#I was so worried once I started getting flat colors down that it would end up looking so bad

[cupophrogs]

Thou hast not half the power to do me harm as I have to be hurt.

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[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mino

Debut: Tetris

Tetris is all about blocks! You know that! Did you know that those blocks are called Tetriminos? Maybe you did! Geometrically, they are tetrominoes, shapes formed from four squares connected at the edges. "Tetrimino" is the official spelling of the ones used in Tetris specifically, which is a little confusing, but it's ok. Don't worry about it unless you are making your own game about tetrominoes! If you do that, be careful.

But what about the little blocks that make up the Tetrimino? These are geometrically called monominoes, but in Tetris, they are simply Minos! Humble little things. The game is named after Four, so what place does a measly One have?

If you ask me, they have all the place, because they are all over the place! There are no Tetriminos without Minos. Together, Minos are powerful, some of the most iconic and recognizable shape clusters in the world! Even in the form of a plush, The Tetris Company almost ALWAYS ensures that the individual Minos are visible. It is a part of the Tetriminos' designs at this point! The only exception I can think of is in situations unable to use their distinct colors, where other design factors are used to distinguish each. In this case, all but the I Tetrimino have their Minos visible, while I is just a solid color. Come on now, I. The most universally beloved Tetrimino, and you can't show some appreciation for the little guys who made you who you are? Sheesh!

While yes, Minos are a bit overlooked, they do indeed get the spotlight every once in a while! In game modes with items, you can expect that there will be one that turns all of your pieces into Minos, allowing you to instantly fill in gaps wherever you like. They are not particularly powerful, only able to clear one line at a time, but they ARE very convenient and easy to use!

Tetris Friends, my dearly beloved and departed Tetris Friends, uses Minos as the base for most of its avatars! I have already talked about these specifically, but I just want to point out these VERY default ones, each a piece of one of the classic Tetriminos, based on color... until the end, where we get what appears to be a Domesticated Mammal Mino! What are the implications of this? Have members of an intelligent species selectively bred the most docile of Minos together? Do Minos reproduce? Am I way off the mark, and is this Mino actually made of cookies and cream ice cream?

Finally, the reason I've been thinking of Minos in the first place! Here is a photo of the Tetris board game, with a single gray square in the Matrix. That's right! A Mino! In my opinion, this game is the most special Minos have ever felt. In this version, Tetriminos are dropped straight down into columns in the Matrix, and so they aren't as maneuverable as virtual ones. They can't be rotated while falling, and can't be slid into place to fill in any little notches.

This is where Minos come in! They are a sort of compensation for the lack of extra control, and can be placed to fill in extra space before dropping a Tetrimino. This is especially useful if you start with a Z or S block, since in this game, dropping one on a flat surface would leave a space no matter what! With a Mino, you can make a nice little ledge for your block to land neatly on.

This game's use of Minos really stood out to me! They're a major gameplay mechanic, they are explicitly named in the instruction manual, and, most importantly, they get their own PIECES. Physical, officially licensed, single Mino objects! They even get their very own color! A humble gray, not flashy like the rest, but distinct among all the others, and practical. A gray not to indicate a lack of interesting qualities, but instead, great potential!

There is no "official art" for Mino, so I just made the post's top image by editing some official Tetrimino art. Also, I have distinct memory of SOME official Tetris game, possibly Tetris Friends, referring to them as Tetrimonos. Does anyone else remember this? Please tell me if you do!

With that, we have reached the end of this post. But this is not the end of my fascination with Minos. In a way, it's only the beginning. In my Mino research, I have discovered some truly incredible things. Look forward to reading about them next week in Minos post part 2!

[natsuyuki-w]

Not one of the boys

Twisted wonderland cast realizes that (Yuu) is a girl.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 Featuring: Lilia - Kalim and Jamil - Vil, Epel and Rook

- See you tomorrow! - I waved the ghosts at the cafeteria. "Yass pay day as come again!" I cheered while making my way to the dorm. The corridor was empty except for a student at the end walking in my opposite direction.

All of a sudden he slowed down and started to wobble. I rushed as fast as I could catching him just in time. - Uff - he fell face front in my arms, and I stumbled a little, needing to pull my all strength to support his limp body. - mmmm - he fought the dizziness but his lids refused to stay open slowly covering his lilac irises. - I'll bring you to the infirmary ,... - - Mmmm, no infirmary...father. - - Ehm... Maybe not? - I chuckled - Poor thing... I'm afraid is going to be quite difficult bringing you home in short terms. - and I tried shifting him better for the carrying.

- Smell...good - "Did he just nuzzled in my chest????" - Ha ha ha... l-let's go you need some sugar in your system. - "If I'm lucky enough, his brain is too turned off to..." - mmmm...A girl? - never mind.

- Is the feeling of dizziness getting better? - I asked deflecting the topic, but no responses came out. - Damn it!!! He passes out. - Starting to drag him I searched in every pocket anything useful and noticed "his colors". - Diasomnia eh? Can you tell me your name? - but again nothing came out of his mouth. - Uff we are almost *gnh there - I pulled resisting his full weight.

---

Once arrived, the stuff helped me carry him to bed and informed me of his predicament. Apparently he was often found sleeping around. - So it's rather narcolepsy then dizziness... must be hard. - Sitting on his bed I tried to talk testing again if he was gaining cautiousness.

Looking down his sleeping face, I hummed a little tune inspired by his predicament - 🎶 I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream, I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam... 🎶 - -... Thank you...princess Aurora. - he murmured, held out weakly his hand to then falling down my arm in the trajectory.

*girly squeaks I got up covering my red face. - Is he awake? - came back one of the nurses. I shook my head and ran passed them - Thank you for your work, please take care of him I'm going to inform his dorm mates. - I quickly dismissed myself.

---

In Diasomnia's lounge I found a solitary green haired boy, seemingly able to solely communicate in screeches. He started from the moment he lent eyes on me and continued till we parted ways.

- Goodness... I'm going to lay down myself... It was exhausting. - hopefully sleeping beauty in the confusion would forget about our encounter.

Swimwear fiasco

- Oasi maker! - exclaimed Kalim. - Come on (Yuu) let's enjoy the water!- encouraged the bubbly boy. - Oh no I... Can't.- I sat on the border enjoying the coolness with my feet. After the exhausting week, it would've been a blessing, but I knew better then risk once again my identity.

- But you said you love swimming...- - I did... But I'm... very tired from all the training we did, I'll just stay here for a while...- - But water is very helpful! It relaxes all your muscles. - he insisted. - Koebi-chaan... Let's go in the water. You'll make the baby otter cry. - teased Floyd, knowing Exactly why I didn't want to swim. - I-I don't even have swimwear. I can't. - - Y-yeah exactly Floyd don't insist, sh..he can't ha-ha.- laughed Azul awkwardly realizing the predicament of me in a swimsuit.

- Don't worry Prefect! - smiled brightly Kalim taking his thumb and middle finger together. - Here you...- - NO!!! - I quickly stood up, but my protest came late. * snap Red swim boxers with flames lay lower than my navel, showing in full display the tight sports bra that flatted my chest.

Azul shrieked and covered his eyes immediately, his face redder than his sunburn. Floyd and Jade instead watched all too attentively with wide grins. Grim started to laugh at my yet another involuntary revealing and Jamil stepped back in disbelief and completely flustered covered his eyes like the Octavinelle's head.

Kalim directly in front of me, was staring, his brain fused and mouth half agape. - Sigh... Don't be so shocked, I'm not naked.- and I grabbed my shirt from the boy's hand. - Come on, you're all reacting like you've never seen a girl in your life. - and then I mumbled - I'm not even that good-looking.- - Awwww that's not true Shrimpy,...*uf why already covering? - lamented Floyd. - HORNY JAIL FOR YOU!- I snapped.

- B-b-b since...when? Y-you ...I - Kalim became a mumbling mess. - Oh you know, it's the cold water. - I joked (to myself because nobody knew about Ranma 1/2). - For real??? - exclaimed him, incapable of understanding sarcasm. - No...No darling, since the first day here, I've always been a girl, but Crowley asked me to hide it. - and then I mumbled - Definitely harder than I thought keeping this a secret.-

- Excuse me on Kalim's behalf. - intervened Jamil still not looking at me from embarrassment. - I'M SO SORRY (YUU). - cried the boy, opened arms ready for his usual hugs but stopped unsure. I smiled and closed the gap to squeeze and pat his back. - Don't worry I'm not mad, fortunately, it all turned out...decently - at least I wasn't naked - Only thing I ask of you: don't tell anyone, plz. And look at the positive: now I can swim!-

- NOOO!!!- protested Azul turning into an even deeper shade of red. - YEES!!! - exclaimed instead Floyd and Kalim, the kid quickly recovering from the shock. - Tho I can't give you the clothes...my magic is not that good- muttered soon after. - Ah, no no I can go like this! Sure is a bit stuffy but it can work. - - (Yuu), I can procure you proper wearing if you want. - invited Jade with an evil smile. - Nah, thx -

---

We enjoyed the water for a while till I heard someone screaming out of breath from afar. - Hm? Someone's running from across the desert. - I looked where Grim was pointing and saw my favorite bromance. - Heeeey Prefect, Griiim - - Are you guys alive? - Deuce was ready to throw fists. - Hey guys! What happened to you? Decided to come back ear... - - Whaddya mean " What happened to us"? What the hell happened to you? - Angrily inquired Ace. - As soon as we got your "We're locked up in Scarabia" message...-

- Oooh right...I'm sorry guys! Grim suggested to contact you but after we were so caught up with the all thing...- you excused - Tho... Awww were you worried about us? Such good friends!... Ace, only at times. - - WHAAAT? We freaking public transported here! The mirror warp is not opened yet. -

- It seems you solved the situation well. I'm glad you are... - Deuce noticed my fewer garments. - So... They found out too eh?- inquired Ace. - Come on come on! - I grabbed their hands dismissing quickly the topic - the water is so good, you came all the way here, now relax and I'll fetch'ya with ALL the dits. - The raven head looked vacantly before him in shock. - Yeah, I'm going to take a good soak, but I need more than relaxing. You better prepare a cocktail for all the scare you gave us. - - Perfect! Kalim, can you please do the *snap on them?- I shouted.

To be young

- But I thought you didn't bring a swimsuit (Yuu). - asked the ghosts. I groaned in response and stayed behind to admire the Winter Wonderland. - Gyahahhahaa, she didn't but...- and the cat started narrating my misadventure.

- Oooh would you look at that? So you have finally come back - in front of my face, a boy with black and pink hair flew upside down. - Whaaa! You scared the crap outta me! - then I looked at his face better and snapped repeatedly my fingers - What was your name....- - I'm...- - No no no! Wait. I have it...- - Fufufufu suit yourself. - he shrugged - You're a curious thing indeed...Not only you managed to catch his attention, but you're also an infiltrated girl. - smiled chuckling. - Aaaand here goes my identity... again. -

With his face so close I got a little starstruck and absentmindedly I recapped - Big eyes, pointy champers, always upside down, great hearing,... You truly are like a pretty bat... LILIA! YESSS I knew I had it! - and held my fist victorious.

He flinched - That's...- and exploded in a long laugh lowering to the ground - Why yes-and-thank -you! - he closed the distance again, his face inches from mine - You're quite the charmer. - He lightly gasped - Uh boy! Perhaps you may be...his first crush? - and his expression turned into a teasing grin. - Wha...?- - Awww to be young,... Here, I've come to deliver a holiday card addressed to you from a Certain individual. I wonder if he knows you're a girl...- and he passed me the envelope closed by a golden sigil.

- A Certain individual... - the only Diasomnia kid I knew was Tsunotaro. - M.D...- I glared at the card in search of answers, Lilia looking expectingly. - He was sulking since he wasn't invited to any holiday parties this year. - - Oh really? I hope he'll spend a wonderful vacation either way. Next time we prepare something I shall invite him. Tho... He has you,... right?- He smiled warmly and nodded - Yes we kept him company, but I think he will appreciate your sentiment. - I nodded looking again at the message.

- Ah-ha! Of course M.D: My Dearest! - I translated - Awww that's cute, send him my gratitude, he's dear to me as well...I think. I'm still not sure we are talking about the same person.-

And for 5 minutes straight, he laughed at my expenses.

Femboy

- I think you can see it well from him. - lectured Vil to the rebellious kid. - Tho still a bit of a potato, but he has embraced his cuteness with both masculine and feminine traits. - - W- wait... are you talking about me? - I finally realized. - Who else, Manager? - - I... well, you see...- - Schoenheit-senpai the Prefect is not...- - That... Feminine. - interrupted Ace before Deuce could spill the secret to yet another person. With all those people finding out, he had forgotten about his promise.

"If I tell those two now..." but my thoughts got interrupted. - I think a practical demonstration would be the best solution to get through this thick head of his.- Epel's brows twitched, he didn't seem much inclined to the idea and found a way to change the topic.

---

- And now? What should I do? - I asked Rook. - How would Epel react after seeing that my "femininity" is in fact because I'm a woman? - - Mmm, I see,...it is quite troublesome.- he took a hand under his chin.- You could reverse the perspective, Trickster! - and pointed back at me. - ...- - I did't doubt you being a boy the first time I saw you, and the others too. -

Apparently, curious of our interest in the challenge, he made his research (stalking) and had confessed his discovery when my friends asked to apply to the selection.

"Aaaah so you are not applying Trickster? I guess it's unfortunate but inevitable. After all, you couldn't risk your identity being revealed in the presence of the other academies."

- Mmmmm... So like, emphasize that I'm a manly girl? - - ...Not exactly what I meant, but yes. You're remarkably beautiful in disguise and not.- - At...well. Wow, thank you! I guess,...uff wow... is it hot in here? - I exclaimed closing the conversation fast to hide my rosy cheeks.

---

- See you this evening! - I saluted. - Have fun, but be there on time for preparing dinner, okay Manager? - inquired Vil. - Don't worry (Yuu), today I'll help you too so you can arrive a little later. - reassured Epel. - Sweet ~ Thank you so much I really appreciate it! -

- Where are you going (Yuu)? - came after me Kalim. - Shopping! Cater has been asking me to go for a while - Since the tie-reveal, the third year had been throwing "girly" dates ideas from time to time - Today my hard-earned savings are going to be put to good use... On myself! And dorms fixing obv. - since my interlocutor seemed giddy I asked - Wanna join? - - YES...- - I'm afraid not, Kalim. - inquired Jamil. - You have been neglecting your study for long enough using training as an excuse. We need to make up for lost time. -

- Ack... Sorry love - I pet his white hair, the poor Scarabia's leader totally drained from enthusiasm. - Good luck then but please, take some rest you all! You too Jamil! - I glared. - Bye (Yuu) have a nice day. - waved me off with a smile the Vice dorm leader.

---

A few hours later we were strolling the streets ogling the shop windows -...something like that, you know? - I chatted explaining my plan to Cater. - I like the idea very much and I'll help you for sure! - he winked - I'm so happy you accepted! When we'll be back, I'll show Trey some peeks of our date juust to tease him. He's going to be so jealous! - he smiled mischievously pulling his phone out. -Hahahaa what are you talking about? Don't be silly. - I shook my head - But yes! If you could lend a hand I would reeeally appreciate it.-

---

The day passed by smoothly and after some last touches of light makeup at Heartlabyul, I was ready to put my plan in motion.

I entered the door and greeted everyone with nonchalance. - Hii (Yuu)...Wooow! Your shopping went well! - gawked Kalim. - Hahahaha thank you! Pretty neat yeah? Cater is a good consultant I have to admit it. - - You look good, the jacket is dope! - Epel's ruder self slipped out but Vil's glare was an immediate shut down. - Wanna try? - I tugged the collar. He nodded and I slipped off the piece of garment to rest it on his shoulder.

Silence broke down.

Under the masculine attire, I wore a fitting cropped corset, hugging nicely my shape. -..but..you..- Epel blushed then frowned. Many things ran through his head. Kalim was going to cover me but I quickly stopped his track with a reassuring smile. Behind him Ace threw a teasing roll of his eyes. Meaning: show-off. Deuce blush inevitably came out and Jamil was the most flustered of them all. He was still recovering from the swimwear trauma. Vil on the other hand, after the first surprise, soon recomposed himself. He knew what transsexuality was after all. - Magnifique, c'est très flatteuse.- admired Rook.

