#Supplementary Allowance

[obcrightsseo]

How to get the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarships-obcrights

The Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarships for Research Students are open to international students aspiring to pursue graduate courses in Japan. Eligible candidates must be born on or after April 2, 1989, and have completed 16 years of education, with a minimum of 70% in their previous degree. Successful applicants will receive a monthly stipend of up to JPY 145,000, tuition exemption, and travel expenses coverage. Required documents include academic transcripts, degree certificates, research plans, and recommendation letters. Applicants must register online and submit their application via email in a single Microsoft Word file. For detailed information, refer to the scholarship’s official guidelines.

To know more : https://obcrights.org/blog/scholarships/scholarships-provided-by-foreign-entities-to-indian-students/japanese-government-mext-scholarship-for-research-students/japanese-government-mext-scholarships-for-research-students/

[mantisgodsdomain]

Moiralliegance is a relationship where you and your darling partner look at evil route videos and say fun things like "karlach should be allowed to be evil" and "it's so sexy when shadowheart talks about wringing every drop of the nightsong's blood out of her clothing to bottle and use to desecrate an idol of selune" and of course "women should be allowed to kill"

[antirepurp]

idk i just do not understand the concept of a movie based on a franchise assuming the viewers are already intimately familiar with the characters they feature. it's one thing to give nods to those who are already fans in fun and harmless references that don't compromise the overall experience, and assuming everyone is already expecting the plot twist you're throwing down the line and treating it as such. shit like that is what makes things like everything marvel related (and funnily enough the american issue format of comics that that shit is based on) so impenetrable and inaccessible to new people that it drives away everyone unwilling to Consume hours of media as prep-work and it just disgusts me

[lovejenkins]

🙃🙃🙃

[momochanners]

After a good night's sleep, I think I can better solidify my thoughts in regards to the Dragon Age trailer.

First, let's start with the positives:

- Companion diversity: This has always been part of the series' DNA that has been clearly depicted with every iteration, so those who cry foul over "Asian & Black elves", prosthethics, etc etc...I really don't get that, because values and sensibilities evolve over time. Even the series itself has course corrected when needed, eg. Player character creation influencing the family ethnicity of the Couslands in DA:O vs the Hawkes in DA2.

- Unlocked romances: Letting players choose whoever they want to romance regardless of their sexuality and race has always been a positive for me. Allowing everyone to enjoy the experience equally is great (and I'm sure the nuances of player race & gender will be addressed through dialogue and banter). Moreover, CRPGs are long and time-consuming, so to be locked out of character romances mid-way through is never going to be a good time (from personal experience and observing fandom in the past).

Now the negatives:

- Maybe it's me being on the older side of the Bioware fandom (15 years in Dragon Age, 20 years if you count older games like KotOR and Jade Empire), but I cringed very hard watching the trailer. If you followed the development of this game in the past decade, the cancelled live service element that was to be DA4 in one of its iterations was so all over the way the companions were introduced that it brought out a visceral reaction in me. The tonal whiplash from how foreboding Dreadwolf was presented in the past to the patronising happy quippy MEET OUR LITTLE GUYS YOU'RE SURE TO LOVE also did not help as a first concrete look of what to expect after all this time (also poor anachronistic choice of soundtrack when you already have Trevor Morris' compositions right there). I was so dismayed when they went with a looter-shooter-esque lighthearted vibe when they could've leaned hard on the foreboding established mood and momentum they've already got going with Dreadwolf. 

- The branding switch this late in the game that comes with it, especially one as drastic as this will always come with questions and ambivalence. I feel that mitigating uncertainty from announced changes (party number, combat mechanics, setting and environment, etc) should've have been prioritised to reassure existing and lapsed fans before appealing to new ones in such a jarring way.

-  I'm simply baffled at the marketing suit who signed off on whatever this is to be their "best foot forward" at reintroducing the final form of this game? If only there were confident with the world they've already built instead of relying on trendy gimmicks, the amount of damage control I'm seeing prior to the gameplay reveal tonight was so avoidable. Controlling the narrative from the get go is so very important especially now as opinions can easily snowball overnight into behemoth-like proportions especially from bad faith actors. You would think that lessons were learned from DA:O's "THIS IS THE NEW SHIT" and DA2's "Press a button, something AWESOME happens" debacles.

