hopes of isabel not noticing but both isabel and brittany look down and watch her do it, then look back up at her and raise their eyebrows.

"Hey can I uh, get my cotton candy back?" Hazel asks as she reaches forwards towards pj to grab it, but instead is hit in the head with it by pj who just ignores her and takes a bite out of it.

You look at hazel and shrug your shoulders, jerking your head to turn her attention back to the disaster of a conversation going on between the four of them.

"Oh hey, didn't see you there," brittany says to you poking her head round to look at you, "how's your summer been?"

"Yeah it's been good," you reply, "looking forward to cheering again though I've really missed it, what about you guys?"

"Yeah, I've been practicing all summer I'm really looking forward to getting back into it!" Isabel smiles, stepping forward.

The conversation goes on for a painful amount of time, every second making you want to gouge your eyeball out with a fork as you just make ridiculous faces at hazel, who just looks back at you the same way before giggling.

You went to follow pj and josie out to josies car when hazel quickly follows, "I can drive you home if you want, your on the way and I doubt you want to listen to another second of them babbling on about isabel and brittany."

"Yeah that would actually be great, thank you."

"No trouble at all," She says, "plus, it's an excuse to speak to you, we haven't had much of a chance to talk tonight."

She pulls out her car keys and unlocks her car, of course its a range rover. Her mom gave it to her as a pity gift when her dad left which obviously didn't fix the issue but hazel didn't complain and just accepted the car, even though she wasn't old enough to drive at the time, which her mom forgot because she barely pays any attention to her own daughter.

The drive is only 5 minutes long, since you live so close, so you don't get long to chat, but she tells you all about the meat association and the cool tshirt she got to wear, even showing you a photo when she pulls up on your driveway.

You lean over and give her a hug, "see you at school tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't miss it," She grins, "meet me outside to walk in together?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

Once you had kicked off your shoes and lazily removed your makeup, you got changed and plopped onto your bed.

Tonight was so chaotic yet for some reason you weren't thinking about pj and josies funny attempt at flirting or how they had made complete asses out of themselves, only about the drive home with hazel, how her hair blew in the wind, framing her face perfectly, how her hand gripped the steering wheel as she reversed out of the parking lot and how her eyes practically lit up when she was talking to you about her voluntary work over the summer.

You try to sleep but instead you lay awake for hours staring at your ceiling thinking about it. You simply cannot get her out of your head.

Huh. Maybe, just maybe, you did like hazel callahan? No. Surely not. Unless...

[cinamun]

As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest):

Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc),

Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims),

Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas),

Writing the dialogue/story,

Editing the photos.

Send to three other story simblrs and get to know more about each others favorite and least favorite part of this crazy process!

(If you want to, of course, my dear! And credit to @thebramblewood for giving us this brain teaser on this fine day)

OH!!! Thank you friend! Okay lesseee... ranking in terms of difficulty or what I enjoy most? Let's say both:

Scene setting = 5 for difficulty and 5 for enjoyment!

I put a lot of work into what is going on around the characters in a scene. I do not like it to look blank or empty. If we're on a street, it should look like a street! If we're at a restaurant, why are we the only ones there? (unless we're Indya & Darren and can buy the place out for the day). Its fun for me because I just enjoy decorating in general. Now that I've gotten more familiar with TOOL, its easy, too! My personal belief is that, while you're OCs are the focus of the scene, the scene itself should be a sweet treat for the eyes. Placemaking is just neat.

Posing = 2 difficulty 1 = enjoyment

I've been doing this forever so posing is super easy, especially with WW and the ability to move sims around and rotate them. I can combine poses, split them up, make a sim face another even if the pose has them looking the other way. Its not super enjoyable because I've amassed a TON of poses over the years and searchable pose player has never worked in my game and I don't know what conflicts with it and just gave up. So I scroll and scroll. If I think I don't have a pose I google for it. Trying out different poses to get the effect I want takes FOR E V E R so, no, do not recommend.

Writing = 3 difficulty - 4 enjoyment

Since I'm not a prose girlie and this story is all dialogue (I do throw in a chapter summary at the end of one, those are fun), the dialogue isn't terribly difficult. I would say thinking about HOW the character would say a thing is what takes me a minute. Some characters are much easier than others but capturing the "how" definitely gets me. I like it mostly because a little bit of my own personality pops out sometimes and I don't even realize it. My humor, sharp wit, etc. Its a little thing I just enjoy idk.

Editing = 1 difficulty - 3 enjoyment

The presets I use for gshade do most of the work, I just pick and choose which shaders I want depending on the mood of the scene and start snapping. I have my capture size already set in SRWE so its just become an easy process. My photoshop process is very simple. A little topaz, brightening and if I'm feeling schnazzy, we'll do some text effects and add templates, also easy just time consuming.

Styling = 1 difficulty - 5 ENJOYMENT!!!

Oh I could spin these babies around in CAS forever and get completely distracted and not get to the scene for an hour lmfao. When my sims go into hair/makeup and wardrobe I lock TF in!!

[carolkinopf]

been thinking about posting some unfinished/unpolished stuff that i'm pretty sure i won't go back to work on, they are just sitting on my folders and it makes me a little sad

this is gonna be a long post (because I feel like I can't post it without explaining what they were meant to be), I decided to just make a single one with all of them so yea !

This is my Novo Amor propaganda that I never finished. I think this song is very felds-coded, and the animatic was really just to illustrate the lyrics since I think they fit very well.

So it shows feldspar reflecting about their poor choices and mistakes, and wanting to just. give up. But then hatchling shows up, somehow, to rescue them. And with coming back to timber hearth, reuniting with their friends and family, with time they eventually start coming to terms with everything that's happened and readjusting to life in timber hearth.

That entire segment that repeats "but I'll breath, I'm bored of how, bored of now" would be of scenes of that, starting with them reuniting with slate, gossan, gneiss, then being taken care of/patched up from living in poor conditions in dark bramble to then finally enjoying life with others (I ended up only adding rockettrio but I wanted to have them fishing with spinel, going for a hike/walk in the woods with tektite and maybe arkose, playing with hatchlings, joining the orchestra with everyone.... those things)

Slate is also there, because I thought it would be fun to have the transition with the museum photo to feldspar making their way to giant's deep and then dark bramble. And I like some slate angst (shocking)

This is like the most finished one from the post, so it's going first on the list.

(If you like the song i cannot recommend Novo Amor enough. They have many songs with OW vibes imho. And some that are just plain great. If you're curious which ones I associate with the silly aliens feel free to ask)

---

...this is a rather silly one. Not much to talk about it, I had the idea on a random morning of slate fixing one of their model ships (that feldspar accidentaly broke) in a scene analogous to a surgery shdjd

They are young teenagers here (13-14) so that's why slate is using the little cap (which is an accessory I borrowed from process_analog's young slate drawings thank you)

---

This was an experimentation of sorts. The idea was to reference those flashing lights in parties that makes it looks like you are living in a low fps world. Very trippy. But instead of black between "frames", it alternates between slate and feldspar dancing and the moments they had together, from the begging as kids, to teenagers, to young adults working on the OWV and to the final breakdown aka, a fight that led feldspar leaving in a rush and anger to never to be seen again, leaving a helpless slate behind (this was inspired by the first chapter of awanderingmuse's fic Find Your Buddy which I highly recommend!)

Since the song kinda talks about dancing instead of talking your feelings out, I feel like it fits with the fight being drowned out by them dancing in a different moment.

Fun fact: I got hit with The Visions for this animatic the same day I got hit with The Visions for the neujauciu meiles animatic. Which was not fun for my brain, I spent one hour staring at krita not knowing which one to start

cobalt is the one who showed me this song so kudos to him

i like this frame :) huggies

This is a version of only the scenes, I think it's a bit easier to see them progressing. During the fight scene, both slate and feldspar get flashbacks to good times, in poses that mirror their current ones. I thought it'd be a fun addition :)

---

......yet another sad slate (and feldspar) animatic. I was driving home listening to the song and got hit with The Visions once more. I like the colors changing on this one, the very first frame of them as kids is my absolute favorite. Even if it's just a rough sketch.