- Sorry Epel and Vil, I never told you I'm a girl. - I confessed meeting the azure eyes of the boy before me. The look in them wavered in a mix of fluster and betrayal. I explained the all Crowley ordeal and my motives - I know I could've just stayed silent, but it didn't sit right to me. Especially when Vil's point seemed completely contradicted by the reality. But Rook... - - *Sigh, of course, you knew - commented Vil. - ...Rook told me I could make the same point out of my situation. I hope it reached. But mostly, I hope we can still be friends. - and I surpassed the first year with a pat on the shoulder. - Do you still wanna help? - and after a bit of pondering the boy silently nodded.

- I... Don't know what's right or wrong and I am not truly sure how to face this, but I do want to be friends. - spoke after we finished. I smiled brightly and responded- I'm glad. - and smiling back he went out to settle the table.

- Now I understand why you didn't even try the audition. - Vil posed at the entry. - Yep. The headmaster prohibited "too much exposure" especially for an event that invites all the other academies. - He nodded. - The attire suits you, by the way, it makes you look handsome. - and he left.

"VIL SHONEHEIT THINKS I'M HANDSOME."

The pairing of the names Kalim+Jamil is so amusing to me, and I always mix them up. (Jalim, Kamil) The ship is so strong it comes naturally.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

[cherry-queens-blog]

DATE ON THE BEACH

Summary- You're getting ready for the date with all might though you don't know where he planned to take you for the date.

Content- All might X Reader, Beach date, Picnic, Date, Enjoying the day, Cute, Cuddling, Holding hands, Playing in the sand, Splashing, Romantic, One shot.

Note- Sorry it took me so long to get on part two of the first fanfic I was thinking of a cute date that isn't the typical dinner date or anything lol. I wanted it to be super cute and just adorable as hell. There is no smut or anything like that in this fic. I do have a smut one in mind for shigaraki though after I get on requests and get those done. Anyway hope you guys enjoy!

All morning you had felt so excited. It wasn't just because you finally found someone that really liked you for you but it was also cause it was Toshinori aka All might the number one pro hero who asked you out. You constantly felt butterflies in your stomach thinking about how the date will go with him and what the date might be. You had no idea what he had planned for this date but you knew for a fact you just couldn't wait for it. You picked out a nice long sleeve, flowy dress, that had a slit up the leg. You picked it for the classy but sexy look and you knew for a fact he'd love it on you, maybe even drool at that sight of you in it.

When two O clock rolled around you stripped down and hopped in the shower, washing your hair, body and face before getting out. You wrapped yourself in the towel before brushing your teeth really quick. You plugged in your hair dryer and started drying your hair while keeping an eye on the time to make sure the time didn't fly by to fast and you didn't have time to do your makeup and hair at all.

After finishing up you stepped out of the bathroom, slipping some clothes on to do your makeup in so you didn't risk getting makeup on your dress and have to end up picking a different one. You headed back into the bathroom pulling your makeup down and got started. You went with nice classy colors for your makeup. You still kept an eye on the time which it was now almost 3:00 so you needed to hurry cause he was gonna be there any minute now.

Once you finished your makeup you threw your clothes off in a bit of a hurry and slipped the dress on. Once the dress was on you heard your doorbell.

"shit I don't have my shoes on yet"

You said to your self as you grabbed a pair of flats and quickly slipped them on your feet before rushing out of the room. You hadn't even done your hair yet but oh well.

"COMING"

You shouted as you made your way to the door, opening it to see him standing there in a nice button up shirt, a nice black tie, and some pants. In his arms he held flowers, a basket, and a blanket. When he seen you though it was like his mind just died. He couldn't find the words for how beautiful you looked to him. You were just more than beautiful you were like a goddess he was looking at. His heart rate couldn't help but quicken seeing you, a light dust of pink painted over his cheeks.

"Wow'

He finally said. His reaction was exactly how you thought it would be and honestly you really thought it was cute how he looked right now.

"oh uh here I brought these for you"

He said handing you the flowers which made your heart flutter a little. They were beautiful and smelled amazing.

"oh wow.. thank you. Let me put these in some water really quick and then I'm ready"

"Alright no worries please, take your time Y/N"

He waited as you took the flowers and put them in a vase of water before you grabbed your keys and stepped out, shutting the door behind you and locking it. Toshinori set the blanket over the basket that was sitting on his left arm before holding his arm to you for you to take. You smiled and held his arm as you two started to walk together since the beach wasn't far from your house.

"I hope you've been well Y/N"

"Oh I have have. I hope you have been as well Toshinori?"

"Yes though just been busy lately."

"I understand that'

You both had walked till you both had finally arrived to the beach. There was a nice breeze in the air, the sound of the waves, the birds flying and walking on the sand. You stopped for a moment and so did Toshinori as you pulled your slip ons off so you could walk barefoot on the beach. You were glad you picked the right dress just not exactly the best shoes for the date. You both pick a nice spot to set up at. Toshinor lays the blanket down and sets the basket down on the blanket as you took a seat on it.

"I'm not one to drink but I will for this date"

He said as he pulled out a nice bottle of wine with two glasses from the basket. He really wanted this date to be as nice for you as he could and it was very obvious he was willing to put in so much effort if it meant you were happy to be here with him.

"You don't have to drink Toshinori so don't worry alright?"

He looked at you and his expression was soft with a warm smile on his face. He knew he didn't have to go the extra mile but he wanted to for you.

"Yeah.. haha I know Y/N but I want you to be happy"

"I am happy Toshi"

That made him very happy to hear that. He still poured you both a glass of wine before pulling out some sandwiches and setting them down. You took a drink of the wine and it was really good. You could tell it wasn't that super cheap wine, it was definitely a nice rich wine that was amazing. He unwrapped the sandwiches and handed you, yours first.

"I hope I got ones you like"

He said sounding a little nervous hoping he didn't mess up at all but your smile said he didn't and made him feel a relief.

"You didn't get the wrong ones. These are actually the best ones"

You replied and he chuckled a little as you said that.

"I'm glad I got the right ones then"

Toshinori was still nervous since this was a first for him taking a girl he fell head over heels for and he still worried he didn't mess anything up. You both ate and drank the wine when you looked out towards the ocean seeing the sun starting to set. It was a beautiful view that's for sure. You looked over at Toshinori who was picking up and setting the sandwich stuff and glasses back in the basket.

"Hey wanna play in the sand?"

You asked. He looked at you with a smile as a faint laugh left him.

"Sure if you'd like to"

You smiled before getting up with Toshinori and heading a little out sitting a few feet by the water. He sat by you curious what you were wanting to do in the sand when you started to make a sandcastle. It was almost like being kids again which was fun. That was until you got up while he was still working on the sandcastle you both were building. You went over to the water and scooped some water into your hands before running over to him and throwing it on him. He was surprised by the cold water but laughed.

"So that's how it is haha"

He got up himself and started running after you, you both were laughing and just having fun on the date. You ran a bit into the cold water with him following before he pulled you into a hug, your back pressed against his chest but he had lost his balance and you both went down falling into the water. You both sat up laughing at what had just happened when he looked at you.

"you alright Y/N?"

"Hahaha yeah I'm okay how about you?"

He smiled feeling his heart flutter again at your precious, beautiful smile. Even soaked you still looked so stunning. He couldn't believe this was happening to him, how he landed such a beautiful woman like you to have fun with and just relax with.

"I'm glad to hear that"

He said standing up and holding his hand out to you. You took his hand and he gently helped you up. It had been so long since he got to have this much fun and he's glad it's with you. He held your hand as you both walked out of the water as the sun started to set further in the sky. It started to get pretty cold now as the wind started to pick up a tiny bit. You both went and sat on the blanket to watch the sun fully set in the sky as the waves rolled up onto the sand.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes. Yes it is. Just as beautiful as you are Y/N"

You blushed at his response when you started to shiver a bit. Toshinori quickly noticed you were getting cold and moved closer to you and put his arm around you to help keep you warm. You laid your head on his shoulder as the sun lowered before disappearing completely. It was now night out. You both laid back for a bit with you snuggled up against him.

"I really enjoyed today"

Toshinori looked at you with a gentle expression. He felt so happy that you had fun with him today.

"I'd love to do this again sometime."

"I'm glad to hear that. I'd love to do this again as well Y/N"

You smiled at him looking at him in his eyes as he looked at yours for a good few seconds before you both leaned in, both of your lips making contact. You both could feel the butterflies in your stomachs as you both kissed for the first time. He held you close to him as the kiss continued with the sound of waves in the back ground. Once you both pulled away, you both had that tint of pink painted on your faces. This was a night Toshinori will cherish forever.

"It's getting pretty cold out. Did you want to start heading back Y/N?."

He asked. Though he didn't want this to end at all he didn't want you getting sick with you both still being wet and sitting in the cold. He didn't care if he ended up getting sick but he really didn't want you getting sick after this.

"Yeah I should be getting home and into dry clothes. The dress is a bit uncomfortable when it's wet haha"

"Alright let's get you back home then"

You both got up with him helping you up. He grabbed the blanket shaking it off making sure no sand was stuck to it before putting it around you. Even if the blanket is still a bit damp as well it was better than nothing to help keep you somewhat warm. He put the basket on his left arm and you grabbed your shoes before taking his hand. You couldn't wait to be able to do this again with him.

@isabeauwolf

[mochegato]

Forever Yours

It was bad. She knew it had to be bad. Why else wouldn't they have heard anything?  Why else would they keep her... them!  Keep them in the dark?  They wouldn't.  Unless there was a reason not to tell them... like something really bad had happened and they were trying to mitigate the fallout.

This was far from Adrien’s first mission for the Justice League.  They both frequently worked with various members.  It wasn’t even his first mission without Marinette.  In fact, they went on missions without one another a lot.  But there was just something about going on a two-person mission behind the Order’s worst enemy’s lines with someone neither Adrien nor Marinette knew well… or fully trusted if she was being honest, that kicked up the nerves.

It was supposed to be a quick mission.  “Two hours max”, they said.  “In and out,” they said.  “No real danger,” they lied.  But that was twelve hours and quite a few anxiety spirals ago.  The muscles in her hands were starting to cramp from her fidgeting, her fingers curling and flexing over and over like a compulsion.  She had paced around Mia’s apartment so many times, the carpet was beginning to show an indent from her perpetual path.

“It’ll be fine,” Dick assured her.  “Lack of information doesn't mean anything.  It's just standard operating procedure, really, especially for Constantine.”

Marinette shot him a flat, almost disgusted look.  “It’s standard procedure when something goes wrong,” she explained slowly, annoyance starting to seep through.  “No contact for twelve hours on a ‘two hour max’ mission, is NOT standard operating procedure.”

Dick held up his hands.  “I’m just saying I don’t think there’s a reason to panic yet.”

Zatanna sighed almost grudgingly.  She glared at Dick as she spoke up.  “I will admit, missions with Constantine often end like this.  Things get off track and I don’t think he ever communicates with anyone.  It’s kind of a blackout whenever you go out with him.”

Dick rapidly in agreement.  “Exactly!  It isn’t worth the worry.  I just think you should take a breath, let it out slowly, and relax.”  To his credit, Marinette did stop pacing, but it was to stare dumbfounded at him. 

Meanwhile, Roy let out a loud breath, almost a scoff, and dropped his head, but Mia was far more vocal.  “Did you just tell her to calm down?” she demanded.  “While she’s in the middle of an anxiety attack?”

Dick looked around, eyes wide.  “What?  No!”  He whipped around to face her.  “I would never… I just thought… It’s not productive to just pace here.  I thought maybe you might want to go home and relax.”

“Maybe you should go home,” Marinette snapped.

He looked around helplessly for anybody to back him up but nobody would meet his eyes, everyone looking determinedly away.  Finally, he nodded and took a seat meekly.  Marinette glared a few more seconds before returning to her circuit and abusing her lips and hands once again.

Roy watched her make a few more rounds before reaching his limit.  If she chewed any harder on her lip, she was going to draw blood.   Marinette was declining and he was not about to just sit back and let it continue.  Her purse had been tossed onto the coffee table in front of her so he took the opportunity to search through it until he found what he was looking for.  Like any artist, there was a sundry assemblage of drawing utensils at the bottom of her bag, always ready for when inspiration strikes and always too caught up in the euphoria of capturing their vision to put it away properly.

There were colored pencils, pens, markers, acrylic based markers, paint sticks, he even found a few crayons that he knew were likely for Alya’s infant.  He rummaged around for a few seconds before pulling out his target.  He waited until she passed by again to grab her arm and pull her onto the couch next to him.  She barely had a chance to scowl at him and snap, before he held the Sharpie from her bag out to her with one hand.  The other hand he settled across her lap, his bare, clean forearm facing up.

Marinette looked between the sharpie and his forearm, her brow furrowing further with each flick.  She finally lifted her eyes to his, the furrow deeply embedded and a light frown pulling down her lips.  “What are you doing?”

“You’re freaking out,” he said, like that was in any way an adequate or even logical answer to her question.  She blinked at him, utterly dumbfounded.  The completely nonsensical nature of his response knocked her out of her anxiety spiral, at least temporarily, allowing her to focus on his words.  But being able to focus didn’t help at all because no matter how much she focused on his words, she couldn’t make sense of it.  When she still hadn’t responded after a while, he continued, “You relax when you draw.  I don’t have paper, but you can use my skin.”

Her eyes flickered back and forth between his face and his forearm.  “What?”

He waved the sharpie again and motioned toward his forearm, flexing it as he did to accentuate it.  “Use my arm as your canvas.  Get your anxiety out with it.”

“Really?” she asked uncertainly.  “Are you sure?”

He smirked and leaned closer as he waggled his eyebrows.  “I mean, I’m willing to give you other ways to work out your anxiety…” he chuckled at the scowl she shot him, but his expression quickly softened into something more sincere.  “You can use me however you want, Fire Flower.  If what you want to use me for is as a drawing pad, I’m here for you.”

Marinette groaned and rolled her eyes but shot him a small smile as she grabbed the sharpie and repositioned herself so she faced him.  He could see it as soon as she got into position, the way her mind instantly settled, and a calm washed over her.  It was like the sharpie flipped a switch in her and gave her mind purpose.  Her entire body relaxed.  All the tension that had been building up for hours dissolved once she had a focus.

The moment the felt tip touched his skin, he could feel her exhale.  She held the sharpie in the spot for just a moment before gliding it up into a delicate but simple design.  She was drawing for a few minutes before he heard a whispered, “Thank you.”

The grateful tone in her voice, and maybe the way she was almost sitting in his lap or the way he could feel each exhale fan out over his skin, spread a warmth through his body like a wildfire.  He leaned forward to drop a lingering kiss on the crown of her head.  “Always,” he whispered into her hair.

Her hand faltered slightly at the contact, disrupting the line she had been drawing and breaking the perfect stroke, but she recovered almost flawlessly.  She almost seemed unaffected by the move otherwise, but after a few more seconds, she leaned her body against him and rested her head on his chest.  The movement almost seemed thoughtless, like a natural movement, made without taking her focus from her art.

She was too focused to notice the reaction in the room to their intimate proximity, but Roy wasn’t.  He was all too aware of the looks and knowing smiles.  It was a familiar sight.  Because this was a familiar position for them.  Not the drawing on the skin, but the familiarity and affection.  He had been harassed more than once about it.  But it hadn’t worked yet, and it wasn’t going to work that night either.  He glared at them with a one finger salute to make sure they knew it too.

><><><><><><><><>< 

It had been two weeks since Adrien had returned from his mission, a bit disheveled, a bit tired, and quite a bit traumatized.  But he had returned.  And most surprisingly, uninjured… physically anyway.  He still shuddered whenever he saw a headband and Marinette was positive she did not want to know the story behind that trauma.  Perhaps more disturbingly, since that mission she would occasionally find him staring blankly until she would shake him out of it.

So that night, there was a new mission: Cheer Adrien Up.  All of their friends in the area were invited to the party.  She’d ordered his favorite food and gotten Adrien’s favorite games and movies ready, she was even considering letting him win a few of them… maybe.

Maybe not.  Because not everybody else seemed to have that perspective.  A few… okay, maybe just one, brought their competitive spirit and once they started, she just couldn’t back down, especially when Roy started trash talking her.