(The thing is, despite it being my least favourite DA out of the three, imho Inquisition has the best marketing campaign in the franchise despite the developmental troubles going on in the background. So it has been pulled off successfully before!)

- I think the Bioware layoffs, especially the recent extensive gutting of senior staff in September 2023, significantly depleted my goodwill as a fan. To see Varric being paraded as a mascot in the trailer, game promotion and supplementary media while having his creator unceremoniously let go after years of building the franchise we love left me so very cold. And it's a me problem, but seeing many other fans barely acknowledging that save for few hollow words before getting back into the fun frustrated me so much. I get being excited to finally get something solid after years of false starts, but with what was lost along the way...I personally don't feel right to approach this installment without cynicism.

Idk, I'm just a bundle of conflicted feelings over this series I guess? When it's so good, it's really good and stays with you as memorable gaming experiences that stays with you for life, but when it stumbles and fumbles the bag...it hurts to see.

[angelpuns]

Kid Leo Au - Supplementary Brains and Brawn comic

Part 2

Posting this early for science (cause I felt like it)

I think Raph should be allowed to sleep with a plushy, esp after the events of the movie :) Honestly, Leo probably crawls into bed with him most nights, but they're trying to get him to sleep in his own bed (he has yet to spend an entire night in his own room, which I might make a comic bout later)

Kid Leo Au masterpost | First | Next

[antoniosvivaldi]

Neural Filters Tutorial for Gifmakers by @antoniosvivaldi

Hi everyone! In light of my blog’s 10th birthday, I’m delighted to reveal my highly anticipated gifmaking tutorial using Neural Filters - a very powerful collection of filters that really broadened my scope in gifmaking over the past 12 months.

Before I get into this tutorial, I want to thank @laurabenanti, @maines , @cobbbvanth, and @cal-kestis for their unconditional support over the course of my journey of investigating the Neural Filters & their valuable inputs on the rendering performance!

In this tutorial, I will outline what the Photoshop Neural Filters do and how I use them in my workflow - multiple examples will be provided for better clarity. Finally, I will talk about some known performance issues with the filters & some feasible workarounds.

Tutorial Structure:

Meet the Neural Filters: What they are and what they do

Why I use Neural Filters? How I use Neural Filters in my giffing workflow

Getting started: The giffing workflow in a nutshell and installing the Neural Filters

Applying Neural Filters onto your gif: Making use of the Neural Filters settings; with multiple examples

Testing your system: recommended if you’re using Neural Filters for the first time

Rendering performance: Common Neural Filters performance issues & workarounds

For quick reference, here are the examples that I will show in this tutorial:

Example 1: Image Enhancement | improving the image quality of gifs prepared from highly compressed video files

Example 2: Facial Enhancement | enhancing an individual's facial features

Example 3: Colour Manipulation | colourising B&W gifs for a colourful gifset

Example 4: Artistic effects | transforming landscapes & adding artistic effects onto your gifs

Example 5: Putting it all together | my usual giffing workflow using Neural Filters

What you need & need to know:

Software: Photoshop 2021 or later (recommended: 2023 or later)*

Hardware: 8GB of RAM; having a supported GPU is highly recommended*

Difficulty: Advanced (requires a lot of patience); knowledge in gifmaking and using video timeline assumed

Key concepts: Smart Layer / Smart Filters

Benchmarking your system: Neural Filters test files**

Supplementary materials: Tutorial Resources / Detailed findings on rendering gifs with Neural Filters + known issues***

*I primarily gif on an M2 Max MacBook Pro that's running Photoshop 2024, but I also have experiences gifmaking on few other Mac models from 2012 ~ 2023.

**Using Neural Filters can be resource intensive, so it’s helpful to run the test files yourself. I’ll outline some known performance issues with Neural Filters and workarounds later in the tutorial.

***This supplementary page contains additional Neural Filters benchmark tests and instructions, as well as more information on the rendering performance (for Apple Silicon-based devices) when subject to heavy Neural Filters gifmaking workflows

Tutorial under the cut. Like / Reblog this post if you find this tutorial helpful. Linking this post as an inspo link will also be greatly appreciated!

1. Meet the Neural Filters!

Neural Filters are powered by Adobe's machine learning engine known as Adobe Sensei. It is a non-destructive method to help streamline workflows that would've been difficult and/or tedious to do manually.