<3

---

Honorable mention to this one that I sketched an incredible amount of 3 frames

(I'm only putting this here as a cue for you to listen to Years On by Novo Amor. It's good I promise. I wanted to make an animatic for it, with the first half of the songs showing slate/the founders dealing with feldspar's dissapearance, and the second half with riebeck/hatchling - i never decided which one it'd be. But I had just done the Guestbook animatic, and this would be the exact same mood. And I wanted to do something different lol)

---

So, that is it, thank you if you checked all of it! And extra thanks if you did read all my ramblings

Here's a doodle for you:

I always have a lot of thoughts about these, but I don't talk about it because I find it's kinda irrelevant/redundant (plus kinda takes away attention from the actual video on the post). So I hope you enjoyed a little dive into some of them along with the videos !

so yeah, bybye! have a good day

[eljeebee]

As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest): Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc), Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims), Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas), Writing the dialogue/story, Editing the photos.

Was tagged by @changingplumbob

Thank you Kirsty!

Writing the Story: 1

This is the lowest as this is always the easiest. The words come easily and I could just type it away. Since my format has changed, I focus on dialogues now instead of narration, which means the work has been cut down, as the only thing I'll worry about is how to place each dialogue to which panel/picture. Unfortunately, this means more work for posing 😔

Unfortunately I cannot share some drafts to you, as my old drafts has been deleted on my phone LMAO

Editing the Photos: 2

With my new style, there's new steps in editing now. Before, I tend to rely on my reshade when it comes to photos, but now, I sharpen them with the preset I made in gimp (with some presets for flashbacks). Not only that, I also now edit in the dialogues on-screen, since I stopped narrating it through paragraphs. It may be tedious but this is still easy for me because I'm done with all the stuff and I just have to edit them.

*second lenora pic uses the flashback filter

Styling the Sims: 3

This is my favorite part when writing characters! When I'm done looking for irl references for their features and likeness, I love scrolling through my CC and make them unique by styling them.

I have a restriction on some clothes and hairs: when it's used on active characters, I can't use it again, but if for example the character passes away (e.g. Old Age) and a generation had passed, the restrictions will be lifted.

Sometimes, before starting up the game, I make sure I've done some CC shopping already, especially when the character has specific dressing style (such as olden ages and stuff).

Posing the Sims: 4

I have a lot of poses, and it can be overwhelming to get through them and look for the right ones to fit the scene (thank god for TMEX's searchable pose player). This is its rank because this is what takes up most of my play time! You thought my 8 hours of game time was me dilly dallying? No, that's just me repositioning them for the 10th time 😔

Setting the Scene: 5

This is the HARDEST part for me because I would spend DAYS or even weeks setting up the scene, especially if the build is my own work! And if I'm building from scratch, I'd have to take days to finish it because it could get overwhelming (and boring), so sis this the most hardest and tedious part of my process.

When I'm lazy, I try to look from the gallery, like shell builds, and just do the interior (which cuts down half of the work). The only time I result to building to scratch is when I need something SPECIFIC, like the monastery (which I actually enjoyed doing).

Now that you know how lazy I could get...it's 🫵 your turn! Tagging: @sirianasims @marcishaun @living-undead @damseljamsel (but feel free to pass!) If you see this, consider yourself tagged as well if you want to do it!

[charmfamily]

Thank you @cakepoppresent for tagging me into the "Ranking the Process" ask game for storytellers!

"As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest):

Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc),

Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims),

Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas),

Writing the dialogue/story,

Editing the photos.

Send to three other story simblrs and get to know more about each others favorite and least favorite part of this crazy process!"

Alright! Let's get into it!

SETTING UP THE SCENE: ⭐️⭐️ (2 out of 5 stars)

As much as I love decorating/interior design and will spend so much time working on this part, because of my perfectionism and attention to detail when decorating, I'm not gonna lie it does feel … tedious sometimes lol. In order to keep from getting overwhelmed, I have to do the 'build as you go method' where I download a build (I can't build to save my life), gut it completely, re-do walls, floors, windows, doors, any exterior details the way I want them and then decorate what I need for the scene instead of stressing about having to decorate it all right out of the gate. It's a slow, slow process that sometimes takes weeks, like I just now finished detailing and refining the Martinescu vineyard and that's my main house lol All this just to have my current G-Shade preset blur most of the background anyway but it does make the shots look better and more 'full', at least to me. So I guess it's worth it!

POSING THE SIMS: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ( 3 out of 5 stars)

GUYS. I just now found out about the WW Pose Player function and the ability to position sims that way instead of meticulously placing down individual statues, turning them and moving them just right with the alt key, and then going in and out of build mode in between micro-scenes to place even MORE statues like a billion times and having to cheat the in-game time over and over because literal hours have passed and it's dark af now... I feel like a grandma that just learned to turn on her iPad for the first time by herself. This would have been the two star rank easily had I not stumbled across this discovery because it was also a pain in the ass doing it the other way. 🤣 Through two stories, one side story, every edit and sim photoshoot… I've been doing this the hard way the whole time, I can't believe it. HOPEFULLY you guys noticed the uptick in quality on my last story post? It was so much easier to pose all those sims, get almost every little detail right the way I actually envisioned it and it felt life-changing.

STYLING THE SIMS: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)

The dopamine hit I get when I find the exact right piece of CC I'm looking for and it looks as good as I thought it would on a certain Sim.🥰I love character design so much and I do put a lot of thought into the different choices. For example, Minerva getting her hair done with Gemma and the Aunts after dropping Damien off at EIM sees her returning to her 1997 longer hair instead of the mom bob, and it's sort of an expression of the fact that she's finally ready to start finding herself again as a person outside the identity of Emerson's widow or just a mother. Gemma gets the core girlhood memory of getting bangs cut and hating it and it's a good representation of her being in that awkward phase of trying to figure out who she is to begin with and not being comfortable with anything about herself yet. I hope it comes across that the style choices reflect personal taste and personality as well as status and can sometimes be a reflection of who or what influences a certain character because style doesn't just happen in a bubble.

WRITING THE DIALOGUE/STORY: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 out of 5 stars)

I have a general outline of where I want the chapter to go/what needs to be done/what each character is doing but honestly, I script my chapter parts one at a time instead of writing it all out at once. It does mean that a lot of the things on the outline are subject to change at any given moment, but just like my building and my character design phase, I love getting into the minute detail of each and every scene. It feels… idk how to describe it, "fresher" if I just wrote something and now have to convert that into visuals because the writing is right at the forefront of my brain with no time passing for me to forget wtf I was trying to do (Damn you ADHD). My process is to write the scene first like a screenplay, envision the blocking, the design choices of both character and set, then go CC hunting for what I need and start refining. Man, that new pose player method still gets me because I have a vision in my head of facial expressions and the tone of their voice, their body language, and that's really I think something that's enhanced the writing stage. Before, I kind of had to make compromises with translating words to pictures and some things got lost in translation but there's less of that happening now so I feel like I can finally show the movie that plays in my head a little better. Throughout the day I think of little scenes, little pieces of dialogue/lines I love and write them down so I don't lose them and if the opportunity comes up to use one of my little headcanon pieces I throw it in there. I have ideas for character arcs but it's fun for me to see where it goes sometimes instead of a more rigid way of writing and I got that from the RP community over the years I was active in it. Muses will surprise you if you put them first and let them lead. I ALSO love reader interaction and at certain points will do a "choose your own adventure" fork in the road choice so you guys can pick story elements and that shapes the writing too. I love knowing what my audience is thinking and I love fresh outsider perspectives that force me to look at characters and scenes from another point of view.