That was NOT something she could let slide.  Roy didn’t need the ego boost and she refused to give up her gaming crown.

They were midway though their sixth head-to-head battle, everyone else having decided watching them play was far more fun than playing themselves, controllers held so tightly knuckles were white, both sitting on the very edge of their seats and still leaning forward to get closer, eyes for nothing but the screen and each other, and yet somehow the tension was getting even higher.

She smirked at him when a particularly creative combination caught him off guard and knocked his player down quite a few percentage points.  Unwilling to back down, he narrowed his eyes and pushed his sleeves up to remove any distractions.  However, the result was the opposite.  Marinette stared at his arm, the controller going lax in her hands.  She didn’t even notice when the game ended announcing his first win.  Roy jumped up and yelled in celebration, turning to Marinette to rub it in, but froze at the look on her face.  Her eyes snapped to his and without saying a word, she grabbed him and dragged him out of the room, still oblivious to the whispers and grins of the people around them.

She pulled him into her room, her hand a vice grip on his wrist.  As soon as the door was closed behind them, she rounded on him and shoved his sleeve up to his elbow before he could even react, exposing his newly healed, freshly inked forearm.  She stared at it for a few seconds, her eyes following the lines before lifting them up to him accusatorily.  “Is this… Did you get my drawing tattooed on your arm?”

“Yeah, a few weeks ago.”  He grinned proudly at her, not oblivious to her accusatory glare, if anything, it made his grin widen.  “Like it?”

Her face scrunched in an incredulous expression.  The action itself was baffling, but the cocky reaction was driving her from bewilderment to indignation.  “Why did you get this?”

His smile stayed firmly in place, but it eased into something softer.  “I liked it,” he shrugged like it was a no-brainer, an obvious resolution.  “I liked the way it looked on my skin, so I inked it.”

She let out a long-suffering breath, something of a cross between a sigh and a groan and pulled his arm closer to study it.  The tattoo was an almost perfect replica of her design.  The intensity of brush strokes was duplicated, heavier where she’d pushed harder with the marker, thinner where she’d almost ghosted the marker over his skin.  Her fingers traced the design with an almost reverent wonder.  She paused at an irregularity in an otherwise smooth, unbroken line.  “You even got where I messed up,” she murmured.

“Well, yeah,” he shrugged, extremely careful not to dislodge his arm from her grasp.  “It’s part of the memory.  It’s one of my favorite parts of the design, actually,” he added quietly.

She continued to stare at the imperfection, almost transfixed for a few moments before finally lifting her eyes to his, stealing the breath from his lungs from the awestricken look in her eyes.  He raised his other arm to wrap around her waist but dropped it when she finally spoke before he could make contact.  “What the hell were you thinking?” she demanded, her voice low and hissing.

He quirked his head to the side at the unexpected tone, taking a second to ascertain if she was serious.  “It’s beautiful and I want a piece of you on me forever…” he dropped his eyes to his tattoo, not only as a way to avoid her eyes but to seek a source of reinforcement before continuing with a bit more vulnerability than he usually showed, “and maybe I wanted you to mark me.”

It took a few seconds before he looked up to meet her eyes, hoping to see an affectionate gaze, but instead Marinette was staring daggers at him.  “That is the dumbest thing you’ve ever said!” she exclaimed, shoving his arm back at him.  She paced away and ran her hands through her hair before turning back to him, her eyes no longer blazing, now closer to pleading.  “You’re a hero!  You have incredibly dangerous enemies!  You can’t just…” she motioned helplessly toward his arm then threw her arms up in the air in frustration.  “If someone saw that, they’d know who you were.  They could trace your identity because of me!”

He stared at her dumbfounded for a few seconds before chuckling.  Cautiously, he approached her like he was afraid she might run away… or hit him.  “This is the most romantic thing I’ve ever done and you’re yelling at me?” he asked incredulously, eyes dancing with mirth.

“Dying is not romantic!” she yelled, pushing him away.  “You could get hurt because of me.  It would be my fault you were hurt!”  His chuckles died down at the tortured look in her eyes and the desperate tone to her voice.

He moved to her instantly, wrapping his arms around her before he’d even thought about it, unwilling to let her suffer at all, especially if he could comfort her.  He held her tighter when she didn’t pull away.  After a few moments he leaned back and ducked his head to catch her gaze.  “Marinette, Baby, have you seen my other tattoos?” he asked softly.  “Fire Flower, if I was going to get recognized for a tattoo, it’s probably the massive, conspicuous ones on my completely exposed biceps, not the one covered by my gloves that are part of my costume and that I never skip when I go out.”

She stared at him looking for the lie in his words.  Finding none, she shook her head and looked down gathering her thoughts, which clearly didn’t go in his favor based on her dipping out of his embrace and groaning.  “Roy, we’re not even together!”

His mouth lifted into a smile.  That response meant she had accepted that she hadn’t put him in danger.  Now, he just needed to convince her that he knew what his action implied and he meant it.  “We don’t need to be together for me to love you,” he answered simply. 

Marinette opened her mouth then closed it again with a groan and ran her hands through her hair.  “You can’t just say things like that,” she whined.

He edged towards her again as his smile morphed into something closer to a smirk.  “The truth?”

“Yes!  No!  Wait.”  She let out an exasperated huff then pouted at his widening grin.  She shoved him again, but with much less conviction this time.  “Stop smiling at me!”

He stepped closer to her, a move that forced her to crane her neck in order to continue to meet his eyes.  “No.  I like when you get flustered.”  He ghosted a finger over her cheek, keeping his touch just shy of making contact but close enough she could feel the movement in the air.  His eyes met hers in an intense gaze.  “I like everything about you.” 

The air left her lungs when he finally made fiery contact, running his knuckles along her jaw this time.  His eyes roamed over her face like he was memorizing every curve and contour, they caught on her cheeks when they flared the most delectable shade of pink, the shade quickly became his favorite color, until he met her eyes again and remembered that shade of blue was his favorite.

“Even if we never get together, I know I’ll always care about you.  You will always be important to me.  You are already carved into my soul.  The tattoo might be more visible, but that?”  He laid a hand over his heart and shook his head adoringly.  “There’s no amount of time or separation or drifting apart or conflict that will take that away.  I won’t regret this.  Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, not next lifetime.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, his heart racing when she went to him easily.  “Do you know why that irregularity in the line is my favorite part of the design?”  It seemed like it took her a few seconds for her to snap out of her trance and register his words.  She shook her head slowly, refusing to break eye contact.  “Because it happened as a reaction to me.  I did that.  I had that effect on you.  My kiss did.  It was the moment I knew.”

“Knew what?” she asked, her voice soft, almost like she was afraid anything rougher would burst their intimate bubble.

“That I had to act,” he answered in the same tone.  “I got the tattoo because I wanted you forever on my body, like you’re forever in my heart, and what I want now is you forever in my life.  I’m tired of waiting for the exact right moment for it to happen.  I’m tired of waiting for fate or destiny or whatever is out there to provide.  I’m taking my fate.  I’m creating my own destiny and that’s you.  A lifetime of happiness and teasing and laughter and loving together.”

He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear to give her a few moments to let his words sink in, let her internalize them, and consider them fully.  “The question is, what do you want?”

She stared at him dumbfounded.  The idea of acting was scary.  They had always danced along the edge of doing more, flirting with each other and with crossing the line.  They’d always shied away just before tipping over.  There was so much that was at risk if they did.  They were always together, either as part of their larger friend group or by themselves.  If anything happened, Marinette didn’t know how she would be able to experience each day.  But the prospect of not acting was even more terrifying.

She pushed up to brush her lips against his tentatively.  Even after his most ardent declaration, she was still apprehensive of how he would react, terrified he would suddenly realize this wasn’t what he wanted.  She wasn’t what he wanted.  But before her mind could sabotage her, he wound his hand behind her head, running his fingers into her hair and pulling her harder against him to intensify the kiss.  His lips moved greedily against hers like he was afraid he would never get the chance again, almost devouring her.  She responded instantly, pulling his body against hers by his shirt then sliding her hands up his chest in part to settle the electricity that was humming through her veins.

After a long, highly pleasurable, while he pulled away just enough to press his forehead to hers, his breathing, like hers, ragged.  “I think I want that,” she panted.  She opened her eyes to find his already staring at her.  The hope in his eyes stole her breath and steeled her resolve.  “I want that version of forever.”

His responding grin lit up the dim room.  “Let’s start tonight.  Will you go on a date with me?”

She opened her mouth to respond but instead of her voice, Adrien’s floated through the apartment.  “Dinner’s here!”  She snickered and dropped her head to his chest for a few seconds before looking back up, resigned but happy.  “I’d love to, tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Roy agreed.  He pecked her lips quickly and led her out to the party, fingers intertwined and smile beaming.

@maribat-calendar-events

[mysewingadventures]

Making the ✨Lioncourt Gown✨ (Part 2/4)

I'm glad I started making this gown early because things... have not exactly been going according to plan.

In my last post I mentioned I had ordered some satin tape for the color details, but yesterday my order suddenly got canceled and I couldn't find tape anywhere. I scowered the entire internet for some 10mm ivory satin bias tape but I got absolutely nothing. Finally, I decided to settle for 15mm and now I'm waiting for that to arrive and crossing my fingers it won't get canceled again.

In the meantime, I've been left to do minor work on everything else, but wasn't really able to actually make much progress because I can't do anything before I apply that tape. I sewed the boning channels on the inside of the bodice and put some boning in (artificial baleen - I used to use cable ties for this but the artificial baleen is just much softer and easier to cut/work with).

I also attempted to make a sleeve pattern by altering a sleeve pattern I found in The Voice of Fashion (a compilation of magazines with sewing patterns from the turn of the century. Highly recommend if you're into that time period!). Now, as I've probably mentioned in every other post of mine, I absolutely suck at making sleeves so this was the only way it could turn out somewhat okay, so I made the pattern, made a mock-up to make sure it fit and also because I couldn't afford to waste any of the black base fabric, and once I was happy with it I cut it out of the black fabric with the help of my lovely assistant.

Maybe I should mention that my assistant is rarely helpful, but we're a family business, what can I say.

Then I drew a line down the center of the sleeve along which I was going to lay the color details and then went to cut them out. Once again, a super tedious process that took me about two to two and a half hours just to cut out 32 individual triangles. But towards the end, i started to get the hang of it and was able to do it faster. Maybe the skirt details won't be as tedious now, hopefully (who am I kidding it's going to be hell).

I also decided to make a little detail I would add to the bodice later. It just felt right to inscribe the name of the gown (and its original wearer in a way) with fancy letters, because it just wouldn't be a gown inspired by Lestat without a touch of narcissism, now, would it?

This morning, my skirt fabric was finally delivered! I was worried the color was going to be too bright but it's this perfect terracotta shade that I was looking for! I'm always a little wary of buying fabrics online, especially when I need them in an exact color, but this one's truly beautiful and I'm so happy I got it. Immediately, I went to work on the skirt because I thought finally! I can make some progress!

18th century skirts are super easy and quick to make. You just need two rectangular pieces of fabric, some pins and that's pretty much it. The sizing is also very forgiving so you'll be fine if it ends up being a few centimeters too big or too small. It is however better to make them on the bigger side if you're unsure. So I cut the fabric according to my measurments and went to pleating.

You'll want to do one big pleat in the center and then go from there. In my case, I cut the fabric into a 1x1m square, and pleated from the center to the edge to get the 1m down to around 37cm (half of the waist circumference). Since the fabric was around 1,40m wide originally, I thought I'd just pleat the 1,40 edge down to 37cm and get a fuller skirt as a result, but it was really difficult to get it down to that size so I decided to shorten it down to 1m. So you'll just have to just try and see what works.

Next up, I folded over the pleated edge to create a more finished look and sewed that with a sewing machine. Then I finished the outer edges before connecting the sides while the skirt was inside out. Technically, you could do this differently by doing a flat-felled seam which would give you a nicer finish, but that required a lot of thinking and pinning on my part which, to be completely honest, I wasn't feeling, so I decided to do it this way. This method requires more thread, but to me feels 'easier'. Either way, when you connect the edges, make sure to not connect them all the way to the top, or you won't be able to put it on afterwards. Leave a small slit of roughly 15cm (I eyeballed it, no need to be precise here) on each side at the top of the skirt.

Lastly, I finished the bottom seam and added some cotton tape to fasten it, and voilà- the skirt.

I pinned everything I have so far to the mannequin, the sleeves and the color details are all just pinned for now so apologies for the messy look, i just wanted to give you an idea of what it may look like when it's done. Hopefully, I'll get the tape by the week end and will be able to continue with the work.

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4|

[starakex]

Wurmple Build Log

Guess who's back to drop another overly detailed post about a cosplay project. Another Pokémon one, unsurprisingly! My dumb ass made a Nargacuga fursuit head back in 2020 so I could learn how to work with upholstery foam. It looked... alright... but I know in my heart it was a horrible, horrible mess. Fast forward to 2023, I go to a 3-day convention, wear a bunch of different heavy wigs the whole time, get a rash on my forehead and think, fuck it, I am cringe and I am free, I'm gonna finally live the dream and make a Pokémon suit. It'll be great, and I won't have to wear a wig; I'll just have to worry about heat strokes instead. Fun! Of course, in true shitpost fashion, my perfect fursuit candidate has 10 legs and is shaped like a sausage.

Click on over to read the wondrous tale of building a Wurmple Partial Suit in like two weeks.

1. The Worm

Wurmple started as a dumb little sketch in the corner of my notebook. I have a lot of cosplays and plushes under my belt but the last fursuit (head) kinda looked like it would belong in a bootleg Freddy Fazbear establishment, so I brainstormed over a bunch of Pokémon I like that would work as a partial and are simple enough in design to avoid accidentally creating Uncle Uncanny 2.0. The goal was something that would be relatively comfortable and easy to bring to events 'cause I'm just not mentally prepared to drag a suitcase in public transport and wear a full body sweat carpet yet. I ended up doodling a few ideas like Haunter or Koffing, but then I pictured a Bug Catcher trainer with a bug head and I thought it was funny as hell, so the choice was made. I picked up my copy of Alpha Sapphire to get a good look at the model and immediately ran into a problem; the eyes on Wurmple are literally on the side of the head. They sit so flush you literally cannot see them if you look at them from the front. Not a great start. I figured I could probably hide a small hole for vision right above the mandibles where the red and cream colors separate. I wasn't super confident it would work, but dammit, I was already commited to being a stupid Bug Bug Catcher. Similarly, I looked at the side profile and figured I could open a hole behind the mandibles at mouth height to breathe out of. With an disproportionate amount of confidence for the bullshit I'm about to summon into the world, I began the project by patterning out the tail.

2. Bug Ass

I'll be honest, I started on the tail so I wouldn't have a reason to back out of it if the head ended up being a hot mess. I've patterned out and sewn a few plush before, so making a big ol' headless grub sounded like a reasonable goal. I usually make plush patterns by building out the shape with newspaper and tape, but Wurmple's tail got pretty big when scaled to fit a human, so I searched for alternatives. I ended up building the base shape to draw a pattern out of by taping two pillows together. I tied down small sections to shape the belly and slapped a layer of masking tape over half of it to trace my pattern. Once everything looked good, I cut the pattern pieces out and laid them flat. The pillows were returned to the couch safely once they recovered from the barbaric treatment.

I dug through my materials storage (a sad lonely plastic bin) for some Trash Fabric ™ leftovers from other Trash Projects ™ and tested the pattern out to see how it looked. I made the pattern for the spikes and legs at that point based on the test build and adjusted some seams on the tape pattern to refine some shapes, but overall the first pattern was a great success!

With the mockup done, I pulled out the minky fabric and got to sewing the tail together. I picked minky for the project 'cause it felt right for the cartoony 3d models to have that smooth short-pile look in real life (kinda like the official mascots, really). I was aware the margin for error when your fur pile is 3mm long is basically non-existent, but hey, at least I could work without a respirator on unlike fur! Sewing the body of the tail was pretty straightforward; I assembled the belly panels together, stitched the darts on the red parts to form the curve, and attached the backside of the zigzag spikes to it. I assembled the top and bottom halves together, tacked each zigzag down in place by hand, and filled the whole thing with polyester stuffing to see my beautiful bug sausage take shape.