Here are the Neural Filters available in Photoshop 2024:

Skin Smoothing: Removes blemishes on the skin

Smart Portrait: This a cloud-based filter that allows you to change the mood, facial age, hair, etc using the sliders+

Makeup Transfer: Applies the makeup (from a reference image) to the eyes & mouth area of your image

Landscape Mixer: Transforms the landscape of your image (e.g. seasons & time of the day, etc), based on the landscape features of a reference image

Style Transfer: Applies artistic styles e.g. texturings (from a reference image) onto your image

Harmonisation: Applies the colour balance of your image based on the lighting of the background image+

Colour Transfer: Applies the colour scheme (of a reference image) onto your image

Colourise: Adds colours onto a B&W image

Super Zoom: Zoom / crop an image without losing resolution+

Depth Blur: Blurs the background of the image

JPEG Artefacts Removal: Removes artefacts caused by JPEG compression

Photo Restoration: Enhances image quality & facial details

+These three filters aren't used in my giffing workflow. The cloud-based nature of Smart Portrait leads to disjointed looking frames. For Harmonisation, applying this on a gif causes Neural Filter timeout error. Finally, Super Zoom does not currently support output as a Smart Filter

If you're running Photoshop 2021 or earlier version of Photoshop 2022, you will see a smaller selection of Neural Filters:

Things to be aware of:

You can apply up to six Neural Filters at the same time

Filters where you can use your own reference images: Makeup Transfer (portraits only), Landscape Mixer, Style Transfer (not available in Photoshop 2021), and Colour Transfer

Later iterations of Photoshop 2023 & newer: The first three default presets for Landscape Mixer and Colour Transfer are currently broken.

2. Why I use Neural Filters?

Here are my four main Neural Filters use cases in my gifmaking process. In each use case I'll list out the filters that I use:

Enhancing Image Quality:

Common wisdom is to find the highest quality video to gif from for a media release & avoid YouTube whenever possible. However for smaller / niche media (e.g. new & upcoming musical artists), prepping gifs from highly compressed YouTube videos is inevitable.

So how do I get around with this? I have found Neural Filters pretty handy when it comes to both correcting issues from video compression & enhancing details in gifs prepared from these highly compressed video files.

Filters used: JPEG Artefacts Removal / Photo Restoration

Facial Enhancement:

When I prepare gifs from highly compressed videos, something I like to do is to enhance the facial features. This is again useful when I make gifsets from compressed videos & want to fill up my final panel with a close-up shot.

Filters used: Skin Smoothing / Makeup Transfer / Photo Restoration (Facial Enhancement slider)

Colour Manipulation:

Neural Filters is a powerful way to do advanced colour manipulation - whether I want to quickly transform the colour scheme of a gif or transform a B&W clip into something colourful.

Filters used: Colourise / Colour Transfer

Artistic Effects:

This is one of my favourite things to do with Neural Filters! I enjoy using the filters to create artistic effects by feeding textures that I've downloaded as reference images. I also enjoy using these filters to transform the overall the atmosphere of my composite gifs. The gifsets where I've leveraged Neural Filters for artistic effects could be found under this tag on usergif.

Filters used: Landscape Mixer / Style Transfer / Depth Blur

How I use Neural Filters over different stages of my gifmaking workflow:

I want to outline how I use different Neural Filters throughout my gifmaking process. This can be roughly divided into two stages:

Stage I: Enhancement and/or Colourising | Takes place early in my gifmaking process. I process a large amount of component gifs by applying Neural Filters for enhancement purposes and adding some base colourings.++

Stage II: Artistic Effects & more Colour Manipulation | Takes place when I'm assembling my component gifs in the big PSD / PSB composition file that will be my final gif panel.

I will walk through this in more detail later in the tutorial.

++I personally like to keep the size of the component gifs in their original resolution (a mixture of 1080p & 4K), to get best possible results from the Neural Filters and have more flexibility later on in my workflow. I resize & sharpen these gifs after they're placed into my final PSD composition files in Tumblr dimensions.

3. Getting started

The essence is to output Neural Filters as a Smart Filter on the smart object when working with the Video Timeline interface. Your workflow will contain the following steps:

Prepare your gif

In the frame animation interface, set the frame delay to 0.03s and convert your gif to the Video Timeline

In the Video Timeline interface, go to Filter > Neural Filters and output to a Smart Filter

Flatten or render your gif (either approach is fine). To flatten your gif, play the "flatten" action from the gif prep action pack. To render your gif as a .mov file, go to File > Export > Render Video & use the following settings.