EDITING THE PHOTOS: ⭐️ (1 out of 5 stars)

Oh man my editing style using nothing but my own talent is ASS. PURE ASS. My G-Shade preset does the heavy lifting for me and between that and SRWE, I don't really do a LOT of editing, just little touch ups here and there, sometimes dealing with very obvious clipping, fiddling with brightness and contrast and of course putting in text layers. TBH I'm never quite 100% satisfied with how things turn out but I'm always looking to improve on things and get better. Ideally, I'd like to get to a point where the most editing I have to do is to plop the dialogue text down and nothing else. But we're not there yet. 😂

Onto the tags! @smok3inm1rrors, @crvptyd, @managedwhimsy, @theosconfessions, @simmsys, @daengsyon, @deardiaryts4 and @pamsimmer! As always if you've already done this or don't want to, no pressure! Thanks for reading another long ass post of me rambling!

[thebramblewood]

As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest):

Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc),

Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims),

Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas),

Writing the dialogue/story,

Editing the photos.

Send to three other story simblrs and get to know more about each others favorite and least favorite part of this crazy process!

Ooh, I love this, but it's also really hard to answer! The ranking would also probably be different if the question had been which I find most important. But since it's "favorite," I'm going to interpret that as how much I enjoy each part of the process. So with that in mind, here's how I would rank them right now (one being lowest and five highest).

1. Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc). I think I've been pretty vocal with how tedious I often find this part, lol! If I'm in a groove, it's not so bad, but if I'm feeling uncertain or unclear about the vibe I'm going for, it's like pulling teeth. I definitely cut corners here whenever I can by using other people's builds or decorating only as much as absolutely necessary.

2. Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas). Love spinning my babies around in CAS! I geek out a little bit every time I have an excuse to give them a new outfit. That being said, I can also lose a lot of time to CAS because I'm such a perfectionist about it and will spend an hour cycling through slight variations on the same outfit. CC hunting can similarly be a time suck. So I love it, but I also want to move past it so I can spend time doing other things.

3. Writing the dialogue/story. Arguably the most important but hear me out. Honestly, every stage involves writing on some level for me, so when I think about writing as its own thing I just think about staring at a blinking cursor in a document, which usually isn't the most fun part. It can be downright frustrating if the inspiration isn't there. Very rarely, a scene will come to me fully formed, but most of the time I'm getting down the bare minimum I need to start and filling in the details along the way.

4. Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims). Yes, this absolutely comes with its own set of frustrations, but I just love that moment of finally seeing the things you only imagined in your head come to life! It's especially fulfilling if I'm seeing my own poses in action because it makes all that effort feel worthwhile. If I already have a scene fully written, it's satisfying to check off each frame one by one, and if I only have a scene partially written, it's satisfying when the visuals unlock the rest of it for me and make it fully blossom. I also (mostly) love the whole experience of finding the perfect angle and framing things meaningfully and playing around with lighting, etc.

5. Editing the photos. Maybe this is a controversial top pick! But, for me, editing encompasses basically everything. It's where the scene gets finalized and where all my work finally pays off. Adding the dialogue is where the final draft happens. How the words look on the image, how much space they take up, how well they fit the emotions on display, etc. informs the flow of the dialogue, and I end up tweaking it a lot during this stage. In that sense, a good chunk of the writing actually happens here. After I'm finished shooting, I'm usually in a rush to get the pictures on a flash drive, transfer them to my laptop and immediately start editing because the creative juices are really flowing at that point. As I'm editing, I'll usually save and upload a few pictures at a time, both to make sure I like how they're looking and just because I love the feeling of the slow build-up until it's done. I guess I'm just a nerd like that!

Thank you, anonymous angel, for this question! I'll be sending it to a few more than three people because I like it so much. 😊

[florida3exclamationpoints]

My thoughts on Final Reckoning as a Hayley Atwell fan & Tom Cruise hater who does not care about the Mission Impossible universe and has only seen Dead Reckoning before this (spoilers!)

I am soooo qualified to talk about this hahahahhaha no this is mostly just for me to rant and maybe a few moots to read. (tagging for my own organization)

I actually thought it was a better movie overall than Dead Reckoning!!!! With Dead Reckoning i just reallyyyyy cannot take it seriously unless Hayley is on screen. There's so many scenes that like . I laughed at . But it wasn't supposed to be funny 🫣 it was supposed to be tense and dramatic 🫣 I've also said since I first saw it that Dead Reckoning could have probably been condensed into a 30 minute first act. I was lowkey waiting for Final Reckoning to prove me wrong but it actually proved me sooooo right. Basically nothing of consequence happens in Dead Reckoning and then EVERYTHING happens in Final Reckoning and yet both of them are too long. 🚫STOP MAKING 3 HOUR MOVIES 2025🚫

Dead Reckoning should have been a 30-45 minute first act of part one and the rest should have been the team figuring out what the key unlocked and how to get to the sub. It should have either ended on a cliffhanger of "will they be able to do that" or even end part one when Ethan escaped the sub. And then part two could focus on defeating the Entity. The substance and pacing of both of them felt so weird. For example. During the plane fight scene I was getting frustrated and felt like it was dragging really bad and I was like just end it!!! Just win!!! God!!! But then I realized that I actually really liked that Ethan didn't win too easily and especially that Gabriel didn't give up too easily. He was wacko bloodthirsty insane and stayed true to that to the end. I liked how hard they committed and that he just REALLYYYYY wanted to kill Ethan. I would have enjoyed and appreciated it so much more if I hadn't already sat through SOOO MUCH MOVIE by that point. Dead Reckoning dragged because they spent so much time to accomplish so little and Final Reckoning dragged because it was too much to take in at once. And I really don't understand how they didn't get split up better in the writing room before we got this far bc it seems really obvious to me 😭

Once again I don't like all the lore explanation lol. I made the choice to start watching a franchise 7 movies deep and to do no prior homework because I don't careeee and as such I deserve to be confused while im sitting in the theater for my one (1) beloved actress. Don't give me the courtesy of flashbacks! Confusion should be my punishment! Honor and respect your fans who know what's going on! They don't need a recap on movie number EIGHT. This could also cut down on runtime. 🚫STOP MAKING 3 HOUR MOVIES 2025🚫

The woman of the 3 hours herself Hayley Atwell beloved Grace. Firstly SHE WAS SOOOOOOO GORGEOUS 😫😫😫😫 I also highly appreciated that I didn't have to wait 30 minutes for her to show up this time. However. Too little screen time. If it was 3 hours of Hayley Atwell's face I wouldn't be complaining but alas. I posed this question after Dead Reckoning but are they ever going to acknowledge that Grace obviously is not her name. I mean it makes sense for her to still have an alias obviously but Ethan is like her best friend and he doesn't know her name and I lowkey feel like the writers forgot 😭 even tho I wished she had more screen time I'm sooooo happy with her role and importance in this one!!!!! That's my girl and she saved the whole world because she's talented and amazing!!!!!!! She did also have high stakes in Dead Reckoning but it felt so forced out of nowhere to me. Like. I understand that Ethan is the kind of person who doesn't want anyone to get hurt ever but when it came down to a woman he clearly had a long history with or a woman he had known for two days and had done nothing but annoy him and lowkey leave him to die. He's like 🥺 omg this is terrible these two people are of equal importance to me uwu 🥺 bro be so for real rn. And when he saw her face before he jumped off the mountain like she was the reason he was doing this and not. Like any of his friends. Or people he had known longer than 3 days. I don't think it was weird for him to like and care about her at that point I just felt like they didn't give any explanation or reason for WHY he cared about her SO much other than he's a good person and he cares about everyone. And that was frustrating. But she was important this time for REAL reasons!!! She was the only one who could have done it!!!!! And they made me believe that!!!!!!! I was pretty convinced after Dead Reckoning that Grace and Ethan would become love interests and even tho its not technically off the table completely yet im glad it didn't happen here at least.