Once I was sure it everything looked good. I stitched six little white legs and attached them onto the belly by hand using the belly seams as a guide.

Before moving on to the top spikes, I took a break from handsewing to build the tail base. It's a little nub made out of sandwiched upholstery foam with a belt running through a channel carved into the foam. It's topped off with a layer of high density EVA Foam glued at the base to keep the anchor point sturdy. Huge thanks to Neffertity for her tail tutorials as this was the main inspiration behind the method I used for the tail attachment. The foam nub goes about a quarter of the way through the tail, with the rest of it being filled up with the polyester stuffing that was added earlier.

Once the tail attachment point was secured, I started sewing all the spikes for the top half of the tail, stuffed them, and then stitched each of them to the tail by hand. Once they were all stitched on securely, I sewed the back closed with one last minky piece and Wurmple's tail was complete!

(Looking back, I could probably have machine stitched the legs and spikes on... But I was watching some really good Resident Evil Randomizer streams while handsewing these, so I didn't wanna get off the couch to work on the pattern again)

I'm so glad I started with the tail. It was basically a big plush, and I was so proud of the results when I was done that I was energized to start working on the head. Oh right, the stupid worm head with no vision.

3. The Head

Building up the shape of Wurmple's head was simple enough. I began by building a bucket head base out of upholstery foam by following Skyehigh's Studios old tutorial (new one linked here) and slapped some paper on it to figure out the size of the main elements; the mandibles and the eyes. I immediately regret following the tutorial steps for the eye holes, since I Forgot We Weren't Gonna Be Doing That, and mark where my cyclops eyehole is generally going to be instead.

Once I was satisfied with my patterns, I cut some more upholstery foam slabs, carved them with scissors until I got down to the general shape of the mandibles and horns, and glued them onto the base. I immediately got another stress injury carving everything down and realized I did not learn from my wig ventilating mistakes. I took a break to add a turkey carver to my online shopping bookmarks, which I immediately forgot about until I sat down to write this post. Since I was using minky for this project, I needed to make sure my base was as smooth as possible. The fabric is so thin it would pick up every wrinkle ever and look sad if I didn't. I dug into the bin for some Trash Felt ™ and glued it over the mandibles to smooth things out and added some mesh to the holes of the bucket head base to keep the curved shape of the head going without sacrificing those sweet ventilation holes. I also added my vision hole and marveled at my horrifying Mando helmet abomination. At that point in time I'm having some big doubts about the vision hole, but I trudge on because I'm not just gonna wear a bug ass to these conventions.

With the base complete, I covered the whole thing in tape and drew over it like I did with the tail to create a pattern, made sure to forget to take pictures of said pattern so that this step is lost to time, and started sewing the head fabric so I could slap some skin on this bad boy, starting with the horns. At the same time, I stitched the darts on the mandibles, pinned that to the head for later, and assembled the red halves of the head together on the back seam to test the fit.

With the test fit successful, I pulled the red part off in order to machine stitch it to the front half of the head along the zigzag edge and slipped the whole thing over the head again. With everything in place, I painstakingly handstitched everything up, including the side of the mandibles and the horns.

Somewhere in the magical stretch of time between midnight and 5 in the morning, I somehow summoned the inner lining of the head out of french terry knit, a tape pattern and a dream. I also painted a little piece of buckram for the eye mesh to match the red fabric and glued that to the inside of the head. I included a little velcro pocket on the back of the neck in the lining to insert a powerbank for the fans (which I then proceeded to procrastinate on installing for a whole 4 months afterwards). Since I'm an idiot and took no pictures signed an NDA with the Midnight Craft Wizard, here's a picture of the fan installation in the mandibles with velcro so they can be removed to wash it. (Fan kit by Henry's Helmet Fans)

Once the head was completed, I finally went to sleep. And then I woke up at noon and remembered I forgot the eyes WHOOPS I cut four circles out of high density EVA Foam (Two of them smaller for the pupils), heat shaped a slight curve to them, and covered them with minky. I glued the pupils to the irises and then I glued those suckers to the head and NOW THE HEAD WAS ACTUALLY DONE WOOHOO

Turns out hiding the vision hole right over the mandibles was... Actually a decent idea, in the end. It blends pretty well into the face at a short distance. The mouth opening also isn't visible in most angles so I can actually breathe pretty well, and I can even wear a portable necklace fan and have it blow hair into the head without making poor Wurmple eat the fan.

I took it for a test run and realized the eye vision in the suit was actually pretty damn bad overall because the minky covered half of the original hole up, especially on the sides. I took a heat gun and some scissors to the head so I could peel it back around the vision hole, cut some material out to open it up more, and glued everything back down with a new piece of mesh. Now I have like 40 more degrees in my cone of vision, which puts me on par with some of the guys in Metal Gear Solid.

With those adjustments done, the head was finally complete!

4. Get Worm'd on

Turns out I like it a whole lot, whoops. It's definitively not perfect (what costume ever is?), but it looks leagues better than I expected it would, so it works out. Looking back, I don't think I'd really do anything else differently on the build. I still got to make the Bug Catcher outfit to go along with it, but with winter in full swing there's no rush to do so. Definitively looking forward to making a net, though!

If you're still reading, thank you for getting through my ramblings! I hope it was an interesting read, and maybe even provided some insights or inspirations for your own future projects.

❤️

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Okay, so I just tell my story, right? I don’t really know where to start. Well, I guess this is as good a place as any… My name is Emily. My story's about.... A meat van that came into my neighborhood. I live in a nondescript town smack in the middle of Texas. Everything you’re thinking is probably true - Miles upon miles of sprawling suburbia across the flat, boring earth. There wasn’t much around save for a few churches and parks that could barely be called more than an empty lot. Oh, and it was hot as all hell. You could trip and fall on the asphalt and get second degree burns, they say.

There was something… odd about it, though. We were so familiar with it that it was almost a constant, but we all still knew it was odd. A filthy white van, windowless and plain save for the words “meat van” spray painted across the side in sickly dark red. Never liked that red - My housemate Cass used to joke it was blood, hah… Anyway, the van would drive through the neighborhood, and every now and then drop off a slab of meat on people’s doorsteps. There was no consistent time - sometimes it’d be late afternoon, sometimes 1:13 in the morning. The meat was… Rancid. I mean, any meat would be after sitting out in the baking Texas sun for more than an hour, but this was different. It was sickly gray, spongy and slick, and oozed a dark yellow liquid when poked. Reeked like hell too. One thing I always thought was odd is that, although it was always very clearly meat, it didn’t seem to be any recognizable cut, or from any animal I had seen before. The shape, color, and texture was different every time, but always just as weird. It was a sickly humid Tuesday when Cass came home from work to what vaguely resembled a ribeye staining our doormat and decided we ought to figure out once and for all where it came from.

“C’mon, Em!” They bubbled up in that ever-enthusiastic voice, their brown eyes sparkling with a feverish excitement. “There’s GOT to be some messed up stuff on the other end of this. We could be the ones to finally bring back the answers!”

I wasn’t so sure. I knew they were right about it being messed up, but that wasn’t the incentive they thought it was, and I did my best to get my worries across. “You sure you’re not gonna just get us both kidnapped and made into meat?” I smiled as I said it, but hoped my genuine concern got through to them. They didn’t seem to notice or care, eyes focused rather on whatever image was playing in their mind.

“It’ll be fun! I mean, hey, we’ve been looking for things to do lately, right? Top ten bonding activities for the besties, as it were.” With that they bumped my shoulder with theirs, and I couldn’t say no to that. I couldn’t say no to that smile. I should’ve said no to that smile.

That weekend, we sat in our car, waiting anxiously for the van to appear. It took hours, but we finally saw it around 6:40 PM, casting heavy shadows in the golden light of the not quite setting sun. Cass nearly slammed on the gas as it drove by, and we must’ve tailed it for hours. Well, it felt like hours. It couldn’t have been, as I don’t recall it getting any darker until I drove home that night. Finally getting a good look at the back, we noticed a few things for the first time. For one, the van had no license plate, no way of possibly identifying it. Just another white van. And two, while the entire van was discolored, the bottom was much more heavily stained than the rest, and oozed a steady drip of that rancid yellow liquid all throughout the drive. Gross.

Finally, we arrived at its destination. A warehouse, miles away from any human life. The parking lot outside it was almost too large, filled to capacity with identical plain white vans. The building itself looked like any other warehouse - but more dingy, run-down… and covered in smears of rotten brown. The area was swimming with people in stained gray clothes pushing large piles of meat out of the building on rusty metal carts and piling it into the vans. I had frozen in fear, but they didn’t seem to notice us. I turned to Cass, and their eyes were sparkling with awe. I grabbed their hand, ready to urge them to turn away, but they turned to me, trembling with excitement.

“We’re going in.” Their voice came out as a manic hiss of a whisper.

I was in shock, frozen and at a loss for words.

“Wh- No!” I choked out. “Cass, no. This is stupid. We saw what we saw, and now we need to turn back and leave before… Before anything happens!”

But they were already stepping out of the car, eyes fixed unwaveringly on the building before us. I got up after them, of course, but my footsteps halted as they entered right through the door alongside one of the many gray-clad strangers. I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t just go in after them, but I couldn’t just leave them there either. I’m not proud of it, but I sort of just… Stood there for a while, mind dimly buzzing with futile strings of thought that I knew wouldn’t go anywhere.

Finally, I mustered up the courage to go peek through the door, to check if they were… alive, or trapped, or… I don’t know. I crept up to the building, still unnoticed by the… people around me, and edged along the wall until I reached the entrance. Even then, it took me a few more moments before I could will myself to look in.

What I saw… wasn’t possible. I don’t know how to describe it, but the single room of the warehouse was occupied solely by a vast pile of meat, easily two hundred feet long and just as wide, and towering far higher than the building’s height should allow. Every time I thought I could see the top of the mound, it only seemed to stretch higher and higher, the ceiling somehow still visible despite impossibly accommodating a pile of seemingly infinite proportions. The chunks of meat were all diseased, much like the ones we had received on our doorstep, but they seemed to be in varying stages of sickness, some corpse-gray and oozing yellow fluid while others still weakly clung on to the pink tint of flesh. And it was… I don’t know how to describe it, but it was breathing. The mass of meat faintly pulsed in a languid, uneven rhythm, juxtaposed against the skittery movements of the workers in their stained gray aprons frantically taking slabs of meat away from the edges and piling them onto carts. And right there, gazing upon it all, was Cass.

They were still. Petrified, but not with horror. What I saw in them wasn’t horror, but rather fascination. Their eyes were vast and staring, drinking in the sight of the pile in its wholeness. I called out to them, shouted “Cass, what the hell are you doing!?”, but I knew the words wouldn’t reach them. And so I stood there, frozen to the spot, as the puddle of ooze that seeped from the pile licked their feet, and the meat pile slowly grew outwards. I’m not sure if the meat was multiplying or expanding somehow, but the edges of the pile were swelling, throbbing, reaching out farther and farther by the second.

Cass’ feet were caught. For a horrible moment, they seemed to finally realize the danger they were in, shuffling and struggling to free themself from the meat swamp growing higher, up to their shins, their knees… But the tide rose too fast, and as it receded, it pulled them back with it. I remember every moment of their struggle - thrashing, choking, battling for every movement, every chance they could get to pull themself free of the flesh swamp. Its pull was stronger, though. And so the last I saw of them was a screaming mouth and an outstretched arm that soon disappeared altogether into the mountain of fleshy pulp.

I left then. It was horrible, of course, I know that. It felt so deeply wrong to leave without Cass, but I knew in my heart of hearts that at that point there was nothing I could do. Maybe they were doomed from the second they entered the warehouse. I don’t remember much about the drive home, or the rest of the day… Until early that next morning, when I received a fresh slab of meat on my doorstep.

It wasn’t like the others. It wasn’t gray, or slimy, or stinking. It looked… Healthy. Tender and red, its only smell being that of fresh blood. Ironically, that terrified me more than any of the off-meat ever did, and my heart froze in my chest as I stared down at it, unsure of what to do. I buried it. It was difficult, sure, and certainly would’ve looked weird and probably suspicious to any passerby there might’ve been, but it felt right.

And that’s it. That’s all I have to say, really. I’ve been living on my own since then. The meat still shows up, and I toss it out just as I always have. I haven’t been eating meat lately, as you can probably guess. I haven’t been eating much at all. I should feel sad, or terrified, but it’s all just numb, like everything that happened was just a strange dream, or like Cass never existed in the first place. I know it happened, but… maybe it’s better to think of it as a dream. It makes it easier to get through the days, I guess. But I get violently jarred back into reality every time a slab of meat shows up on my doorstep. I think I'll move. It'll be easier to pretend that way.

Eugh...thank you for your statement, no matter how...viscerally unpleasant it may be.

Matters of flesh have always been one of my least favorite topics - it is truly one of the most...primal feeling fears; animal and buried deep within the human psyche.

I did attempt some follow up research on this, though there is not much to go off of...I was unable to to find a specific missing person's report for anyone named "Cass" or variants thereof in central Texas, but that is hardly surprising - besides the likelihood of pseudonyms or non-legal names being used, a report would only exist if it was ever filed, which I am assuming it was not.

I did, however, find an interesting report from the area from 2010...

I cannot help but think the two accounts are...related. Something about a health inspector going missing in mysterious circumstances, the viscera of it all...

The gift to the family of the missing did not escape me...75 pounds...34 kg...or...the approximate amount of harvestable meat off a human corpse.

I am terribly sorry for your loss, Emily, but you did well to avoid the hunger of your own curiosity.

I recommend jackfruit as a vegetarian alternative to Texas BBQ.

[abyssleaves]

CW: mentions of past domestic abuse

(Not Beta'd, so forgive any typos)

~

It's the damn steaks that get you, in the end.

Not the trip, driving at definitely-not-illegal speeds all the way from Maine, the windows down, tendrils of your own dark hair whipping you in the face. Blaring the music he never let you play, singing along to the lyrics even though he always said your voice was flat. All you felt on the road was a wild kind of exultation, flying, numbness in your limbs as if this were a dream.

(You only stopped at a motel once. Put your backpack down on the single bed, and felt the stillness press in like a vise on your temples. Ten minutes later you were slapping a hundred dollar bill down in front of the bemused check-in lady, and back on the road. You slept at rest stops the rest of the way.)

The trip was fine. Freeing.

It wasn't the reality of the house, either. You shook hands with the realtor in a daze, smiling brightly the way you were taught, barely feeling the keys in your fingers. It takes you another ten minutes to unload the car. A handful of boxes and your backpack is all you brought with you. It's all that could fit in your car.

It's heavy, and you thought maybe you should be tired, but there was nothing but a sense of floating as you carry your few things in. You told yourself it's the weight lifted, the feeling of finally being able to hear yourself think. But all you could seem to think about is practicalities like thank god they left behind furniture, and is that mattress safe to sleep on.

How long until my voicemail is full, and I have some peace?

Unable to settle, even though it's far too late to unpack, you began to wander, pulling out drawers, opening cupboards. You peeked out windows, assessed the property. It's a steal, honestly, especially in this market, and you don't even really need to worry about neighbors. You can see other houses around, bits and bobs peeking through the trees, but there's only one little bungalow visible, with an older model red truck parked outside of it.

It was clean, and there was light around the edges of the heavy blinds, but no movement or sound. Maybe an older person, or older couple, you figured, then. Nobody that should be interested in you, but a relief to have someone close enough to hear it if–...if-…

Maybe it wasn't too late to unpack after all. No time like the present.

The first box you pick was the one with all of your sentimental plushes and knicknacks. The old gameboy color that you used to let Katie play, your merch from Anime Boston, the last anniversary trip. You only got a few things unpacked before you fell asleep right there on the floor, curled up.

Its fine. You were tired.

~

And now, it's morning, and you're still fine. Really, you do genuinely feel pretty great. A little blank, but that's to be expected after such a radical move.

You should call your mom and tell her you're in Texas.

You don't.

Instead, you go to make coffee and realize there isn't any. Because you didn't pack any. But there is a place nearby, google tells you. That's fine. You can treat yourself. Who’s going to stop you?

You don't think about how much Katie loved going to coffee places. Stop. She's not your responsibility anymore.

But of course she is. That's why you're in Texas, and Ben isn't in jail.