Setting up:

o.) To get started, prepare your gifs the usual way - whether you screencap or clip videos. You should see your prepared gif in the frame animation interface as follows:

Note: As mentioned earlier, I keep the gifs in their original resolution right now because working with a larger dimension document allows more flexibility later on in my workflow. I have also found that I get higher quality results working with more pixels. I eventually do my final sharpening & resizing when I fit all of my component gifs to a main PSD composition file (that's of Tumblr dimension).

i.) To use Smart Filters, convert your gif to a Smart Video Layer.

As an aside, I like to work with everything in 0.03s until I finish everything (then correct the frame delay to 0.05s when I upload my panels onto Tumblr).

For convenience, I use my own action pack to first set the frame delay to 0.03s (highlighted in yellow) and then convert to timeline (highlighted in red) to access the Video Timeline interface. To play an action, press the play button highlighted in green.

Once you've converted this gif to a Smart Video Layer, you'll see the Video Timeline interface as follows:

ii.) Select your gif (now as a Smart Layer) and go to Filter > Neural Filters

Installing Neural Filters:

Install the individual Neural Filters that you want to use. If the filter isn't installed, it will show a cloud symbol (highlighted in yellow). If the filter is already installed, it will show a toggle button (highlighted in green)

When you toggle this button, the Neural Filters preview window will look like this (where the toggle button next to the filter that you use turns blue)

4. Using Neural Filters

Once you have installed the Neural Filters that you want to use in your gif, you can toggle on a filter and play around with the sliders until you're satisfied. Here I'll walkthrough multiple concrete examples of how I use Neural Filters in my giffing process.

Example 1: Image enhancement | sample gifset

This is my typical Stage I Neural Filters gifmaking workflow. When giffing older or more niche media releases, my main concern is the video compression that leads to a lot of artefacts in the screencapped / video clipped gifs.

To fix the artefacts from compression, I go to Filter > Neural Filters, and toggle JPEG Artefacts Removal filter. Then I choose the strength of the filter (boxed in green), output this as a Smart Filter (boxed in yellow), and press OK (boxed in red).

Note: The filter has to be fully processed before you could press the OK button!

After applying the Neural Filters, you'll see "Neural Filters" under the Smart Filters property of the smart layer

Flatten / render your gif

Example 2: Facial enhancement | sample gifset

This is my routine use case during my Stage I Neural Filters gifmaking workflow. For musical artists (e.g. Maisie Peters), YouTube is often the only place where I'm able to find some videos to prepare gifs from. However even the highest resolution video available on YouTube is highly compressed.

Go to Filter > Neural Filters and toggle on Photo Restoration. If Photoshop recognises faces in the image, there will be a "Facial Enhancement" slider under the filter settings.

Play around with the Photo Enhancement & Facial Enhancement sliders. You can also expand the "Adjustment" menu make additional adjustments e.g. remove noises and reducing different types of artefacts.

Once you're happy with the results, press OK and then flatten / render your gif.

Example 3: Colour Manipulation | sample gifset

Want to make a colourful gifset but the source video is in B&W? This is where Colourise from Neural Filters comes in handy! This same colourising approach is also very helpful for colouring poor-lit scenes as detailed in this tutorial.

Here's a B&W gif that we want to colourise:

Highly recommended: add some adjustment layers onto the B&W gif to improve the contrast & depth. This will give you higher quality results when you colourise your gif.

Go to Filter > Neural Filters and toggle on Colourise.

Make sure "Auto colour image" is enabled.

Play around with further adjustments e.g. colour balance, until you're satisfied then press OK.

Important: When you colourise a gif, you need to double check that the resulting skin tone is accurate to real life. I personally go to Google Images and search up photoshoots of the individual / character that I'm giffing for quick reference.

Add additional adjustment layers until you're happy with the colouring of the skin tone.

Once you're happy with the additional adjustments, flatten / render your gif. And voila!

Note: For Colour Manipulation, I use Colourise in my Stage I workflow and Colour Transfer in my Stage II workflow to do other types of colour manipulations (e.g. transforming the colour scheme of the component gifs)

Example 4: Artistic Effects | sample gifset

This is where I use Neural Filters for the bulk of my Stage II workflow: the most enjoyable stage in my editing process!

Normally I would be working with my big composition files with multiple component gifs inside it. To begin the fun, drag a component gif (in PSD file) to the main PSD composition file.