Most of the jokes were actually really funny too and they didn't overdo it either! I think it wasn't taking itself as seriously as Dead Reckoning did and that helped it a lot. The funniest parts to me were the uninterrupted shot of Grace's flabbergasted face while of Ethan beat people up out of frame, when Bill's wife (sorry I don't remember her name 😩) told Grace to control the sled bc she needed to sleep and then "you might have to shoot some polar bears rawr lol anyways 👍😊💤💤", when Benji very dramatically passed out before he could finish telling Grace something Super Important™ (which had me rolling my eyes so hard at first) and then Grace going ???? 📢 BENJI!!!!!!! and he was like "huh . oh . red wires." And Gabriel dying like an idiot. Like i said I was feeling like it was dragging at that point and then he had to have his dramatic last word and I was like can we get this over with and then BANG BANG DEAD BYE and it actually surprised me I was like SKDBSK OK??? SLAY????? Probably also more that im forgetting now. There weren't excessive jokes but most of them landed for me so that was fun

The way they tied back to other movies with old characters and relations to characters and twist surprise Ethan is actually responsible for the Entity felt kinda cheap and shoehorned to me but im obviously not the target audience for those references so who knows. I am not one to care about or be impressed by choreography or logistics of action scenes but I liked the scene of Ethan in the sub while it was rolling especially when the water line moved but then I realized it was the exact same perception trick that I really liked about the train crash scene in Dead Reckoning and then I was less impressed. Absolutely way too much of Tom Cruise wearing nothing but (short 😵‍💫) boxers I never asked for that and I never want to see it again. Not enough sled dog screen time or interactions. Would have appreciated an orca cameo. The only explanation for why the Entity wanted to kill the entire planet was "Noah probably asked the same question before the flood" but that doesn't make any sense because there was no plan for after everyone was dead?? No "remake the world in my image" or anything?? Hilarious how one of the first things said about how awful the Entity is was something about it creating a cult with a shot of Tom Cruise's face like "oh NOOOO not a CULT" like wow imagine.

Love Chief Dooley. Wish he interacted with Grace more. Reject Mission Impossible embrace modern era Agent Carter AU. Loved Madame President Angela Bassett and realized that Madame President is a way cooler title than Mr. President. The jumpscare of the body in the sub actually got me good without being really scary or gory or anything. I liked that the only time anyone ripped fake face masks off was lowkey a joke. And that "this message will self destruct in five seconds" was also lowkey a joke at the end. Bill's wife was awesome and takes very close Second Favorite Character after Grace. Glad neither of them died. Loved how Grace was the last person Ethan saw in the crowd at the end because she is OBVIOUSLY the most important.

Overall: 10/10 — Hayley Atwell was there. 1/10 — needed more Hayley Atwell. 0/10 — Tom Cruise was also there.

[kimmiessimmies]

Winter 08: Dateless - Pt.2 *Intermission*

A few things to say, prior to the dates

We're interrupting the story update for a few things worth knowing prior to Rachel's upcoming dates:

🖊 The scenes posted over the last three days were deliberately written and shot before I played the dates. I didn't want to be influenced by things that happened on the dates when I was writing about the moment they still had to occur. However, as you shall see, some things happening on some dates lined up perfectly with remarks made in the previous scenes. I'm not even surprised. In my gameplay days, I had weird coincidences like that happen to me all. the. time. 😁

💇🏽‍♂️ Like I said before, the guys may look slightly different in my game with my settings and defaults than originally intended by their creator. Also, for three of them (Alfie, Trey and Draxton), the hairstyle given by their creator didn't show up, so I gave them new hairstyles that resembled their original as closely as possible.

❄️ It's currently winter (February) in Honeycomb. So, any guys wearing clothes I deemed too cold for this weather or without outerwear, I redressed. I tried to honour their personal style when doing so.

☕️ I tried to match the activities and locations of the dates to the character of the guy involved to give each of them the best chance.

🕒 Each date lasted 3 to 4 sim hours. Because I use Nraas Relativity to slow things down a bit, that's a decent amount of time in my game.

👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻 I started each date by checking the attraction score. I make a note of that within the storyposts. The intention was to have the attraction score factor in if the dates in itself wouldn't amount to a clear conclusion. In that case, the attraction score could be the deciding element. As it turned out, the attraction score was often, though not always, quite a good indicator of how the date would go...

📷 I mostly left Rachel and her date to their own devices. I followed closely, took pictures and went along with the things they would decide for themselves. I posed things when it felt fitting to what was going on. For instance, on most dates, they spent a lot of time standing and talking, so what I did afterwards was pose a seated conversation or a walk because that is more natural and realistic than standing opposite one another, chatting for two hours.

🤷‍♀️ I struggled a bit with how I would show these dates. I've gotten so used to sharing storytelling style that going back to sharing gameplay style felt off. But Rachel and I found a solution, which I'm letting her tell you about in the first post scheduled for tomorrow!

These dates, people, they were an adventure! I saw a gatecrasher, a walk out, guys grabbing their phone to stream videos in the middle of the date, misplaced flirts, a lot of boasting, and misinterpretations. But also a lot of smiles, well-timed flirts, lively conversations, some hugs, sincere interest, and, most importantly, some sparks flying...

So, let's kick off!

Here's a reminder of the order of the dates, generated by a randomizer:

[armoricaroyalty]

As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest):

Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc),

Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims),

Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas),

Writing the dialogue/story,

Editing the photos.

Send to three other story simblrs and get to know more about each others favorite and least favorite part of this crazy process!

5. Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims)

Like most people, I find posing incredibly tedious. I've been active on simblr as a storyteller for close to five years, and while a few recent mods have made the process much easier (shout out to Pose Alignment Interactions and Searchable Poses!) there's no getting around the clunky menus.

I've started making more of my own poses, which slows down the entire process. It's usually worth it, but sometimes, it's just more work.

4. Editing the photos

I don't actually do much editing (because I don't enjoy it very much). I have a pretty heavy-duty gshade preset, which saves me some time on the back end. However, I've been very inspired by both @hannahssimblr and @nexility-sims lately, and I've started spending a little more time making adjustments in GIMP. This recent post is a good example–I added the reflections in the car window using a transparent layer mask, and I made the phone screen glow by adding some blur and bloom to the screen. I don't think I'm ever going to be someone who paints shadows, highlights, and loose hairs onto every screenshot, but I'm definitely going to be doing more editing for the sake of "special effects!"

3. Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas)

I care about fashion insofar as it can be a tool for characterization and storytelling, but it's not something I'm interested in for its own sake. I don't spend much time CC-shopping, and I try not to spend much time in CAS.

Every so often I get really into it and lose a couple hours of my life to styling my sims, but it doesn't drive me to create in the way other parts of the game do.

2. Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc)

A friend of mine recently introduced me to the concept of the Four Doors to Reading, which is a conceptual framework for understanding why people love reading: story, character, setting, and language. I initially thought "not me, I'm special and different" but then I realized I'm really into setting. I really love thinking about the history of a place or object (I give historical architecture tours on the weekend, fun fact) so I really enjoy building and decorating sets for my story.

Even though the royal gimmick means that my characters live in palaces and other grand environments, my favorite builds are smaller and dingier. I particularly enjoy making bedrooms, offices, and other intimate spaces because they allow for a lot of engaging character work. You don't see much of either space, but both Theo's bedroom and her desk at work are cluttered and untidy, which reflects one important aspect of her character–she projects a lot of confidence and polish, but she's not a perfectly composed Type A girlie, she's a literal mess.