You don't remember getting the coffee. What you remember is sitting in your driveway, sipping it, thinking, huh, that truck is gone.

That's fine. You can introduce yourself later. You should make a Hello Treat first, anyway. That's what Mom would have suggested you do.

~

Your coffee goes mostly undrank, cooling slowly on the counter, as you throw yourself into unpacking with as much gusto as you can.

That's where things start to go wrong, by your estimation. Because when your stomach rumbles, what seems like an hour or two later, you casually glance at the stove clock and break into autopiloted panic. Oh my god, it's nearly four. Ben likes dinner at five.

You saw a grocery store on the way to the coffee place. That's fine. That's fine. It's a short trip, five minutes at most. You can get something that cooks quickly. You know a handful of dinners by heart at this point, and your exhausted brain busies itself with calculations on sides and cook times, and before you can blink you’re headed down the aisles with a basket on your arm. You pick up enough for simple sides, some spices, some paper plates because whoever furnished your place took all the plates but left a mysteriously insane number of forks.

Steaks. Ben likes red meat. He'll want something special after a move.

When you approach the red meat shelves, there's a man already standing there. He looks lost in thought, and he's standing right in front of the steaks. You wait patiently, the polite way you were taught, but when he finally looks up, he jumps back about a foot. You feel terrible immediately.

“Oh! I'm sorry, um, I was just…” You gesture helplessly to the rows of meat.

“It's fine. Can I grab something for you?” His affect is so flat, you're sure you've annoyed him, and you can’t say you blame him. But playing the “no, really” game would take longer and probably only irritate him more than simply getting what you need and getting out of his hair.

“Yeah.” You drop your eyes to the case, instinctively. “Uh, I was just gonna grab a couple steaks."

Silence.

Reluctantly, you look up. He's watching you, stonefaced. He looks like he’s waiting for something. You look at him blankly, and he seems to bite back a little sigh before he asks, if possibly even flatter, “What kind?”

Oh.

“Oh, my god, I'm so sorry.” You give a nervous chuckle that borders on manic, put a hand to your temple. It's almost four-fifteen now. You point to a few of the ones directly in front of him, where you can't reach. “Uh, those please.”

He grabs the three you point to and hands them over, waiting with each in his hand as you load your basket. Feeling a little guilty, you do your best to give him the warmest smile you can, feeling guilty at having been such a bother. “Thank you so much.”

He looks a little…surprised, maybe? In any case, his eyes are wide behind his vintage glasses, and he holds on a second too long to the last steak, so that you have to half pull it from his grip.

“Uh…no problem. Have a nice day.” His voice is a little friendlier, and he even gives you a faint lifting of his mouth. It could almost pass for a smile.

You feel forgiven, and beam back brightly. “You, too!”

You don't look back as you hurry away.

As you rush through self-checkout, some of that brightness dims as you feel the familiar dread. You hope none of Ben’s friends saw you smile at the guy like that. Especially since Ben knows well enough your weakness for green eyes.

~

Cooking passes in a blur of muscle memory, so that's not really the sticking point either. Oil in pan, steaks in, sear, add the butter and herbs, baste it. The sides both go in the oven, so that's all on the timer.

You get everything laid out as nicely as you can on three paper plates–two whole steaks for each of the adults, and a carefully trimmed set of slices for Katie. She hates all the fat.

Not that it matters.

Because she's never going to eat this steak.

Because she's in Maine. Because you had to flee her father in the dead of night while he worked a late shift. Because now all you have to your name is a couple boxes of necessary documents and cherished memorabilia. And a storage facility full of every scrap of your art equipment that you could slowly squirrel away, but couldn't afford to ship down after buying your new house. A bare mattress with your childhood blanket and no pillow because you haven't bought sheets yet. You had to leave your vintage dresses and leather jacket behind. You couldn't save the cameras, either. And Katie…

You haven't slept properly, changed clothes, or showered in days.

You’re free.

And you just wasted money on food you didn’t have to cook, for two people you'll never cook for again.

A car door slams in the silence.

Your vision is blurry when you try to look out the window, and you hurriedly wipe the shoulder of your shirt across your eyes, sniffling.

The red truck is back. You move over to the window to have a closer look, because it's better to be nosy about the neighbors right now than look at the plates of food you made for a husband that was never much of a husband, and a stepdaughter that isn't a stepdaughter anymore.

…

No.

No way.

You've got to be kidding me, is your first thought when around the hood of the truck comes the blond man from the meat department. He ducks to look into his mailbox.

Without even thinking you wrench your door open and stick your head out. “Hey!”

He jerks his head up from his mailbox, and you think in passing, twice in one day, he's going to think you're a psycho. He looks genuinely shocked to see you, as shocked as you were a few minutes ago.

Oh, well. Too late now. “Do you want some food?” You bellow across the lawns to him, and his face crinkles a little in confusion.

After a moment he calls back uncertainly, and much quieter than you, “. . . …Sure?”

Relief and a little happiness stir in your chest. It's been a long and lonely couple of days. “Just a sec!” You call back, and duck into the kitchen. Swiftly, you pile the second whole steak and as much of the sides from the extra two plates as you can fit. You end up needing to stack a couple plates to give it stability. It looks a little ludicrous, but what else are you going to do with it all? At least he'll know where my extra padding comes from.

(If you give your messy bun a couple of ineffectual pats, too, well, nobody needs to know but you.)

You're half-prepared to encounter the disappointment of an empty yard, given that a disheveled woman who scared him at the grocery store just yodeled at him out of nowhere, but he's waiting patiently by his mailbox, fidgeting a little with the envelopes. He looks up as you approach, and his eyes widen at the mountain of food you present to him with a smile.

“Oh, whoa,” he says. “I thought y’ meant like some cookies or something.”

“Oh… yeah, I was planning to do that later. That would be more normal.” You laugh a little, and both of you look down at the plate of food. “Um, sorry there's no clingfilm. I don't have any of that stuff yet.”

“Aw, that's alright.” For a moment you're too distracted by his drawl to notice that his eyes aren't on you anymore. They've drifted over your shoulder, and he squints as if looking for something. You follow his gaze, but all you see is the curtainless window showing your silent, still kitchen. “Your family not like the steaks or somethin’?”

“It's just me actually.”

The sentence is surprisingly steady at the start, but once you hear yourself say it, the end of the last word wobbles just a bit.

“Oh.” He looks back at you, eyebrows raising. “But you bought three of ‘em.”

“Yeah, um…” It takes you a minute to swallow the throat lump making all those funny shudders in your voice. He must hear them too, because his brow furrows as he peers more closely at you. He looks faintly concerned. “I guess I'm still used to cooking for more.”

There's a brief pause. He clearly has questions, but seems unable to figure out how to voice them. The green eyes you noticed at the store are boring into you like he wants to read the answers on your forehead.

You stick out your hand. “I'm Elizabeth–...Uh, Bess, to most people.” Bess is a cow’s name, Ben sneers in your head. But right now, competing with blond scruff and a slow, rolling accent, he's easy to ignore.

It takes your neighbor a second to shuffle the plate to one hand, but he gives your hand a firm shake with a callused grip. As with the steaks at the store, it seems to take him a moment to let you go. “Jacob,” he says, and gives you his first proper, if small, smile.

“Jacob,” You say, smiling happily, and watch his own smile widen to match yours. His face looks a little pink in the dark. “I guess we’re neighbors now.”

“Huh, guess so.” He glances at the house again, then back to you. “You let me know if you need anythin’, ok?”

You blink a little at this, after all the trouble you've been to him today, but you're not going to argue. It must be a southern thing. “Ok...I will. Thanks! I really appreciate…all this, today.” You gesture at the steak plate. “I better go eat my own before it gets cold.”

His smile dims slightly. “Sure,” he says, tone flat as ever. “See you around, Bess.”

You both linger a second longer. This is the most pleasant interaction you've had with a person in a long time, and you're surprised to find yourself not wanting to walk away. “Bye, Jacob.”

It takes a lot longer than you expect, as you make your way across to your own house, to hear his door shut.

In your silent kitchen, some of the bubble of happiness begins to leach away. You wish you'd thought to invite him to eat with you. But then, paradoxically, you feel a sudden intense guilt at the thought. You were living with your husband less than a week ago. And a voice that sounds a lot like Ben’s adds in a hiss, You’re a complete wreck.

You put your steak plate in the fridge and walk slowly over to the boxes, digging out your blanket.

Looking out your bedroom window, you can see the faint glow of Jacob’s lights in his windows. The hollowness of the silence refuses to go away, but you don't feel the same kind of flying numbness that you felt this morning. You're not running and alone now. You have a house, even if it's half-empty, and you have what might become at the very least a friend.

That's fine. It'll be fine.

~

( @carnivorekitty, I only saw a definite yes to fanART in your FAQ. If this isn't ok, let me know and I'll take it down!)

[pbandjesse]

Today was such a nice birthday. Like here at the end I am feeling a little emotional. But that is more because I'm very tired then anything else. Today was great.

I slept alright. The coughing is getting to me hardcore at night and it's making it really tough to function. Like I can't sleep all the way because every time I turn over I start choking again. But I keep trying to be alright.

I felt good when I woke up though. I woke up before my alarm and took my time getting up. No rush. Jess hadn't told me she left yet and she wasn't due here until 1030. So I just watched tiktoks and got texts from my family and it was good. I was happy. James came and made a big fuss about my birthday. I got lots of hugs and kisses today.

Once I was dressed, James made me an omelette. And we sat together in the living room. Waiting for Jess to be here.

And soon she was! I looked at her location and it said 50ft away!! What!!

So I went outside to meet her. And she was like omg happy birthday! Happy birthday house! Happy birthday at your house!! And we were all smiles.

I was very excited to give her the tour of our little house. We started with the most finished room:the bathroom. And went all over. She said it was a little smaller then she expected from the photos but real estate photos are always deceptive. Which is why I had done all those floor plan drawings. I have been very honest about how it's basically the same size as the apartment only stacked. Plus a basement. But it's going to work for us really well.

She said it was really cute though and she's excited to see it with furniture. And I was too. So pretty quickly we were all piling in the cars to go to IKEA.

I had a grand plan. I had done a lot of measuring and a lot of research and made sure I had backups in color ways if something was sold out. And for the most part my plan worked perfectly.

We got to IKEA and started with the return section just to double check. Nothing blew me away price wise so we headed to the showroom.

I teased Jess a ton and was smoochie with James. And was just feeling so happy. We looked at the pieces I wanted and I was happy with the quality and the sizes. Jess saw a few things she wanted too. And it was just a lot of fun. I also just love Ikea so today was such a perfect way to spend my birthday.

When we got to the marketplace we grabbed a cart. I stuck pretty well to my list. Only adding a dog shaped bathmat that I became obsessed with. He's literally perfect.

Jess would get a few things. A planter. A lamp. A little basket. She had a lot of self control in not buying every jar she picked up. I hugged all the stuffed animals and was having the best time.

When we got to the warehouse we grabbed a second cart. But in the end we would need three. While I had measured the house. I did not consider how many boxes all of our purchases would come in. We got 8 pieces of furniture and it came in about 20 boxes.

It was good I had made a list to know where locations were because we were going down to a lot of ends of aisles. But we worked tighter to load the very heavy things up. I had the regular carts and Jess and James each had a flat cart and they were full full. Struggling to load them was a surprise because of how many boxes there were.

Paying wasn't as hard as I worried it would be. I handled the small things and bagging those up. And then when we got outside I saved two loading zones spaced next to each other while they went to get the cars.

This is where I had not planned for an issue. We couldnt fit all the boxes in the car. James was trying their hardest but it just was not happening. It was close! With Jess having a slightly longer interior, that helped a lot. But even with James really good spacial awareness, we could not get the last three boxes in. It took most of a half hour in a very blustery area, but we had to throw in the towel.

Thankfully Ikea has a place to hold the items so James would make a second trip. But for now we would go have our Ikea veggie dogs and weird Ikea sodas and my ears would be so cold that they were burning so James very gently cupped them so they wouldn't hurt so bad and I loved them so much in that moment. Jess said we were being disgusting. Yes. True.

I had ridden with Jess to IKEA but with the seat having to be moved up, it was safer for me to ride back with James. We had boxes in the middle of us but we drove carefully and even when a goose tried to kill itself in front of us and James had to swerve I was able to hold the boxes and nothing got broken or hurt. And pretty quickly we were home.

I would help bring some stuff inside. But mostly I was in charge of directing traffic. We would say hi to our neighbors when we were outside. I even got to meet the landlady for the house two doors down. Who was so excited to hear it was my birthday and then was shocked that I was 33. She thought I was a Hopkins student! It was nice that a stranger was excited for me.

It took a bit to get everything inside. And we even had a disaster when the bag of small stuff got dropped and one corner of each of the wall shelves were damaged. I'll just face those towards the wall. But James felt very bad about it. Not the end of the world.

James would stop to have a snack or the Ikea cookies they got themselves. And then headed back out to go to IKEA again.

And me and Jess would spend the next hour building one of the shelves for the mezzanine. I was hoping to get both done but getting one done before James got home was still impressive. James would put the doors on when they got back. But in the mean time we worked very well together building and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Jess says we have never built Ikea furniture together before but I think we did great. Very proud of us.

I was very happy when James got back. They brought the last three pieces in and jumped right into finishing the doors for the shelves. I would go to the studio to start opening the boxes for the day bed. It was important that we finished that today because Jess would be sleeping in it. I had opened the rolled mattresses as soon as we got home so they had the best chance of swelling back to normal thickness. And I think that worked really well.

Putting together this daybed was a very long process with a lot of steps. I'm really proud of us for how we divided the tasks. And even when things went slightly wrong, when I put something in the wrong place, or we used the wrong hardware, we were able to figure it out together. And we didn't fight at all. Only in jest. And I was so happy being with them. We were doing great.

At one point we decided we should make a reservation for dinner at the James Joyce Irish Pub for 7. That would give us a good stopping point. I had Jess set an alarm for 620 so we would have a good topping point to get cleaned up. But I was really hoping we would finish before we left.

There were some bumps in the road. We were making great progress and then at 6 realized like 20 screws were missing. And then after a few minutes of searching we had to look through all the steps to discover that we used them in place of some pins by accident and had to spend a little time taking that apart and redoing it. But through teamwork we were able to get it done. Then it was discovered that I had put the tracks for the drawers on wrong. So we had to move all of those. And so James had to stop their task because we only have one drill. But we would still finish on time. At 635. Amazing. Great job us.

It was so satisfying to see the trundle part of the bed come together and then it all was settled and the mattresses were in place and I was just so thrilled.

And then it was time to go to dinner.

James drove us to harbor east. Where parking is very tough. After circling the block a few times, James would drop us off and go find somewhere a few blocks away. We went to get our reservation so we weren't to late.

And I just had such a lovely dinner. The only issue was around 530 I had started wheezing and coughing hardcore again. And was still wheezing. The outside air helped but I was still struggling. Jess suggested after dinner we go to target and get me an over the counter inhaler. I said I would consider it. For now the focus was dinner.

We got Caeser salads. James got a cocktail. Jess got a bowl of lemons to share with me. James got a Ruben dip sandwich, I got a black truffle grilled cheese and a spicy chili oil tomato soup, Jess got shrimp and fries. And it was all fabulous. I told Jess stories about hobby tunneling. We are our food. We talked about how lovely everything was. It was a little loud but the music was really good. This was a beautiful birthday and a beautiful birthday dinner.

Honestly though it was to much food. I only had half of my sandwich because it was the size of two sandwiches. And we would have salad and fries to take home too.

After we got boxes we headed out. It was shockingly cold and my jacket doesn't help much in the wind. But we made it to the car in a few minutes and warmed up.

My breathing got bad again. So I agreed to the inhaler. We would go to target and get candy and the inhaler and milk and James got body wash too. And we had fun walking around. And while I was struggling breathing I was still really happy and having a really good time.

I was excited to go home though. I was getting really tired. I am so glad we finished making the bed for Jess.

We spent the next half hour getting Jess bedding and moving all the cardboard boxes we had opened to the basement. Well get that off to recycling soon but for now we need more path. Because our couch is supposed to be delivered tomorrow!! Amazing. Am thrilled. But we had to make space. So we worked on that and Jess got ready for bed. Made the daybed all cozy. It was good.