Resize this gif in the composition file until you're happy with the placement

Duplicate this gif. Sharpen the bottom layer (highlighted in yellow), and then select the top layer (highlighted in green) & go to Filter > Neural Filters

I like to use Style Transfer and Landscape Mixer to create artistic effects from Neural Filters. In this particular example, I've chosen Landscape Mixer

Select a preset or feed a custom image to the filter (here I chose a texture that I've on my computer)

Play around with the different sliders e.g. time of the day / seasons

Important: uncheck "Harmonise Subject" & "Preserve Subject" - these two settings are known to cause performance issues when you render a multiframe smart object (e.g. for a gif)

Once you're happy with the artistic effect, press OK

To ensure you preserve the actual subject you want to gif (bc Preserve Subject is unchecked), add a layer mask onto the top layer (with Neural Filters) and mask out the facial region. You might need to play around with the Layer Mask Position keyframes or Rotoscope your subject in the process.

After you're happy with the masking, flatten / render this composition file and voila!

Example 5: Putting it all together | sample gifset

Let's recap on the Neural Filters gifmaking workflow and where Stage I and Stage II fit in my gifmaking process:

i. Preparing & enhancing the component gifs

Prepare all component gifs and convert them to smart layers

Stage I: Add base colourings & apply Photo Restoration / JPEG Artefacts Removal to enhance the gif's image quality

Flatten all of these component gifs and convert them back to Smart Video Layers (this process can take a lot of time)

Some of these enhanced gifs will be Rotoscoped so this is done before adding the gifs to the big PSD composition file

ii. Setting up the big PSD composition file

Make a separate PSD composition file (Ctrl / Cmmd + N) that's of Tumblr dimension (e.g. 540px in width)

Drag all of the component gifs used into this PSD composition file

Enable Video Timeline and trim the work area

In the composition file, resize / move the component gifs until you're happy with the placement & sharpen these gifs if you haven't already done so

Duplicate the layers that you want to use Neural Filters on

iii. Working with Neural Filters in the PSD composition file

Stage II: Neural Filters to create artistic effects / more colour manipulations!

Mask the smart layers with Neural Filters to both preserve the subject and avoid colouring issues from the filters

Flatten / render the PSD composition file: the more component gifs in your composition file, the longer the exporting will take. (I prefer to render the composition file into a .mov clip to prevent overriding a file that I've spent effort putting together.)

Note: In some of my layout gifsets (where I've heavily used Neural Filters in Stage II), the rendering time for the panel took more than 20 minutes. This is one of the rare instances where I was maxing out my computer's memory.

Useful things to take note of:

Important: If you're using Neural Filters for Colour Manipulation or Artistic Effects, you need to take a lot of care ensuring that the skin tone of nonwhite characters / individuals is accurately coloured

Use the Facial Enhancement slider from Photo Restoration in moderation, if you max out the slider value you risk oversharpening your gif later on in your gifmaking workflow

You will get higher quality results from Neural Filters by working with larger image dimensions: This gives Neural Filters more pixels to work with. You also get better quality results by feeding higher resolution reference images to the Neural Filters.

Makeup Transfer is more stable when the person / character has minimal motion in your gif

You might get unexpected results from Landscape Mixer if you feed a reference image that don't feature a distinctive landscape. This is not always a bad thing: for instance, I have used this texture as a reference image for Landscape Mixer, to create the shimmery effects as seen in this gifset

5. Testing your system

If this is the first time you're applying Neural Filters directly onto a gif, it will be helpful to test out your system yourself. This will help:

Gauge the expected rendering time that you'll need to wait for your gif to export, given specific Neural Filters that you've used

Identify potential performance issues when you render the gif: this is important and will determine whether you will need to fully playback your gif before flattening / rendering the file.

Understand how your system's resources are being utilised: Inputs from Windows PC users & Mac users alike are welcome!