By contrast, Kelly's apartment is tidier, but considerably more run-down (1, 2). She doesn't have Theo's connections or high-paying job, but she's a very meticulous person and she's made a clean and comfortable home for herself and her son.

1. Writing the dialogue/story

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite part of writing is the writing! Sometimes it's hard, but when it goes, it goes. It's the whole reason I do this at all!

Thanks for the ask!

[the-cu-genswap-au]

Behind the scenes post #2

continuing where we left off

#4. Production trivia #3: a tip for making comics: I want to talk about this random shot of the wall here

- In comics, when you have a scene with two characters talking to each other, it gets really boring when the entire scene just keeps cutting back and forth between the two over and over for the entire conversation. You want the scene to feel dynamic, like these are two people moving and existing in a fleshed out world.

- My strategy for this is usually to cut away to an important object within the same scene, or something in the background, just to avoid making the scene feel monotonous. You can see the same thing in this panel

- The problem, though, is that sometimes this strategy doesn't always work as well

- With the random wall panel, I only added it in because I knew I wanted to cut away from the characters for a bit, but the setting they were talking in (random empty alley behind the playground) didn't have a lot of interesting background elements to switch over to. So, I settled for the wall behind them. Admittedly it's not the most visually interesting thing to cut to, but I'd rather have this than keep cutting back and forth between the characters.

#5. Real world influence:

- This shot of the playground was partially inspired by the playground at my own elementary school! I remember we had a fenced-in basketball court that faced out towards the park outside the school, and the entire fence was surrounded by trees and bushes. It made a nice shady spot to sit down and read in during recess.

- I draw a lot from my own elementary school experiences for this AU. I threw in a reference to Jerry Spinelli because we had to read a lot of his books in fourth grade, and a lot of smaller props the characters use are based on ones I remember using back then.

#6. Recurring detail:

- Sometimes I like to shade Melvin in a way that's meant to evoke Melvinborg. Not because Melvinborg is relevant to the AU, but because I just think it looks cool :)

#7. Complaining about my own handiwork: this is a really quick personal gripe I wanted to get off my chest

- Out of all the environments, vehicles, perspective shots, and crowd shots I've had to do so far for this comic, the hardest thing to draw by far.... has been George's arm in this panel.

- I don't know what happened here! Anatomy is usually so much easier to draw in the CU art style but this arm just didn't want to work for me! I genuinely spent hours trying to make this arm look good! Here's the sketch:

And here is where I considered giving up and drawing him a completely different arm position I thought might be easier to draw:

Ultimately I did go back to the original pose, though. It just felt a little more dynamic, and the scene really needed more dynamicism.

#8. Another little detail:

These two panels actually have some foreshadowing in them :) :). This will make sense later.

[theclairvoyage]

Chapter 3: Flor de Caña

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Pairing: Javier Peña x AUSA!f!reader

Fresh off acing his marksmanship test, Javi returns to The Dark Horseman, where he gets to know an alluring attorney.

Chapter warnings: alcohol consumption, smoking, firearm use, adult language, mentions of violence, mentions of human trafficking, mentions of drugs, mentions of graphic violence, mentions of substance abuse and death, allusions to smut, crime scene investigation, murder, reader is able-bodied, has long hair and is roughly the same height as Javi, Spanish usage (translations at the end)

WC: 4k

Fall 1992

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Javier shoves his Glock 19 in his waistband, sweat droplets rolling from his forehead and audibly landing on the cold cement floor of the outdoor shooting range at the Federal Building.  Penn stands behind him, stopwatch looped around his wrist, clipboard clutched to his chest, occasionally pulling it in front of him to jot down scores.

“Alright, Peña—last stage,” he barks, “2 shots standing and 3 kneeling, all behind cover and all from 25 yards.  You’ll do that twice.  Questions?”

Javi spits as he shakes his head, some stray dirt, bugs, and sweat having accumulated in his mouth during the first 7 stages.  He wipes his brow one last time, loads the Glock, and gets ready for Penn to give him the go-ahead.

“And… go!” Penn yells.  Javi goes into action mode, standing behind the wall prop and peeking out to shoot the target.  Bang.  Bang.

He drops to his knee and aims, firing three more times.  Bang.  Bang.  Bang.  Rinse and repeat.

He stands, signaling that he’s done.  Penn clicks the stopwatch and tallies Javier’s score on the clipboard.  He whistles.

“Congrats, Peña—you passed, and with an instructor certification score of 56/60.  You’ll be able to teach this stuff once you’re fully certified as a special agent,” Penn says, clapping Javi on the back.  Javi snorts.

“Thanks, Penn.  Shooting in the jungle makes everything else seem so easy,” he murmurs.  Penn guffaws.

“Now we can finally set up this stakeout in Lawton,” he says, cheesy grin plastered on his wrinkled face.  Javier is elated—he had been looking forward to being out in the field again and partaking in the action.  Stakeouts were his bread and butter—he spent countless hours posted up in an unmarked vehicle or building surveilling and directing moves in Colombia.  It felt good to finally be able to put his skills to use.

“What’s the preliminary plan?  And site?” Javier asks, unloading the chamber of his warm gun.

“There’s an International Festival next week that spans 3 days.  It’ll be packed.  People from all over Oklahoma and the country attend.  Our surveillance team has gotten confirmation that the Locos will be there, most likely looking for falcons and setting up transactions,” Penn says.  Javier nods.

“So, are we planning on posing as employees?  Police?” Javi guesses as Penn leads them back into the building.

“Specifics are still in the works, though I like your thinking.  We’ll work with OKCPD and LPD to figure out the best plan,” Penn says, impressed.  Javi fights the urge to roll his eyes—he might’ve been an FBI rookie, but he’d had years of experience as a federal agent under his belt.  He decides to give Penn the benefit of the doubt—the man is corny, but he’s at least giving feedback.

“US Attorney’s Office gonna be assisting?” Javi asks nonchalantly, already knowing Penn will have something curt to say.  Sure enough, Penn winks at Javi.

“Miss her already, eh?” Javi rolls his eyes so hard it hurts.  Penn chuckles.  “Just givin’ ya shit.  Yes, the Assistant US Attorney will be helping.  Might even be part of the surveillance team.”

Javi’s eyes widen.  “S’not a good idea for her to be in plainclothes.  People probably know who she is and that might set off some alarms,” he reminds Penn.

“You are correct,” Penn agrees, “But she doesn’t usually go out in plainclothes.  She’ll be watching and listening elsewhere.”

Quietly, Javi breathes a sigh of relief.  He’s already protective of you—something new for him.  Penn, like clockwork, interrupts his thoughts.

“Peña—you’ve got one test left before you’ll be a fully certified Special Agent.  Your Supervisory Special Agent training will take place after that,” he beams, clapping a hand on Javi’s shoulder.  Javi shakes his head, smirking.

“I’ve had some practice, Penn—should’ve been certified sooner,” he bemoans.  He’s always been tough on himself, reflective of how he was raised.  Penn scoffs.

“You’re doing great.  We really are lucky to have you—the DEA screwed up real bad,” he chuckles.  Javi snorts.

“Take the rest of the day—we’ll figure out a plan with the Assistant Director, US Attorney’s Office, and the PD Teams soon.  Nice work.”  Javi gives Penn a single nod before leaving for the day.

Javi awakens in the hours post dinnertime that evening.

“Fuck,” he groans.  He doesn’t nap for this reason.  He glances at his watch, digging into his wrist from his slumber.  It’s not too late, but late enough for a drink.

He’d lied down when he got back from work, exhausted from the marksmanship test, and relished the comfort of his new sectional.  His apartment was finally starting to resemble a residence, and not a bachelor pad.  Unfortunately for him, though, the couch might’ve been a little too comfortable.  It was a stark contrast from his stone slab of a mattress.