Soon though I started getting a little birthday sad. We decided we were all to full for cake tonight. So tomorrow me and James will celebrate with that. And James has a few little gifts for me. Jess had given me a balloon dog pendant made of pearls and balloon dogs earrings made of glass. James got me the Mathews pizza sweatshirt I wanted so much. And they got me a very cute birthday bear mug but it got broken in transit. They tried to glue it back together which was sweet but they said they will still order a new one.

But then they got me something I had such a visceral reaction to. Not in a good way. They got me doc martens. The American Western ones. The ones I loved so much. But I was like. Shocked. I do not like getting shoes as gifts. It's always been a thing. Buy someone shoes and they'll walk out of your life bad luck. I have always felt a little. Off about getting shoes. And I immediately opened the box and said you should return these. I took them out of the box. They are beautiful. But I was just. So upset. I didn't feel like I could accept them. And I'm trying to not be so irrational about it. James didn't do anything wrong. Why am I letting myself be taken so out of sorts? I will sit with this feelings. I will keep the boots. I will love the boots. Because they are absolutely beautiful. But man. I didn't expect to get that off kilter.

I would sit with my upset for a bit. Jess would go to bed. Eventually James would come sit with me and we talked. And I hate that I made them feel bad. Like they actually did something wrong. Because they didn't, they were so lovely, they got me everything I wanted and more. I love them so so deeply and I can't let myself feel like some superstition would take them away from me. I can't let myself be that crazy.

James went to sit in their office so I could write this. I am going to go find them. I took the inhaler and it helped a lot but it made my hands shake a lot too. Maybe that was part of what made me so emotional. I want to try on the boots.

I had such a beautiful birthday. With my favorite people. Eating my favorite foods. Just feeling so blissfully happy. And it's not even like it's over. Tomorrow me and Jess will keep building while James is at work. And we will wait for the couch. And when James come home we will have cake. I am really excited to be 33.

I love you all so much. I hope you had a beautiful February 17th. Goodnight!!!!

[atlfics]

Alex's Holiday Blues- All Time Low Fanfiction

Alex is grouchy around the holidays, much to Jack's frustration. Word Count: 4550

TW: mentions of family member death

More notes at the end.

“Alex, I’m so excited to decorate our house for Christmas! It’s going to look so magical, and be so special!” Jack exclaimed, pulling into a parking spot in the back of the parking lot at Target. 

“Yeah, it’ll be great. Damn, I can’t believe we’re parking all the way back here, it must be a zoo inside,” Alex replied, looking around the parking lot with a concerned look on his face. 

Jack took a deep breath, not wanting to show his frustration with Alex’s attitude. Decorating for Christmas together had been a tradition that Alex and Jack had done every year since they had been together, it was a tradition that they both typically looked forward to as soon as Halloween was over. 

For the past few days, Jack had been hinting to Alex that he wanted to go to Target to purchase new decorations to add to their already huge collection. Normally, a Target trip to buy decor was right up Alex’s alley, he loved it just as much as Jack did, which is why Jack couldn’t figure out why Alex had such a flat reaction to the proposal of a Target run, and why he was continuing to act so unenthused. 

“It probably is a bit busy, but I think we knew what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to come here. We do this every year, we deal with the crowd every year. I think it’ll be fun to get some new decor, we didn’t get very much last year,” Jack continued, forcing an exaggerated smile, hoping it would put Alex in a more festive mood. 

“That’s true, we didn’t. Well, let’s go and get some stuff so we can get back home,” Alex said, opening his door and getting out of the car. 

Jack breathed a quiet sigh as he got out of his car, locking it once both doors were shut. As they walked up the sidewalk to the entrance of the store, Alex lagged behind Jack with his hands in his pockets, and his gaze down at his feet. Once they got into the store, Jack grabbed a cart, and a confused look appeared on Alex’s face. 

“You’re getting a cart? How much decor do you plan on getting?” Alex asked, as Jack started to walk towards the seasonal section of the store. 

“Well, I don’t plan on, like, buying out the entire store, but I want to get a few things, and I don’t want to have to carry everything by hand. Don’t worry, we won’t break the bank,” Jack replied, trying his hardest to not sound like a smart-ass; he really didn’t want to have an argument with Alex on what was supposed to be a fun day for the both of them. 

“Oh, okay, just wondering,” 

Jack kept walking towards the holiday section, still frustrated and confused by Alex’s attitude. He was determined to have a fun day with his boyfriend, doing a tradition that they both typically loved, so he acted like everything was fine. Once they got to the holiday decor, Jack’s face lit up in excitement; everything was so bright, shiny, colorful and festive. Jack wanted to look at everything, but decided to start with the ornaments. 

“Look at all these ornaments, they have a great selection this year! I love all of the sets, but these individual ones are so cute; we should each pick one out for our tree!” Jack exclaimed, parking the cart and starting to browse the wall of ornaments. 

Alex didn’t say anything, he just began to look up and down the wall, his face remaining emotionless. Without giving it much thought, Alex picked out a fabric dinosaur ornament, continuing to stare down at it when Jack turned to look at Alex. 

“What did you pick? I picked this cute sleigh that has a frame for a photo, I thought we could take a picture in front of the tree once it’s up, and put it in the frame,” Jack said, holding the ornament up for Alex to see. 

“Yeah, that sounds like a nice idea. I picked this little dinosaur with a Santa hat, it was the first thing I saw so I went with it,” Alex explained, mindlessly throwing his ornament in the shopping cart. 

“Well, it’s really cute! Maybe we can name him later, I think that could be fun. Let’s go look at the tinsel and other decor,” 

Jack pushed the cart to the next aisle, glad to see so many different garlands of tinsel to choose from. He was immediately drawn to a garland with red, green, and silver tinsel, and decide that they needed a few of them. He took three down from the hook, and put them in the cart. 

“Three garlands, isn’t that a lot? We do still have garland from previous years,” Alex pointed out, eyeing the mountain of tinsel that was in the cart. 

“We do still have some, yeah, but we really need to replace them. We’ve always hung them with tape, and when we take them down and have to take the tape off, it always makes part of the garland break off, so they’re actually really short now. It’ll be nice to have new garlands, and they’ll probably look better than the old ones, too,”

Alex shrugged his shoulders, then followed Jack as he continued to lead them through the aisles. Jack continued to look at the different pieces of decor, and Alex continued to offer short, sarcastic comments every time Jack added something to the cart. Eventually, Jack decided that he’d had enough, and it was time to go home. They did still have a lot to work with at the house, and everything in the cart would help the house in coming together. Jack quickly scanned everything through at a self-checkout, and Alex made a comment about how high the total cost of everything was, adding to Jack’s annoyance at his boyfriend. 

Once they got back into the car, Alex immediately grabbed his phone from his pocket and started to mindlessly scroll on it, leaning his head against the passenger window. Jack didn’t even try to start a conversation with Alex, he knew that something was up; he wasn’t sure what, but he knew that the car wasn’t the best place to figure everything out. After an awkwardly silent drive, Jack finally pulled the car into the driveway, breaking Alex’s attention from his phone. 

“Oh good, we’re back,” Alex suddenly said, looking around at his surroundings. 

“Yep, we are. Let’s grab everything and go in,” Jack replied, getting out of his seat, and grabbing every bag from the trunk of the car.

Alex slowly followed Jack to the door, watching as Jack struggled to unlock the door while carrying all their purchases. Once they were inside, Alex immediately kicked his shoes off, then went into the living room, leaving Jack to lock the door, while still holding all of the newly purchased decorations. 

“What the fuck, Alex?” Jack muttered under his breath, still upset as to why Alex was acting like this. 

After relocating the door and taking his shoes off, Jack brought all the bags into the living room, where Alex was sitting on the couch, looking at something on his phone. 

“Alright, let’s get decorating! Do you want me to make us some hot chocolate for while we decorate, like we’ve usually done in the past?” Jack offered, setting the bags of decor on the floor by the boxes of the decor they already had. 

“Nah, I think I’m okay with my water from earlier. Anyway, what are we doing first?” Alex asked,  turning his phone off and setting it on the coffee table in front of him. 

“Well, I think we should get the tree assembled where it is supposed to go, then we can string the lights, and do the ornaments. What do you think?”

“Yeah, works for me,” 

Alex slowly stood up from the couch, stretching before walking over to the huge cardboard box that held their Christmas tree. 

“Okay, we have to get the frame secured in the stand first, then we add the branches to the frame. Don’t forget, the branches are color coded; the painted color on the base at the different levels matches up with the colored tags on each branch,”

“I forgot how meticulous this tree is. Let’s get started, I guess,” 

Alex began to sift through the tree box, finding the metal poles that made up the center of the tree. Jack started to go through the box, determined to continue biting his tongue at Alex’s attitude. He started to pull out the branches, and began to sort them by the color on the tags. Alex put the poles in the right order, then put them into the base. 

“Do we need to tighten the pole into the base? I can’t remember, but I’ve never been great at that, if you want to do it,” Alex asked, going back over to the box and starting to sort the branches. 

“No, we don’t have to with this tree. Do you want to go ahead and start putting the bottom layer of branches on the tree, and fluffing the branches?” Jack suggested, continuing to sort the branches. 

“Sure, I guess. Where’s the first layer?”

“Right there, next to you,”

Without saying anything else, Alex began to lazily place the branches on the center of the tree. Once all the branches were on, Alex started to fluff the tree. Normally, Alex was great at fluffing the tree, and making the branches look more life like. This time, however, Alex was clearly not giving his best effort; he would move five or six pieces of tree, then move on to the next branch. When Jack noticed this, he took a deep breath, thinking of a decent way to address this. 

“Alex, do you think you could fluff the branches a little more? What you’re doing is good, but I think the tree would look more realistic if they were a little more fluffed out. I’m just about done sorting the branches, I can help you with it in a minute,” Jack gently suggested, earning an annoyed sigh from Alex. 

“Yeah, I guess I can. It’s going to take a lot longer, though,” Alex replied, starting to go back to the branches he’d already done and re-fluffing them. 

“Well, that’s okay. It usually takes us about twenty minutes to get the tree up, and to get the branches fluffed out, but it’s always worth it. You can never see the pole in the center when we do it right, and it looks really cool,”

“Okay, I’ll fix it,”

Alex silently continued to fluff out the bottom layer of branches as Jack finally finished sorting the branches that were in the box. Jack went over to the tree, and began helping Alex fluff out the bottom layer of branches. Once they were done with the bottom layer, they silently continued to put more layers of branches on the base, fluffing them as they went. 

Jack wanted nothing more than to talk with Alex, to be silly and goofy like they normally were when they put their Christmas decor up. He wasn’t sure why this year was different, but he didn’t want to push Alex to talk, it was very clear that he just wanted to gripe and do the bare minimum for now, and Jack figured that this was better than nothing. Eventually, all of the branches were on the base, and they had been fluffed out. The tree looked very realistic, which Jack felt very proud of. 

“The tree looks great! This might actually be the most realistic it’s ever looked! What do you think?” Jack asked, going over to the boxes of tree decor to find the string lights. 

“Yeah, it looks great,” Alex replied, his voice bored and dry. 

Jack used all of his self control to keep his eyes from rolling. He was hoping that once the tree was up, Alex’s temper would improve, he would apologize to Jack for being so unreasonable, and they would put Christmas music on and make hot chocolate for the rest of their decorating. As down as Jack was starting to feel from Alex’s odd lack of enthusiasm, he wanted to keep going; he’d been looking forward to this for too long to let Alex ruin it. 

“Yep, um, let’s put the lights up. Do you want to be on the ladder, or do you want me to?” Jack finally asked, grabbing two strands of white lights from the box. 

“You can be on the ladder, if you want,” Alex replied, staring down at his feet. 

“I can do that, let me grab the ladder from the laundry room,”

Jack walked down the hall to their laundry room, which is where the ladder, and every other tool they owned, was stored. He opened the storage closet, grabbed the step ladder, then went back to the living room, where Alex was sitting on the couch, looking at something on his phone. 

“Are you ready to string the lights?” Jack asked, setting the ladder up next to the tree. 

“Sure, I guess,” Alex replied, slowly standing from the couch before making his way over to the tree. 

“Okay, I’ll start stringing them, then hand you the string of lights, and we can keep passing it back and forth until the lights reach the bottom, sound good?”

“Sure,”

After a deep breath, Jack started the string of lights at the very top of the tree, then wrapped them halfway, until he reached the other side. He handed the string to Alex, who grabbed it and lazily wrapped it around the other half of the tree. This frustrated Jack further, he decided that he didn’t want the tree to look terrible because of Alex’s attitude, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. 

“Here, why don’t you let me string the lights around the tree? It can be kind of tricky, but I think I have some good tricks to make it look good,” Jack said, wanting to call Alex out, but not wanting to start a huge fight. 

“Sounds good, I’ll be on the couch,” Alex replied, handing Jack the remaining strings of lights. 

Jack worked quickly, wrapping the whole tree in lights in record time. Once he was done, he put the step ladder to the side, then drug the boxes of ornaments closer to the tree. 

“Okay, lights are done, are you ready to hang ornaments?” Jack asked, pulling Alex’s attention from his phone. 

“I guess so, let’s get this over with,”

This comment set Jack off; he’d been so patient with Alex for the entire afternoon, even though Alex had been snippy in return. Jack decided he’d had enough of Alex’s attitude, and he didn’t want to do one of his favorite activities like this. 

“You know what, let’s not hang the ornaments. Or put up the garlands. Or put the little figurines out. Your attitude has been terrible since before we event went to Target to shop. I was hoping that this mood would’ve gone away by now, but I guess I was wrong. I can tell you have no interest in helping me, so I wont make you. Thanks for ruining one of my favorite traditions we have,” Jack said, making Alex’s eyes widen in shock. 

Before Alex could reply, Jack stormed off to their shared room, slamming the door shut behind himself. He sat on his side of their bed, looking down at the floor. Jack heard footsteps approaching their room, making him roll his eyes; why did it have to take him snapping for Alex to realize he’d a jerk? There was a soft knock at the door, before it slowly opened, revealing a guilty looking Alex. Alex cautiously walked over to where Jack was sitting, and took a seat next to him. 

“What, do you have some more smart ass comments to say?” Jack asked, crossing his arms over this chest and looking off to the side. 

“Jack, I’m so sorry, I really am,” Alex replied, putting an arm around Jack’s shoulders. 

“Sure, you’re just saying that so I’ll let this go, and you can keep doing what you’ve been doing all day,”

“No, I really am sorry. I’ve been in a bit of a mood lately, and I took it out on you, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m really sorry,”

Alex’s voice had cracked as he spoke, making Jack look back over to him. There was a a sad look on Alex’s face, one that Jack hadn’t seen in quite some time. Even though he was still upset at Alex, he decided to give his boyfriend the benefit of the doubt. 

“You’ve been in a mood? Why’s that?” Jack asked, turning his body to face Alex, wanting to appear less closed off and more interested in what Alex was going to say. 

“Um, I’ve not really been in the holiday spirit this year, as compared to previous years,” Alex started, his face heating up and turning red.

“Oh, well, do you know why? The season’s only just begun, why are you already saying you’re not as into it this year?”

Alex took a deep breath as he shifted around uncomfortably in his seat. He played with the hem of his shirt for a minute as he compiled his thoughts. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. 

“It’s hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. The holidays feel different in a weird way, they don’t feel like I think they should,”

“Okay, in what way do they feel different? I mean, does it feel bad?” 

“Um, bad is a decent word to describe it. Lonely kind of sums it up, too,”

Alex tilted his head down, fixing his gaze on the floor. Jack couldn’t help but feel surprised, he didn’t expect Alex to get so down so quickly. 

“Why do you feel lonely? We always do things together, and with friends and family, at this time of year. Is this year going to be different?”

“Well, it’s going to be like last year, and the year before, which were the first years it felt different,” 

Jack stayed silent for a moment, thinking back to the previous couple years. Suddenly, he realized what Alex might be alluding to, and took a deep breath as he thought about how to proceed. 

“Well, I know your grandfather died a couple years ago, is that what is making Christmas feel weird?” Jack gently asked, scooting closer to Alex. 