About the Neural Filters test files:

Contains six distinct files, each using different Neural Filters

Two sizes of test files: one copy in full HD (1080p) and another copy downsized to 540px

One folder containing the flattened / rendered test files

How to use the Neural Filters test files:

What you need:

Photoshop 2022 or newer (recommended: 2023 or later)

Install the following Neural Filters: Landscape Mixer / Style Transfer / Colour Transfer / Colourise / Photo Restoration / Depth Blur

Recommended for some Apple Silicon-based MacBook Pro models: Enable High Power Mode

How to use the test files:

For optimal performance, close all background apps

Open a test file

Flatten the test file into frames (load this action pack & play the “flatten” action)

Take note of the time it takes until you’re directed to the frame animation interface 

Compare the rendered frames to the expected results in this folder: check that all of the frames look the same. If they don't, you will need to fully playback the test file in full before flattening the file.†

Re-run the test file without the Neural Filters and take note of how long it takes before you're directed to the frame animation interface

Recommended: Take note of how your system is utilised during the rendering process (more info here for MacOS users)

†This is a performance issue known as flickering that I will discuss in the next section. If you come across this, you'll have to playback a gif where you've used Neural Filters (on the video timeline) in full, prior to flattening / rendering it.

Factors that could affect the rendering performance / time (more info):

The number of frames, dimension, and colour bit depth of your gif

If you use Neural Filters with facial recognition features, the rendering time will be affected by the number of characters / individuals in your gif

Most resource intensive filters (powered by largest machine learning models): Landscape Mixer / Photo Restoration (with Facial Enhancement) / and JPEG Artefacts Removal

Least resource intensive filters (smallest machine learning models): Colour Transfer / Colourise

The number of Neural Filters that you apply at once / The number of component gifs with Neural Filters in your PSD file

Your system: system memory, the GPU, and the architecture of the system's CPU+++

+++ Rendering a gif with Neural Filters demands a lot of system memory & GPU horsepower. Rendering will be faster & more reliable on newer computers, as these systems have CPU & GPU with more modern instruction sets that are geared towards machine learning-based tasks.

Additionally, the unified memory architecture of Apple Silicon M-series chips are found to be quite efficient at processing Neural Filters.

6. Performance issues & workarounds

Common Performance issues:

I will discuss several common issues related to rendering or exporting a multi-frame smart object (e.g. your composite gif) that uses Neural Filters below. This is commonly caused by insufficient system memory and/or the GPU.

Flickering frames: in the flattened / rendered file, Neural Filters aren't applied to some of the frames+-+

Scrambled frames: the frames in the flattened / rendered file isn't in order

Neural Filters exceeded the timeout limit error: this is normally a software related issue

Long export / rendering time: long rendering time is expected in heavy workflows

Laggy Photoshop / system interface: having to wait quite a long time to preview the next frame on the timeline

Issues with Landscape Mixer: Using the filter gives ill-defined defined results (Common in older systems)--

Workarounds:

Workarounds that could reduce unreliable rendering performance & long rendering time:

Close other apps running in the background

Work with smaller colour bit depth (i.e. 8-bit rather than 16-bit)

Downsize your gif before converting to the video timeline-+-

Try to keep the number of frames as low as possible

Avoid stacking multiple Neural Filters at once. Try applying & rendering the filters that you want one by one

Specific workarounds for specific issues:

How to resolve flickering frames: If you come across flickering, you will need to playback your gif on the video timeline in full to find the frames where the filter isn't applied. You will need to select all of the frames to allow Photoshop to reprocess these, before you render your gif.+-+

What to do if you come across Neural Filters timeout error? This is caused by several incompatible Neural Filters e.g. Harmonisation (both the filter itself and as a setting in Landscape Mixer), Scratch Reduction in Photo Restoration, and trying to stack multiple Neural Filters with facial recognition features.

If the timeout error is caused by stacking multiple filters, a feasible workaround is to apply the Neural Filters that you want to use one by one over multiple rendering sessions, rather all of them in one go.

+-+This is a very common issue for Apple Silicon-based Macs. Flickering happens when a gif with Neural Filters is rendered without being previously played back in the timeline.

This issue is likely related to the memory bandwidth & the GPU cores of the chips, because not all Apple Silicon-based Macs exhibit this behaviour (i.e. devices equipped with Max / Ultra M-series chips are mostly unaffected).

-- As mentioned in the supplementary page, Landscape Mixer requires a lot of GPU horsepower to be fully rendered. For older systems (pre-2017 builds), there are no workarounds other than to avoid using this filter.

-+- For smaller dimensions, the size of the machine learning models powering the filters play an outsized role in the rendering time (i.e. marginal reduction in rendering time when downsizing 1080p file to Tumblr dimensions). If you use filters powered by larger models e.g. Landscape Mixer and Photo Restoration, you will need to be very patient when exporting your gif.