Throwing on some jeans and a loose button-up linen shirt, he makes the trek to the Horseman.  The creaky door opens the same way it always does, and the jukebox is playing the same slow song, but there’s something different—you.

You’re perched in the same chair you were last time he saw you here, though you’re wearing shorts and a baggy tee.  He glances at your long, smooth legs and swallows hard—he’s starting to think that perhaps every part of you is perfect.  You turn and watch him saunter over to the bar, smirking.  Javi can’t help the smirk that follows on his own face.

He pulls back the chair next to you and gestures.  “Is this seat taken?” he says, voice still raspy from his nap.  You notice, cocking an eyebrow at him, smirk still contouring your cheeks.

“It is now,” you reply smoothly.  Javi’s stomach does some somersaults as he pulls up next to you, realizing this is the first time you two have been in such proximity.  He takes a deep breath as the bartender pours him his usual, taking your scent with him.  He fights the urge to groan.

“You look tired,” you say, eyeing him as he takes the first sip of his whiskey.  His hair is slightly mussed, button up shirt undone at the top, revealing a strong, tanned chest.  His sleeves are short, too, showing off ropy forearms.  Your thighs contract instinctively.

“Made the mistake of taking a nap,” he replies, smoothing a hand through his hair.  It’s like he heard your thoughts.

“Another rookie mistake,” you quip, bringing your glass to your lips.  He bursts out laughing, uncovering a brilliant smile that you had failed to notice.

“You’re funny, Lawyer Lady,” he says, staring at you as you take a sip.  His gaze spans your face, making frequent stops at your lips and eyes.  He’s not even trying to hide his attraction, now.  You giggle and shake your head, not meeting his eyes—you can feel them pierce your skin.

“Seems like you got it all.  Brains, looks, charm.  Must be nice,” he says, nudging your side lightly with his elbow.

“I should charge just for my presence, yeah?” you joke, pulling another belly laugh from him.

“Well, if law doesn’t work out, you have a few options,” he replies.  It’s his turn to take a sip now, and you watch as his lips groove over the rim of the glass, mustache hairs swaying from the air escaping his nostrils as he tips back.  That fucking mustache did things to you, made you squirm inside.  You wanted to feel it scratch the skin on your lips, your—

“Why do I feel like you’re hitting on me, Javi?” you croon, a lame attempt to silence your dirty thoughts.  He stiffens, nerves alight—usually, he’s on point with the charm when it comes to women.  You, though?  Different ballgame.  You sniffed him out from the jump.  He figures up a witty remark before the awkward silence settles.

“What, no one’s ever told you that you’re smart and beautiful?  I’m the first?” You’re caught off guard by his humor, and another loud laugh escapes your lips.  You roll your eyes and shake your head.

“You’re not too bad yourself, Peña,” you say, finishing your drink with a quick swig.  He shivers at your compliment.  The bartender comes over and raises his brows at you, silently asking if you’d like another.

“Yeah, I’m good for more.  Late start tomorrow,” you say, shrugging your shoulders.

Pulse thrumming, Javi leans back in the chair as he thinks of something to say.  He wants to know you but doesn’t want to push too fast.

“You live close to here?  Or you just took to this particular hole in the wall?” Javi asks, spinning the chair to face you.  You watch the bartender pour you another glass before doing the same, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back.  He tries not to glance down at your legs.

“Both,” you reply, taking a sip.  Javi nods.  His gaze is hot on your face.  He’s entranced by your eyes, but damn, his are just as magnetizing.  He realizes he still doesn’t know the mysterious brown liquid you’re drinking.

“Whiskey drinker?  You are from the Midwest,” he asks, reaching for a toothpick from the bar station.  He maneuvers it around his mouth, tip rustling the bristles of his mustache, drawing your eyes there.  He turns to look at you again, and you tear your gaze from his lips.

“Hell no.  Rum.  My dad was the whiskey drinker.  Couldn’t put that bottle down,” you say, voice dropping in volume slightly.  Javier assumes he’s dead, by your change in tone and expression.

“Sorry to hear that.  My dad loved the bottle, too,” he says, tilting his head at you involuntarily.  You lock eyes with him for a moment, and he sees pain.  Pain that you’ve gotten adept at stuffing behind the many boxes within your brain.  Your lips pull into a smile, but your eyes don’t change.

“It’s a hard thing to quit,” you say, nodding slowly and looking away from Javi.  He can tell this is a sore spot for you—your demeanor has morphed from playful to solemn, though you still seem happy.  Instinctively, he reaches out and touches your forearm, sending shocks up to your shoulder.

“I know exactly what you mean, hermosa,” he says, not fighting the compulsion this time.  You are beautiful, after all.  He removes his hand after a beat, the warmth from his fingertips lingering on your skin.  You crack a big smile, and your eyes finally match.

“Anyway.  I see you discovered that I’m not married,” you say, lips twitching into a smirk.  Redness blooms on his neck and ears as he recalls looking at your left hand in the conference room the other day.

“Sorry—instinct,” he says, half-truthfully.

“Yeah?  Been with a lot of married women?” you poke.  He loves how playful you are, sparring with him like one of the boys.  There’s a childlike curiosity to you that fascinates him.  He chuckles, turning away to take a sip.

“I won’t lie to you, I have,” he says matter-of-factly.  “Not my finest moment.”  Now, it’s your turn to put a hand on his forearm.  He freezes at your touch.

“It’s okay—I was partly joking.  Not judging you,” you say.  He turns to look at you, deep amber eyes smoldering.  It catches you off guard and scares you—he could make you do anything if he looks at you like that.  Your heart threatens to escape your ribcage.  You swallow, tucking the nerves away, and speak again.

“I did some reading up on you, Javi.  You’re highly regarded in the DEA world,” you say, removing your hand from his arm and propping your head on your hand as you study him.  He shrugs, lips moving to one side of his face.

“It was a hard gig, chasing Escobar.  I’m glad I’m here, though,” he says, staring in your eyes.  It’s quiet for a moment, except the sparks flying between the two of you, hot and molten.

“Me, too.  We’re lucky to have you,” you say, finally breaking eye contact to take another sip.  His eyes travel down to your crossed legs, to your worn sandals, back up to your face.  He can’t get over how gorgeous you are—and he’s never had to hold back with a woman like this.  Taking a deep breath and another sip of whiskey, he studies at the bottles behind the bar momentarily.

“So—you drinking Captain?” he asks, head bobbing as he searches for all the rum bottles on display.

“I honestly don’t know—I think tonight is Flor de Caña,” you say in perfect Spanish.  Javi’s not surprised but impressed.

“¿Hablas español, hermosa?” Javi tests you, eyes crinkling from the big smile he’s sporting.

“Sí, empecé a aprender cuando era joven,” you reply, not missing a beat.  He shakes his head as he turns away, still grinning.

He was fucked.

“You try a new one every night, then?” he asks.  You nod.

“Yeah, if I can.  Makes things interesting,” you reply, swishing the brown liquid around the glass as you try to count off how many bottles you’ve tried behind the bar.  You’re not sure—this quiet tavern does a surprisingly good job of rotating liquors at a decent pace.

Feeling a whiskey-powered surge of bravado, Javi takes a risk and asks a personal question.

“So, Lawyer Lady—you ever been married before?” he asks, turning to watch your reaction.  You mirror him and cock an eyebrow, pursing your lips in amusement.

“Nope.  What about you?  I’m sure women fall over for you,” you ask, matching his courage.  Your brand of it is sexier, though, he thinks.  He snorts, a lame attempt to disguise his giddiness from yet another compliment from you.

“No, hermosa—never had the time nor the desire,” he replies.  You nod slowly, breaking eye contact and staring down at your glass.  He can’t tell if you’re surprised, bummed, or just thinking.

“Me neither.  Odds of anything lasting are too low for my liking,” you say, finishing your glass.  He chuckles.