“That’s a huge part of it, but I don’t feel that same holiday magic that I used to. I know some of that magic disappeared because I’m not a little kid anymore, but the holidays just feel so weird now. My grandfather passed in November two years ago, right around the holidays. That Christmas, we visited my dad’s family down south, do you remember that?” Alex asked, doing everything in his power to maintain his composure. 

“Yeah, I remember, it was cool to meet everyone,”

“I’m glad you got to meet people, but I felt like we wasted our time being there. My entire family had things planned, my cousins there all have kids and spouses and in-laws, which they didn’t use to. I remember going to visit them down south for Christmas as a kid; people planned around us coming, and we got to spend so much quality time with everyone. We always stayed with my grandparents, who passed way before I met you, or my dad’s brother. We’d hang out with my dad’s other brother’s family, in their little house with 1950’s wallpaper, and my aunt’s creepy dolls and figurines. His family didn’t have a whole bunch of extra money, so gifts were never super extravagant, but it was so fun getting to be with everyone,” Alex explained, a sad smile spreading on his face as he reminisced. 

“That does sound really fun, I never got to experience that since my family is across the world,” Jack replied, not wanting to make the conversation about himself too much; this was about Alex and his feelings. 

“It was the best. Sometimes, we’d go out west to visit my mom’s sister and her family for Christmas. We didn’t do this much, but it was so fun when we did. It was so different than Christmas at home, and with my dad’s family, but it was so fun. Some years, we went up north to visit my mom’s parents, before they moved here, too. It was so cool getting to experience all of these different versions of Christmas with everyone. Of course, that all changed when my mom’s parents moved here, and my dad’s passed,”

“How did it change? Obviously I didn’t know you before that, and I don’t think we’ve ever talked about it before,”

“Well, my mom’s parents moved here, and so did her two siblings, so that’s two versions of Christmas gone. After my dad’s parents passed, we made significantly less of an effort to go visit them, outside of going on vacation in the summer. That was fine, though, because we got to have our own traditions here. Christmas became me, my parents, aunt, uncle, and grandparents; it had been that way since we were in eighth grade. I fell in love with this routine, it was small and cozy, it was all we needed to do. You and I started dating after we’d done Christmas like this for a few years, and it felt so perfect, to have you and my family together, celebrating and spending time with one another,”

“It felt pretty perfect to me, too. I loved getting to spend so much time with your family,”

“They loved getting to know you, too. Anyway, my grandmother passed not long after we started dating, it was right after the holidays, but that was okay; she had severe memory issues, so she was mentally gone for years before she was physically gone. Everything was fine until a couple years ago, when my grandfather passed. That’s the year we went to visit my dad’s family, and it just didn’t feel right. We weren’t all as connected, people had plans they’d already committed to, that was the first thing that made the Christmas magic feel like it was gone,”

Alex took a deep breath, his voice had started to get weaker as he tried to continue talking. Jack could tell that this was really hard for Alex to talk about, so he put a supportive arm around Alex’s shoulders. Alex leaned his head on Jack’s shoulder, then took a deep breath. 

“Then, last year felt all wrong. It was only us, my parents, and my uncle, who no one in my family is super crazy about, anyway. It felt like another random day, it didn’t feel special or magical at all. I know we do stuff with your family, too, which I love, but it just doesn’t feel the same, y’know? I always knew that those Christmas holidays with everyone wouldn’t last forever, but it’s fucking hard to get excited for the season when everything I loved about it is gone,”

Alex brought a hand up to his eyes, trying to wipe away a rogue tear before it could run down his cheek. Jack hugged Alex tighter to him, kissing Alex’s forehead as they sat in silence for a little bit. Alex was able to pull himself back together fairly quickly, taking deep, steady breaths. 

“I had no idea that this was all going through your head, I’m sorry for not noticing, love,” Jack finally said, moving his hand up to stroke Alex’s hair. 

“Don’t apologize, I didn’t really want you or anyone to find out. I really wanted to force myself to enjoy the holidays, or at least pretend to, but when you wanted to put up that damn tree and go shopping for decor, I couldn’t hep but wallow in self-pity about how my family isn’t the same, and it never will be. Jack, I’m so sorry for taking that out on you, that was messed up of me, and I should’ve just kept my negativity to myself,” Alex replied, awkwardly shifting around in his seat. 

“No, I never want you to feel like you have to hide things from me, I want you to be able to talk to me about these kinds of things. I’m really glad that you talked to me about this. I know that I can’t bring your childhood holiday celebrations back, but we can start to do our own traditions and celebrations. Obviously, we still do things with our parents for Christmas, but we can start to do our own things, so we both have something fun to look forward to!” Jack suggested, making Alex smile. 

“That sounds great to me. I know we’ll also get to give the holiday magic to our children when we decide to start a family, which I’m so excited for, but I guess it just feels weird to know that I’m never going to have the holiday celebrations I grew up on back, y’know? I know that I’ll eventually get over it and be okay, but it just feels so weird,”

“That’s fair, you got used to how things were, and you really loved them, it’s hard to let that go. I think keeping those memories, and looking back on them is great, but don’t let them ruin your present and future holidays. Sure, it will never be the same, but we’ll make our own traditions, as the two of us, and with our future family someday. I wish you could have one more Christmas like the ones from your childhood, but now that we’re adults, we can make the holidays special in our own ways,” Jack explained, as Alex wrapped his arm around Jack to give him a proper hug. 

“You’re the best, you know that?” Alex asked, as Jack returned the hug. 

“I try! Seriously though, I want to help you cope with this however I can, and I want you to be able to enjoy this time of year. I love you so much, Alex,”

“I love you too, Jack, thank you for helping me through this. Hey, why don’t we try to decorate the tree and the house again? We can blast Christmas music, drink spiked hot chocolate, and I promise that I won’t be such an ass this time around. What do you say?”

“I think that sounds great, let’s get to it! Maybe we can snuggle up and watch a Christmas movie after we’re done decorating,” Jack suggested, standing up from his seat on the bed. 

“That’s a great idea! I’ll make the cocoa if you want to put on the music!” Alex offered, standing to follow Jack out of the room. 

Jack went into the living room and put a playlist of Christmas music on YouTube. He wished that he could give Alex the Christmas he desperately wanted with his family, but he promised himself that he would do everything he could this holiday season to make Alex’s Christmas as amazing as it could be.

Hello! This fic came to be from some thoughts and feelings I've been having lately, and we all know that I love to base fics off of my personal life. I have a few other ideas bouncing around my head to get written, and I plan on doing that ASAP. I have loved getting back into writing, and I'm so glad there are still people who enjoy reading my work, after all this time! Thanks again for the support, I really appreciate it! -Liv

[whennnow]

A Periwinkle Bralette

May 12, 2022

[Image ID: a photo of a bralette laid flat on a cutting mat. The bralette is made of a periwinkle-colored burnout velvet with elastic in a coordinating color.]

I was suddenly overtaken by the urge to make cute bralettes as an excuse to buy fabrics I don't get to work with in my historical sewing. This urge hits me every once in a while, so I had a few pdf patterns saved already.

A quick trip to Joann Fabrics left me with a yard each of two burnout velvets - one stretch and one non-stretch.

I wanted to start with the stretchy velvet, which is a lovely periwinkle color, and decided to use the free Barrett Bralette pattern from Madalynne Intimates. Then I had to go searching for the other materials I needed - stretch mesh, three (3) different kinds of elastic, and a set of rings and sliders.

The mesh, rings, and sliders I bought from Madalynne Intimates (and I later bought more sliders and a G-hook from Tailor Made for another project). The elastic all came from Bias Bespoke. Bias Bespoke has a lot of elastic in a lot of colors! The three elastics I ordered all had the same color name and looked similar in color, but I was worried they wouldn't match because they were from different brands. They did match, though - nearly identical!

With all my supplies assembled, I could assemble the bralette.

I risked going with a straight size from the pattern, because of the stretch, and it worked well for me. The instructions say to do the center front seam first, then the cup seams, then attach the back. All the seams except the center front are done in such a way that the seam allowances are enclosed. I decided to have all the seams end up enclosed that way, but do the center front last because it made more sense to me.

My sewing machine did not like this fabric. Possibly because it was stretchy and slippery. Possibly because of the varying textures of the burnout velvet. Probably both. But we struggled through.

Then it was on to elastics. The pattern calls for picot elastic for the edges, but I wasn't vibing with picot edging so I got fold-over elastic instead. I should have trimmed off the seam allowances along the edges for that, but I didn't. It's only a quarter-inch difference so it's not a huge deal.

Next I attached the wider band elastic along the bottom, mostly following the instructions.

I'm fairly pleased with how well the elastics went, considering I've never really sewed with elastics, but The edges did turn out a bit wavy and my stitching was sloppy. I think I should have made the elastic tighter in the armscye area too. It's comfortable, though!

After that, it was just the straps. The rings get attached to the pointy part on top of the cups, which was a bit difficult to put through my machine but we made it. Then I attached one end of the strap to the center bar of the slider, thread the other end through the ring and back through the slider like a belt. Once I decided how long I wanted the strap to be and where I wanted it to attach in the back, I could sew it down and I was done!

It's not perfect by a long shot, but it's still pretty darn good and I like wearing it!

There are some things I would change if I used this pattern again. For one, the neckline feels a bit narrow, so I'd add half an inch or so at the center front seam, and remove that much from the back band. I would also straighten out the top part of the curved seams over the bust - my bust just isn't shaped like that, and I get a bit of wrinkling there. I might even go down a size so the band is tighter and the cups are more supportive.

This was a fun experiment, and I enjoy wearing the results! There will definitely be more experiments with lingerie/loungewear in my future.

Until next time.

Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.

[fordphilipsfictionlibrary]

Tome Tester; Part 07

Scooping the third tome from the containment box, Sherwin eyed it suspiciously. ‘Floorboards’ was innocuous enough a title to have him suddenly worried. Hoping the absence of actual floorboards here in the Dome might work to his advantage, he reached out and connected with the tome. The resonance was weak at first, but once he activated it, he could tell something had changed, he just didn’t know what. 

“No outwards signs of magic,” a voice said. “Any indications of what may be happening on your end Mr….Alma?”

“No,” Sherwin said. Knowing what was expected of him, Sherwin slipped into a trance and searched himself for signs of magical change. He was shocked to eventually find it in his feet. “My feet,” he said, coming out of his trance. Getting an idea, he jumped from the rectangle, leaping as high as he could. He came down without a sound. Trying to walk as loudly as he could, slapping the soles of his shoes, such as they were in this infernal suit, but it was dead silent in the Dome. 

“Quite interesting,” a voice said. 

“I feel as though I’m not using the full potential of this magic,” Sherwin said. It was sort of a nagging feeling, at the moment oddly centered in the soles of his feet. “May I request a short wall just shy of my position?” They would meet the request without question, but it was considered customary for the Tester to ask nonetheless. 

The wall rose up before him without a word from his superiors. Walking up to it, Sherwin placed one foot flat on the wall’s face. “There it is,” he muttered, feeling the sole of his foot adhering to the wall. Soon he was walking up its sleek marble face, then standing atop it. He felt entirely secure despite the meager strip of stone he was perched on. 

“Remarkable,” a voice said.

“But hardly unique. Everyday charms and spells can…”

“But those wear off. This will not, not until the connection is severed and that connection requires little to no effort.”

“This could make an assassin without magical ability formidable.”

“Its intended purpose I assume.”

“Dangerous.”

“Most things of value are.”

“Quite right.”

“Agreed.”

Sherwin walked down the sheer face of the wall, severed his connection with the odd little tome and slid it down the right-hand chute. 

Grabbing the second to last tome, he felt the familiar antsy feeling that tended to come over him once he’d passed the halfway point. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but he could feel sun on his face and money in his palm regardless. Setting the sea colored volume on the pedestal. He activated it without hesitation. He wanted to get out of here or face what was coming. No point dragging his feet now. 

Once again and to his mild surprise, he recognized his feet as the major area of magical change. The wall they had pulled up for him was still present, so he approached it and tried walking up it to no avail.

“In the feet again?” a voice asked.

“Seems so,” Sherwin replied.

“The book seemed nautical in nature.”

“Agreed.”

“Flood it?”

“Flood it,” several voices agreed, though Sherwin’s was not one of them.

 Without warning the Dome suddenly began filling with sea water. It was leaking from the floor as if the Dome itself was sinking into the abyss. This only mildly alarmed Sherwin, it had happened before, twice now, in his time working as a Tester, but soon he was smiling as he realized he was in no danger.

“Water level is fine,” a voice said and the flooding ceased.

It was maybe ten feet deep and Sherwin stood atop its surface, feeling a bit unsteady, but not in danger. 

“Mobility test,” a voice commanded.

Sherwin took a few wobbly steps before realizing this couldn’t be the way he was meant to travel. If the goal was floatation, this wasn’t exactly the best way to do it, so locomotion had to be the purpose, at least that’s what Sherwin thought. Refocusing his attention inward, he felt as though if he were to urge himself in a given direction, that might be all it took to start heading that way. Forcing himself to keep his eyes open, it didn’t pay to travel blind in any situation, he urged himself forward. Soon he was skimming across the water's surface, his heels leaving the barest of trails behind him. Adjusting his course was easy as deciding to do so. It really was an excellent feeling. Liberating. 

“Remove water,” a voice said and Sherwin stopped his skimming and rode the receding water’s surface downward until his feet once again touched the marble floor.

“That seemed enjoyable.”

“It was,” Sherwin admitted.

“Was mental control difficult?”

“Couldn’t have been easier,” Sherwin said.

“Could you have gone faster?”

“In open waters, surely. I kept my speed safe considering I was indoors,” Sherwin said.

“Prudent.”

“Could be useful for recreation or rescue operations.”

“I’d hedge my bets on recreation.”

“The water's surface is actually quite dangerous travel-wise, especially exposed like that.”

“How so?”

“Predators like to strike at the water's surface and from below. Easy way to find yourself bitten in half.”

“Unfortunate.” 

“But useful.”

“In the right context, yes.”

“Agreed.” 

Into the right-hand chute it went.

(Part 08)

[casspurrjoybell-32]

*Warning Adult Content*

MARKING EACH OTHER - Chapter 17

Alek

There was something about the way Ahote was pacing about the room that made me nervous, he would walk around in circles in front of the bed, pause as stare at the wall and maybe give me a smile if he caught my eyes before repeating the odd behavior again.

I didn't know what he was pacing but whatever it was certainly bothered him, it was around eight at night and a good chunk of the wolves had left the pack house for their own cabins and flats across the pack grounds.

I could still hear some kids playing from the open window as they ran past it, their laughs and shouts occasionally filled the small room that had once belonged to Honon and that was now mine.     

Ahote stopped in his tracks before running his fingers through his hair as he looked from the walls to the floor. he nibbled his bottom lip like he did when he was deep in thought, before turning to lock eyes with me.

It was sudden, so my eyes widened from surprise, he gave me a soft smile before walking over to the bed I was sitting on.     

"I've been thinking," he started, taking the space beside me on the bed before picking at the wool of the blanket on top of it.   

"I noticed," I muttered and he smiled again, I mirrored it, not sure if it was one of good news or bad news, I just wanted Ahote to get whatever that was troubling him off his chest,

The omega looked away from me again but he scooted closer to me before taking a hold of my arm and resting his head on my shoulder. it was a calming gesture and it made me less worried about what he had to say to me.     

The laughter and yelling of the kids completely died down when the sound of a woman shouting over theirs made them go pin silent. it seemed like they were being shooed off to bed, the absence of their noise made the room go completely silent.

Ahote hadn't said anything yet, he was putting pressure on my arm by tightening his grip and then untightening it, as I wondered about what was in his mind, I let myself rest my head on his too.

"You're staying here right?"     

I groaned, rolling my eyes at his words.

"Of course," I answered, not needing any more detail about what he was talking about.

For the past week, Ahote would randomly ask me if I was planning to stay in the pack, he did it everywhere, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, when we were lying down side by side... everywhere.

I wondered why he kept asking me this, I've communicated my feelings about this before, he was making it seem like he was the one waiting for me to make up my mind and not the other way around.     

"That's if I'm allowed to," I added, remembering that it wasn't a guarantee, I could want to stay here but that didn't mean the pack elders would let me.

The construction up North was still going on and it didn't look like it would end anytime soon but what would happen if it did end at one point and I was asked to leave?

I couldn't do anything about that, that wasn't within my control.     