7. More useful resources on using Neural Filters

Creating animations with Neural Filters effects | Max Novak

Using Neural Filters to colour correct by @edteachs

I hope this is helpful! If you have any questions or need any help related to the tutorial, feel free to send me an ask 💖

[yanderes-galore]

And then Hybrid! Hiccup with a darling that keeps trying to escape or avoid him? If that’s not to much to ask for!

I can do a small thing about this, sure :) Thank you for waiting!

Original Hybrid Concept Here

Yandere! Night Fury! Hiccup with Darling avoiding him

(Supplementary Concept)

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Clingy behavior, Possessive/Protective behavior, Yandere hybrid, Stalking, Kidnapping, Mentions of "Mate", Implied forced relationship.

Hiccup is naturally clingy in this AU due to the fact his hybrid type mates for life.

You originally didn't mind his behavior... which allowed him to try courting you.

After all, you helped him when he was injured!

You obviously cared somewhat.

You two were so close as kids!

But now, as you two are both adults and Hiccup keeps attempting courting ritual, you've neglected him.

You drift away from him... pushing him away and ignoring him.

You're never near him anymore... and it hurts.

He's so used to having your company that he feels his chest ache when you ignore him.

You may not want him around... but he still takes up stalking to be around you in some capacity.

Ignoring him or running drives him insane.

It doesn't help that he's at the age of finding a mate.

The only partner he wants is ignoring him.

Even if he tries to lead you into his nest, or push you in the right direction in any way, you run.

Hiccup may tolerate it due to his nature.

However... eventually the hybrid may just snap.

Before you know it, he's confronting you with a frown.

"Hey! What's been up with you!?"

He isn't normally that confrontational.

You're normally not scared of him.

But when he looks at you with his pupils into slits, teeth showing in a snarl, you're scared.

"Is what I'm doing not enough!? The gifts? The affection? Is there another hybrid?"

He asks you question after question... if you try to ignore him or run, he isn't letting it happen anymore.

He'll block you off, confronting you until he gets an answer.

He tries not to be forceful... even in this state.

He just wants answers.

Why do you ignore him?

Why do you run?

Do you think he won't make you happy?

He's... persistent at first.

Although, if you continue to ignore him, neglect him, or run?

He'll snap... tackle you... and take you into the nest/den he made for you both.

Surely you don't hate him, right!?

He doesn't think he can handle that...

So... there's no need to worry!

He'll get rid of his rivals, both human and hybrid.

He'll give you more gifts!

He'll take care of you... he'll give you all the affection you could ever want!

He'll show you he can be the perfect mate for you...

You'll see... you just have to sit still and let him show you.

"Don't leave me, dear... I love you too much to just let you go!"

[kqutie]

THE PRINCESS' SEVEN MERCENARIES

CHAPTER FIVE : THE SMITTEN CHARMER

relations. : cevans various/reader -- steve rogers/reader ; curtis everett/reader ; ari levinson/reader ; lloyd hansen/reader ; andy barber/reader ; jake jensen/reader ; ransom drysdale/reader

chpt. sum. : operations centres around the royal family and the capital. with nothing to do, ransom volunteers to stay home with you hoping to drive you away only to be pulled in by your charms.

tags. : snow white and the seven dwarves au ; fairy tale au ; fluff ; domestic fluff ; a/b/o universe but it's not the central point ; disney princess reader and her seven sexy mercenaries hehe~ ; ransom drysdale centric chapter ; ransom fully falls for you ; scheming ari ; lloyd being stubborn ; jake being a lovable dork ; slight a/b/o dynamics

length. : 5.8k

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Full of your delicious food catered in gratitude to Curtis, the team ensured you were comfortable before commencing their nightly meeting, as was routine. They delved into the recent developments and Steve swiftly handed the lead over to Lloyd who informed them of their latest target — the kingdom’s royal family. 

“Not a lot is known except for the fact that the Queen has been the official ruler ever since the sudden passing of the previous monarch in battle,” Lloyd informs and clicks his tongue, his lips tugging up into a smirk that was simultaneously an unsatisfied grimace, “her rule is… turbulent. There’s good and bad but the good doesn’t always seem to outweigh the bad,” 

Andy nods along and smoothly interjects with the information he had dug up on his supplementary research, “It’s said that the previous King had a daughter but since his passing, there have been no known sightings of the princess. Talk of her flits between heedless rumours and confident accounts; the consensus of her existence appears mixed. It also seems as though the palace staff have been confined to the palace so reliable accounts of inner palace workings are close to none…”

Silence. 