“So, you’re a math nerd, too?” Javi teases, poking your ribs again with his elbow.  You shake your head and laugh, some loose hair falling from your shoulders to your arm.  Instinctively, Javi pulls them from your skin, the feeling of you electrifying his fingertips.  His touch burns your skin.  Your breath hitches ever so slightly, but he notices.

“Sorry, it’s j—,” he starts, before you cut him off.

“Instinct?  I figured.  It’s okay,” you tease him, punctuating the word playfully.  His fingertips rest on your forearm as he stares at you, still blazing, his gaze sweeping down to your lips.  The rum has you feeling quite brave, too, and you test the waters with a question of your own.

“And what’s behind the way you keep staring at my lips?  Instinct, too?”

Javi’s heart bangs against his chest, eyes widening briefly in surprise before he feels the blood in his limbs rush to a different appendage.  Fuck it, he thinks.  He feels good about this.

“That, or I just really wanna kiss you.” His eyebrow cocks as he half-smirks at you, leaning closer to you ever so slightly.  At this point, he’d normally be balls deep in whatever poor lass approached him at the bar, clothes piled on the floor and tongues tangled, but he wants to savor this—it’s almost foreplay, the way you two tease and tango.  He struggles to keep his erection tame in his jeans.

You giggle quietly, almost mischievously, fantasizing of you perched on your kitchen countertop, legs wrapped around Javi as he fucks you slow and hard.  You can almost hear his pants and groans in your ear, breath caressing your skin as his lips and teeth mark your neck.  You shiver.

“What’s funny, hermosa?” He asks, tantalized, similar images projecting in his head.  He needs to leave soon, before he busts out of these jeans.

“Oh, nothing at all—truly,” you say with a sly smile, taking some cash out of your purse and dropping it next to your empty glass.  You stand from the chair and stretch absentmindedly, the hem of your shirt lifting to reveal the bottom half of your navel and smooth hipbones loosely draped in denim.  Javi’s eyes immediately lock on, and he takes a deep breath, trying to stifle the growl in his chest.  He takes another sip, aggressively.

“¿De qué piensas?” he asks, still watching as your arms come back down, shirt hem slowly covering your exposed skin.  You groan as you finish releasing the tension in your back and shoulders.  Fuck, he does like every sound you make.

“About how not ready I am for this recon mission coming up,” you lie, folding those pornographic images and other feelings about Javi you’re not ready to acknowledge in the pit of your mind.

“Piece of cake.  Trust me.  Can I walk you out?” he says, fishing bills out of his wallet and standing to join you.  He despises the thought of you walking alone in the dark, even if you’re well-acquainted with the area.  You nod, smiling softly at him.

You wave at the bartender and head for the exit as Javi follows, his warm hand finding home on the small of your back as he guides and opens the door for you.  You feel safe around him, which simultaneously alarms and arouses you.

The outside air greets you, quiet gusts nipping at your skin.  You instinctively wrap your hands around your arms and rub the goosebump-ridden flesh.  Javi curls his hand around your waist and pulls you closer, hoping to share some of the warmth from his body with you.  You relax into him as you walk toward the parking lot.

An eternity seems to pass as both of you trek toward your car, quiet steps in perfect synchrony.  The streetlights paint both of you in a flickering melon-amber glow.  You feel almost ethereal in his grasp, and he, too, as he holds you so closely to him.  His grip on your waist is soft, but his arm is firm around your back, a silent promise of protection.  This is not how either of you expected your day to culminate, but it’s a welcome surprise.  Oddly enough, it doesn’t feel foreign.

Your unique scent invades his nostrils, fucking with his head—he’s so giddy and nervous from being around you, but touching and smelling you makes his dick grow harder and harder as you get closer to your car.

“This is me,” you say, nodding toward a beat-up sedan.  Javi whistles.

“This is what they got you driving?  C’mon, LL—you need something fancier,” he jokes, lightly squeezing your waist.  Rolling your eyes, you laugh and pull your keys out of your purse, facing away from him.

“It’s inconspicuous—it’s not my car, either,” you say, winking playfully at Javi.  He swallows hard.  You turn to look at him and study his face.

The earth stills for a moment as both of you ponder how to say goodbye.  Javi wasn’t kidding earlier about wanting to kiss you, needing to feel your plush lips and your body pressed against his.  You’d be lying if you said you didn’t want the same.  All you’d need to do is lean in a bit and close your eyes.  Javi’s gaze draws a triangle from your eyes to your lips, fingertips lightly digging into your side.

A loud gale interrupts your thoughts, your hair flying into your vision.  Javi, acting on instinct once again, reaches to smooth the strands from your face.  You blink at him.  His hand hooks under your jaw, thumb swiping the soft skin of your face.  Your legs tremble ever so slightly.

“I’ll see you around, hermosa,” he breathes, leaning in.  You close your eyes and expect his lips to meet yours, but they don’t—they brush your cheek in a soft, soft kiss.  It’s delicate, sweet—and irritating.  You wanted more.

“Bye, Javi,” you murmur, surprisingly frustrated.  You turn away and try to leave his grasp, but he holds you firm at the waist.

“Hey,” he says, urging your attention, “You okay?”

You blink a couple times as you stare back at him, heat pooling in your cheeks.  He sees the frustration on your face.  You’d somewhat melted in his touch and peeled back some layers, showing him more emotion than you’d preferred—now, it’s made you feel like an idiot.

“Yes, of course… why wouldn’t I be?” you breathe, realizing now that you’re panting.  Javi is, too—holding back like this is a skill he’s not practiced often.  He still has a hand on your cheek, the other on your waist.  Puppy dog eyes stare back at you, hypnotizing you into tranquility.

“I normally don’t… don’t do this kinda stuff,” Javi says, looking down at the ground briefly.

“Do what?  Meet up with somewhat strangers at weird taverns and discuss alcoholic fathers?” you quip, grinning.  There, you are.  Javi chuckles.

“Only beautiful ones,” he adds, expression softening. Your smile fades and cheeks burn at his compliment.

“Something tells me that you’re good at getting people to do what you want,” you admit, mesmerized by his gaze.

“Yeah?  Are you included in that?” he asks quietly, pensive brown eyes glued to yours.  He’s not looking at your lips, now—he wants to see you.  You laugh breathily and shrug.

“You’ll have to present solid evidence to convince me to do anything,” you tease.  He chuckles again.

“So… can I convince you to go out into the field with me in Lawton?” he postulates, raising an eyebrow at you.  Your eyes widen in disbelief.

“Absolutely not—no matter how good you are,” you say, chuckling incredulously.

Suddenly, Javi pulls you into a warm embrace, arms looped under yours and barred across your back.  You sigh heavily, wrap your arms around his broad shoulders, and sink into him once again, now taking in his scent.  Cedarwood, musk, aftershave, whiskey, and faint cigarette smoke—complex, yet telling.  A man in pain, struggling to find purpose.  Your heart sinks at the thought of him drinking his own life away.  Javi pulls away slightly after a beat and you feel his breath—and smirk—on your earlobe.

“You have no idea how good I am, hermosa,” he whispers.  You freeze momentarily and stifle a whimper at the thought of what his mouth and that mustache can do.  You unwrap from each other, and he holds your hand for a moment before kissing the back of it softly.

“Bye, Rookie,” you breathe, smiling.  A similar one cracks on his face.

“Adios, hermosa.”  You watch him turn and walk the opposite direction, hand pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

"Hey!" you call.  He turns to face you, now walking backwards toward his apartment.  He cocks his head at you and grins as he takes a drag.

“Stuff’s gonna kill you,” you scold him playfully.  He shakes his head, smiling as he pulls the cigarette from his lips and exhales a trail of smoke from the side of his mouth.

"S'not the only thing."

Javi walks home with a pep in his step.