"I know, I know," Ahote mumbled, raising his head from my shoulder before creating some space between us, his brown eyes were giving me a determined look and it seemed like he was on the verge of finally telling me what was going on in his head.

"I just wanted to be sure before I asked my question," he muttered as his eyes fell on the space between us.

"I don't think it's a secret that we want to be with each other," he started, finding the will to look back at me again.

"But I'm not sure why it seems so hard to ask if you'd like to get bound to me. Like tied... I'm not sure what you call it where you're from," he muttered as his tan skin caught a bit of color, it took a while for me to figure out what he was saying, but when it clicked my face warmed up too.

"Like a marriage," I said in a low voice and Ahote licked his lips, nodding his head slowly and making the stands of his long hair fall over his face like a thin curtain. 

"Is that taking things too far?" he asked softly, and I wasn't sure how to answer him.

"We're not mates but I don't think that matters in a decision like that, does it?" it seemed like he was asking me the question, rather than it being rhetorical, did it matter?

I wasn't sure, I knew getting tied was something mates did when they decided to start a family, though it wasn't a mate exclusive thing, I've known people whose mates have died getting bound to new people after some time. 

"I don't think that's taking things too far," I said.

"That's what I want. Someone to love. Someone to start a family with and of course, I want that someone to be you. Do you think it's taking things too far?" I asked, reminding him that he was the one with the options here, he was the one with a mate, he was the one that would carry any sort of burden attached to this. 

The look on his face told me that he was conflicted, I reached out to brush the hair away from his face and my heart became full from simply staring at his slim face and full lips, he was glowing slightly and it made me wonder if he would be on heat soon.     

"Can I ask you a question?" Ahote asked in a low tone as I brushed his cheek with the base of my thumb.

Even the freckles he got from heat damage when working in the garden sat well with his face, e looked amazing, he always looked amazing and for a slight second, I forgot we were in the middle of a conversation.     

"Can I?" he repeated, making me realize that I had forgotten to answer him.     

"Sure," I muttered in a soft voice, leaning in to steal a kiss before pulling away.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," I apologized, licking my lips.

I watched Ahote's eyelids flutter and soon his gaze was on my lips, then my chest and then on his hands that he had nested in his lap.

"Do you love me?" I wasn't sure why the question surprised me but it did, I blinked back a few times and pulling away from him before facing forward and staring at the red brick walls.

"Yes, I do. I thought that was as plain as day?" I said, realizing that even though those where the feelings I had within me, I'd never properly expressed them verbally.     

"I love you," I said as I turned to face him.

"I'm saying it now. I love you," I repeated reaching for one of his hands before giving it a soft squeeze, his hands weren't soft like in the winter.

They had a rough texture like that of someone who worked a lot, which was the case now that we were in the middle of spring but his fingers were lean and those were the fingers that touched my skin and made my heart race when they teased my body or latched on to me playfully.   

"Do you? Do you love me?" I asked, watching as Ahote's eyes grew wide.

To be honest, it wasn't something I thought about, I had just put two and two together over the course of our time together but it seemed like it was something he thought about a lot because my question made him nervous and he didn't seem like he was able to meet my gaze.     

"Y-yes," he managed, finding his voice, his words made the edge of my lips tug up in a smile, it was so wide and almost painful, even.

I reached out to take his other hand, before giving it a soft squeeze as well.     

"Won't you look at me?" I asked, noticing that he wouldn't still meet my gaze. 

"I'm a little overwhelmed," he mumbled and I chucked.     

"That's alright," I said, pulling him towards me before hugging him to my chest.

Elan was sleeping alone in Ahote's room, he had passed out after having me make cups of hot chocolate for him.

For whatever reason, it fascinated him and I only stopped because I got scolded by one of the housekeepers who told me chocolate made the cubs sick.     

We stayed like that for a bit, hugging each other in the room lit by the orange glow of cheap fluorescence bulbs, Ahote stirred and I loosened my grip a bit so that he had some space to adjust.

He took the chance to sit up a bit, staring at me with a small smile before catching my lips with his, we kissed for a while, his soft tongue finding its way in my mouth.

He'd gotten better at kissing, at touching and allowing himself to enjoy the moment, it had taken a while for him to open up to the extent where he didn't seem scared of his own urges or scared of me and mine.

I realized that whatever had happened on that night he got pregnant and had sex for the first time must have deterred him, tthe thoughts about Honon didn't allow me to melt into the kiss as I had wanted to, I ended up breaking it, before getting off the bed and heading towards the closet.     

"Did I do something wrong?" I heard Ahote ask as I went through the closet to find what I was looking for.     

"No, I just remembered something that I should have shown you a long time ago," I muttered, finding the box of books, pictures, and stray exam papers.     

"For Honon," I said, turning to face him with the box I had in my hand, he looked perplexed but once I walked over to the bed and dropped it on the mattress Ahote got a better look at its contents.

He let out something that was a cross between a sob and a whine and for a minute I wondered if it was a good idea to have brought it out, he must have known it was there or did he just never check?     

"Should I put it back?" I asked, noticing how Ahote was staring at the cardboard box like it was a mail from Hades.     

"No. I just... I don't know," he mumbled under his breath, pulling his fingers as he looked from the box to me, and then at the box.

"I don't want to look at her," he muttered, making me realize he must have noticed who his mate left him for.     

After some thought, I walked over to Ahote before taking a seat beside him at the edge of the bed. 

"She's really pretty," I muttered.

"Yes," he said, agreeing with me in a matter of fact tone.     

"Does that make you upset?" I asked, scooting closer to him until our thighs were touching through the fabric of our pants, Ahote sighed, leaning forward before covering his face with his hands.   

"Before," he muttered.   

"What about now?" I asked and he seemed to hesitate for a bit before saying...

"I don't know."     

I hummed to myself before stretching behind him to pull the box to my side, I picked up the stack of pictures at the top before going through them myself.

"Are you sure you don't want to look?" I asked and Ahote raised his head a bit peeking at me from the space between his fingers.   

"Why should I?"   

"If you're jealous of her doesn't that mean you still like Honon?" I asked and Ahote sat still as if he had just realized something.     

"I haven't really thought about him that way in a long while..." he trailed and I nodded.

It made sense, the few times we've slept together would have weakened their bond to a mere tinge, I wasn't sure if it could be completely broken but while talking to Lupa he'd given me a reason to believe it was possible and it would just vanish over time. 

"Or you could just mark him to make the process faster."     

I swallowed down, blinking back when I remembered his words as we were crouched over the dead moose the hunters had just shoot down.

Marking was a sign of property claim, ownership and marking something that has already been marked was like stealing and it was sometimes it was seen as an outright challenge to ownership.

That was why the rogue pack in the town over clashed so much with the Peace River pack so much, they went around marking already claimed territory, it was a similar concept from where I was from.     

"She's very pretty," Ahote's words brought me out of my thoughts, I hadn't noticed when I decided to look at the pictures I had in my hand.     

"But you know..." Ahote started, sitting up.

"It doesn't bother me. I don't care," he said and I looked at him, staring at the part of his neck where his shirt hung low and exposed his collar bone, I had an urge to reach out and touch it, I wanted to kiss him there, bite him there.   

"Is something the matter?" he asked and I nodded being honest.     

"What is it?" he asked, cocking his head as if giving me a proper look would make him understand what was going on in my head.     

"You asked me if I wanted to get bound to you and I said yes," I started and Ahote nodded, showing me that he was following.

"If I asked to mark you, would you say yes?" I asked and Ahote seemed taken aback, he reached out for his neck were the fading pierce mark Honon had given him sat.

To a human, they looked like two fading chicken pox scars but to wolves, it meant so much more, it was only second to binding bracelets.     

"Yes," he said after a while, letting go of his neck.

"I'd say yes. I'm saying yes," he muttered, nodding to himself as he pulled down his shirt a bit.

"You can do it now."   

I wanted to do it but I didn't want it to be rushed.

I took off my shirt before reaching out to tug the hems of Ahote's and he got the message and took his off too, I leaned in to kiss him, letting my hand run down his chest as we deepened the warm kiss.

As we sighed and mewled into each other's mouths we moved into the bed more and somehow knocked over the cardboard box filled with Honon's things. 

I pulled away from Ahote to remove my pants and underwear, before helping him out of his, we stayed in bed, touching, kissing and staring at each other.

I moved to spoon Ahote, kissing down his neck and shoulder as I let my hand travel to cup between his legs, as he moaned and bucked, I took the opportunity to press my emerged canines on his neck, his skin tensed against my teeth and I could feel his pulse, he was nervous.     

"Do it, what are you waiting for?" he asked in a coarse tone as his hand reached out to rest over the one, I had between his legs.

"I'll be fine."     

With a little hesitance, I pressed down and Ahote let out a cry, I stayed put for a bit, as he spazzed and tried to get used to the pain.

When he had calmed down a bit, I drew out my teeth before coaxing the wounds I had created with saliva.     

I turned Ahote around so that he could face me, his face was wet, meaning that he had probably shed a few tears from the pain and he was still shaking.     

"I'm sorry," I muttered, not knowing how to control the dread inside me at having to see the man I was in love with, in pain because I was being a little selfish.     

"It's fine," he muttered but the way he shivered as if recalling the pain didn't allow me to believe him.     

"You should mark me too... if you want," I said pulling him closer to me.

His head was resting on my shoulder and it just seemed like the right time, he nodded against my shoulder, pressing a kiss to it before biting down.     

It wasn't painless but it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, I guess I can simply withstand more because I've encountered much worse from hunting parties gone wrong.   

When Ahote withdrew his teeth and licked over the wound I felt them close a bit and my chest was filled with happiness from the fact that what those scars were would be recognizable from tomorrow morning.     

I think Ahote was tired because he slept after that but I couldn't sleep, the way my heart was pounding in my chest wouldn't let me.

Ahote was mine and even if Honon showed up today, I wouldn't give him back.

[vinciwolf]

Calling Them Daddy

Recom Miles Quaritch x (fem) reader/Recom Lyle Wainfleet x (fem) reader

Warnings: SMUT, piv, female reader, riding, daddy kink, roughness

Notes: Here’s a small drabble until I get “Morning Bean” published. I have to tie up the ending and proofread, so it should be published in a few days!

~ Miles Quaritch ~

The first time you said the name was when Quaritch was pounding you from behind, girthy head hitting you hard against your sweet spot.

Face lined with sweat, the Colonel's abs flexed hard, rippling to the exertion he put into slamming his hips again and again just to get that ringing, pitched voice of yours to never stop its song as you spewed your slick along his huge cock.

The burn drove your mind wild, fisting the sheets as your whines carried over the walls and likely into the hallways for everyone to hear, only worsening the thrill that shot through your core when you knew the Colonel loved making sure everyone knew you were his.

You didn't mean for it to slip out. Your mind was so helplessly drunk on the way his cock, stretching you out, tucked its entire girth away with every thrust curving just right, to the volume of hot cum ejecting from your stuffed hole, that your tongue spoke for itself and whimpered amidst Miles’ grunts and snarls.

“Hnnnggg, oh daddy~!”

Quaritch's hips came to a standstill immediately, all attention going to what just passed his ears, even questioning if he heard right, only to start whacking his hips against your ass cheeks once more with a fervent blaze in his eyes, pupils blown out and dark.

"Yeah? You like daddy's cock?" He growled between split lips upturned into a wicked smile, fangs peeking forward.

You mewled and nodded, only making the cock inside you ram faster.

.

.

.

~ Lyle Wainfleet ~

It was during the post-work glow from pumping iron at the gym, bodies in the aftermath of burning energy, that had you saying the word.

Lyle was flat on the bed while you rode him, fingers gripping the tender flesh of your thighs, not embarrassed in the slightest letting out the loudest, dirtiest groans of pleasure that even the walls would probably get pregnant from hearing.

But who could blame him? His long cock glided effortlessly bouncing to and from the back end of your pussy, jutting his warmth through your walls that had your cheeks deepening in color, skin glistening with a soft luster of sweat. The way you sucked him in and clenched around his length made the world seem to spin on a swivel. All he could focus on was how smooth and wet you slipped around him like a glove.

You were so good to him and so goddamn beautiful as he watched your hole take him with every pass of your slit along his shaft, breasts jiggling to your body hustling up and down, face contorted to the mirrored high he was feeling.

Then there was a pitiful coo, faint enough to be almost lost to the ears by the Corporal's exuberant vocals.

"Mmph, hhmmmph, so good daddy~"

The air stilled and the enthusiasm from the Recom faded, making you stop in worry that you'd done something wrong.

Then your world was suddenly turned over as you were shoved back first into the mattress, legs swinging to the frenzied movements of Lyle's hips now rutting into your cunt from on top.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!!!" you cried, hands squeezing the Corporal's shoulder blades.

"Yeah, lemme hear it~ Let daddy take care of you this time~"

.

.

.

Tags: @thegrandimperfection @blue-bluee @mileswifefr @deliwrites @ikranwings @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed @avatar-lover @justasimps-blog @mechformers @whereireid @whxre-bxby @miscellaneousfantasies​

[canarydraws]

Hey y’all, here are some process stages for one of the more recent illustrations I did!

My sketches have never been very detailed. I remember being inspired for a pose while scrolling through pintrest and just threw some lines down on a page. I think more about the general pose and feeling I want more than the worry of anatomical correctness because I know I’ll fix it as I go.

In the next stage I establish stronger more contrasting colors and start to define the form of some shapes. The anatomy is still bad so at this point I’ll start to use the warp tool to move things around and adjust proportions. I also end up using the selection tool to cut various parts of the figure apart in order to put them back together in a way I like (I do not recommend doing this lol the sooner you can establish a solid foundation the better because it’ll save you a lot of work as you go. I just have a really hard time seeing my mistakes until I have something visual to work off of.) I alternate using the warp tool and selection tool and painting again and again until I get something relatively presentable like what I have at stage 3!

At this point all I have left are color adjustments and tweaking some small details. I usually don’t make such drastic color changes at the end of my work because I’ll have found my desired pallet through rendering. However with this one I wasn’t yet sure if I wanted a strong blue bg to contrast the orange of Lucéena’s eye or if I wanted the eye itself to be the main point of color. I knew I wanted the eye to stand out so I thought it was worth trying some things. That’s also why I decided to leave some parts messy in the final piece. I wanted the most well-rendered area to be Lucéena’s face to bring attention to that new shines eye she has.

I hope this was interesting and insightful!

With every illustration, I start off with a loose sketch. At this stage I’m not worried about perfection, my lines are more to serves as composition guides so I know where things will roughly go. If there are parts of the illustration that I know I want to put a lot of detail into (such as the face) I will often give that part more time. Then, I jump into colors by laying down flats behind the lineart and then beginning the process of refinement with a new layer on top. At this stage I would have 4 layers, 1 as the bg color (the blue expanse), 2 as the flats of the character, 3 as the line sketch, and 4 as the rough detailing. After this the number of layers I uses depends on how much of the illustration I want to preserve from itself or how many layer filters I end up using (to tweak color and lighting). Still, my illustrations always start with these 4. Once I get to a rendering point similar to stage 2 I start worrying more about the “correctness” of my structure and how I can make the anatomy more realistic. To do this, I like to duplicate then merge all of my layers, excluding the bg layer. Now I have my character one one whole layer and the expanse of blue on another. I have the individual layers still on hand if I want to refer to my og sketch but at this point having them all as one is easier to work with because to tweak the anatomy of a character I usually cut them up into parts and move/warp them to be more precise. Is this the most effective method? Probably not, but I rely a lot on the warp tool to get the exact shapes that I want. And seeing shapes for me is a lot easier when I have some color and value to work with. (I’m not a very “line visual” person if that makes sense XD) The rest of my process is a combination of rendering and adjusting details with the warp tool. At the very end I did some color adjustments (seen between stages 3 and 4) to see if I could get them closer to the initial feel that I wanted. Because I drew this to showcase Luceena’s new magic eye I wanted that to be the focal point of the illustration. So not only is that the place I put the most detail into, it’s also where I wanted the most color to be. I thought that having a blue bg would contrast nicely with the orange of her eye, but I ended up desaturating the whole piece and let that one note of color stand by itself. Lucéena also received her eye in the Shadowfell so the grey, drab vibes ended up fitting perfectly!