Your scent lingers on his shirt, in his nostrils.  Sweet, spicy, alluring.

Pictures of your face plaster the walls of his mind.  Your beautiful eyes, your wit.  Your boisterous laugh.

He wants to hear all your sounds, to see all your emotions spilling out of those captivating eyes.  He wants to feel your breath quicken as he brings you to ecstasy and feel it slow as you fall asleep next to him.

And as he finally drifts off to sleep, he dreams of your skin on his, your laughter, and a field of flores.

¿Hablas español, hermosa = do you speak Spanish, beautiful?

Sí, empecé a aprender cuando era joven = Yes, I began learning when I was young.

Flor de Caña = Cane Flower

¿De qué piensas? = What are you thinking about?

Taglist: @burntheedges <3

Please message me or reply to this if you want to be added! :)

[heybatterbats]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

Thank you so much! Wow, my first ask!! 😁😁😁

1. Fandom makes me happy! I’m already loving running a fandom blog, it’s so much fun! I spent the first day sending slightly panicked asks to the biggest blogs I could think of, asking how the heck do I do this. I spent the second day following every blog I could find. My dashboard is hopping with content now, and I love it so much!

2. The Batfamily makes me happy! I do write for other fandoms, sometimes- I have an X-men/Avengers fic I’m working on. But the Batfamily, and DC in general, just took hold of my heart. I love the characters and all the dynamics you can play with. I love that it ranges from soft, goofy slice-of-life to dark, edgy pieces that kick you in the teeth and make you think, to everything in between. I love this fandom!

3. Writing makes me happy! I’ve already posted two out of thirteen parts to my 2023 spooky fic, and I’m having a ball! I have so much fun writing my various stories, playing around with my word choices, style choices, tenses and POVs…and seeing everyone’s reactions is probably my favorite part. I had someone on my darkest fic tell me that the new chapter made them want to gouge their eyes out with a spoon, and that’s one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received!

4. Performing makes me happy! I’m an actor/dancer- I’m currently in rehearsals for The Nutcracker and a short play with my college. I’m in love with the stage and hope to make it a career one day! I dance every day right now, and act once a week, and it’s so much fun seeing all my studio/theater friends so often. And I love making the audience laugh! One of my Nutcracker roles- lead Polichinelle- is a comic one, I get to mess up the whole scene on purpose and then finish with a big slide into a pose like I’m just so proud of myself for getting absolutely everything wrong. I just love it, and I know the audience is going to be laughing their heads off when we perform it, and I’m going to be the happiest I’ve ever been!

5. My cat makes me happy! I have a cat called Marmalade- he’s big, orange, fluffy, and dumb as a box of rocks. He likes to bite my knees. He ripped a hole in my last pair of ballet tights because he climbed up my leg for treats. He crashes into stationary objects regularly. He thinks he can kill the water in my sink. He wants to eat whatever I’m eating no matter what it is. He farts a lot. He screams in the wee hours of the morning. He’s my baby and I love him to bits.

Uhhh…well, only one person has reblogged from me as of right now, so I guess I’ll just do them and add the other nine as it happens?😅 Thanks so much for this, I had a lot of fun with it!

[myraahmadd]

Blog Post 3: Learning Blender & Getting Unstuck

I’ll be honest — when I started this project, I had zero experience with Blender, and diving into something this ambitious felt overwhelming. I wanted to create a fully animated VR scene with prisoners, dream selves, ghosts, lighting, sound, and more… but didn’t even know how to rig a character. Having experience in 3DMax only, I tried to step out of my comfort zone and learn.

At first, it was frustrating. I spent hours just trying to find things like “Pose Mode” or figure out why a texture wasn’t showing up. But slowly, with YouTube tutorials, forums, and some trial and error, I started piecing it together. I learned how to use speaker objects for directional audio, panoramic cameras for VR rendering, and how to reduce .glb file sizes to make the scene more efficient.

Now, I still feel like a beginner — but one who’s making real progress. The project that once felt impossible is actually becoming real. And that’s a win I didn’t expect.

[tapmora]

 The Most Effective Morning Routine I’ve Ever Tried (And Still Use Every Day)

If you're like me, chances are you've wandered down a couple of rabbit holes on Reddit, YouTube, or podcasts trying to find that "perfect" morning routine. I spent more than three years experimenting, adjusting, and ditching 20+ routines. I did them all, cold showers, 5 AM club wake-up calls, journal marathons, biohacking vitamins, sun salutations at sunrise. Name it, I tried it. And for a while, nothing really held up.

And then, roughly six months ago, something finally clicked. A series of habits that made sense on paper, but actually made my days dramatically better. So much so, that this morning routine became my sole non-negotiable daily concentration. When I adhere to it, everything else seamlessly falls into place. No hyperbole, it's been the difference between aimlessly doom-scrolling and getting through a week's worth of work before lunch.

And no, I'm not going to give you five hackneyed habits you've already seen done a thousand times. What sets this system apart is the 5-dimensional philosophy it's based on, and today I'm going to strip that down for you.

The Core Philosophy: Why This Routine Works

The largest error most individuals make in constructing morning routines is that they handle it one-dimensionally. They concentrate on a single aspect: productivity, mindfulness, or fitness. This routine is effective because it addresses five vital aspects of human optimization, physical, mental, emotional, environmental, and intentional. If all five are aligned at the beginning of the day, your whole day flows from it.

Physical: Move Your Body (But Keep It Simple)

I used to believe my morning exercise had to be a punishing, sweaty experience. But after years of pushing myself through HIIT circuits in the morning, I discovered the actual victory is just getting your body moving. Now, my routine begins with a 5 to 10-minute mobility flow, some light stretching, a couple of yoga poses, or a brief walk outside if it's pretty. The objective isn't to burn calories. It's to wake up your nervous system and circulate your blood. The science supports this as well, even light movement increases dopamine and cortisol in healthy ways to get you going for the day.

Mental: Focus Your Mind

Then I take 5 minutes to do mental alignment. This isn't logging for hours or sitting in lotus position meditating. It's just this: I jot down three things that are priority for the day and one thing I'm thankful for. That's it. This exercise immediately takes me out of autopilot and makes me aware of how I want my day to go. Research has shown that gratitude practice alone decreases stress hormones and increases resilience, so it's a two-for."

Emotional: Control Your State

This one I spent ages working out. Emotional regulation is a superpower. Most of our bad days aren't due to us having too much to do, it's because we're bringing tension, annoyance, or overwhelm into our day without even realizing it. To resolve this, I do 2-3 minutes of deep breathing or a short guided meditation to slow my heart rate and ground myself. It's like pressing the reset button before the chaos begins.

Environmental: Set the Scene

This one's underappreciated. Your surroundings control your energy. Each morning, it's a habit I have of cleaning up my area, opening my windows, and listening to instrumental music. The outcome? My brain immediately connects that tidy, decluttered area to concentration. Ambient music enhances concentration, and daylight increases mood and alertness. Easy, but incredibly powerful.

Intentional: Define Your Narrative

Before I go into work or glance at my phone, I ask myself one question: "Who do I want to be today? " Not "what do I have to do," but who do I want to show up as? This slight mental realignment turns your everyday to-dos into actions in alignment with your values and identity. Research from the field of behavior science indicates identity-based habits stick more because they are connected to your sense of self. So I choose, am I the concentrated creator, the peaceful planner, the kind companion? That's my anchor for the day.

The Takeaway :

After years of experimentation, error, and self-testing, this five-dimensional morning routine is the one habit I never miss any longer. It's not grinding harder or rising at 4:30 AM to get a better-than-thou edge. It's about positioning your mind, body, emotions, environment, and intentions to serve you, regardless of what the day brings your way. Checking off this routine early on in the day sets my days up for success, keeps my stress low, and maintains my priorities sharp.