“That’s it?” Steve asks, his tone more curious than accusatory at the lack of information. 

“I’m afraid so,” Andy confesses following a sigh as Lloyd shakes his head trying to deny the situation. 

“We’re back to zero,” Lloyd mutters but is still loud enough for the team to comprehend and there’s a unanimous slumping of shoulders throughout the room. 

“At least we know where to focus our efforts from now on,” Steve is optimistic, “a concentrated effort is better than a divergent one,” 

“To think that the royal family could be a suspect…” Jake shares a look with Ransom, prompting the machiavellian mercenary to speak his thoughts.

“But it seems the queen is the only primary suspect. Nobody even knows if there’s a definite princess or not,”  

“That’s true…” Ari adds as Curtis nods beside him, “Our operations can go two ways then, investigation into the Queen or the potential Princess. Is she even real?”

Lloyd grumbles, “It would be useless looking into her if that’s the case,” 

“If she’s real, that would make her the true heir,” Andy helpfully points out. “So keeping staff inside the palace would also keep talk of the princess at bay and potentially lead the kingdom into questioning whether she exists in the first place…but is this hypothetical princess already of age or not?”

“No clue,” Andy shrugs, frustrated. 

Another silence fills the space as the group slowly turn to their captain. Prompted by his team’s gazes, Steve begins to lease out assignments catered to each member’s speciality. Andy and Steve will take on further strategising and research efforts. Lloyd will carry that further by tailing several known nobles who are allowed limited access into the castle. Curtis will aid in Lloyd’s assignment. Jake and Ari, equipped with knowledge of weaponry and magical artefacts, will continue investigating the stolen artefacts in a more localised area spanning the kingdom’s city centre. Steve has also permitted them to engage in suspicious and potentially dangerous activity. As the captain, wasn’t willing to risk causing a stir in the underground too early on in their investigation but, now that they had a lead, they were ready to get their hands dirty again.  That left Ransom with nothing to do and free to join any of the three operations. 

“I’ll stay here then, keep an eye on our intruder,” Ransom’s comment makes Curtis visibly displeased as Ari smirks, looking smug. 

“Don’t be shy now, you like her~” Jake smirks, narrowing his eyes in playful accusation, “you wouldn’t be so eager to stay behind, otherwise; Captain finally gave us the green light for going all the way,”

Ransom glares at the only other beta in the group, prompting Ari to laugh as Andy smirks in amusement, Steve remains a neutral observer, “I still don’t fully trust her.” Ransom turns to Steve, “With your permission captain, I’d like to make some observations of my own,” To the surprise of everyone, Steve accepts. 

“But you have to promise not to do anything that would scare her away. Judging from what Curtis told us about escorting her to the nearest village, she’s safer with us than anywhere else and we can’t risk her safety.”

Comforted by Steve’s condition, Curtis eases into his seat as everyone else nods in agreement. Lloyd seems to be the only other person still at odds with you. He and Ransom couldn’t believe how vocal they were upon arriving home and being told what had transpired. Their current backtracking was almost laughable to the group. They didn’t want to admit the growing softness they had towards you – that was the last thing they wanted to do. 

“Sure,” Ransom agrees flippantly. Although that was enough for Steve to finally give his dismissal, some others weren’t quite satisfied yet. Lloyd happily retires while everyone else lingers, not allowing Ransom to leave until they’ve said their share. 

Curtis gives Ransom a silent look that borders on a glare before dragging an equally glaring (though not as intimidating) Jake out of the meeting room. Andy moves to stand by Ransom’s side and offers a hushed warning. Despite the negotiator’s usually modest disposition, Ransom couldn’t help but take his words seriously. 

“She is innocent and precious and worth protecting Ransom; don’t let me see you treating her otherwise or you will have hell to pay,” 

“Agreed,” Ari grips at Ransom’s shoulder tighter than what is necessary. The giant man is smiling amicably but his eyes are a piercing sort, eager to cut him up if Ransom ever crosses him. “Don’t mistreat our Angel,” there was enough threat in Ari’s eyes for him to leave. 

“Goodnight Ransom,” Steve utters, his monotone voice coming off more threatening than it should and shoots a shuddering bolt down Ransom’s spine. 

Breakfast twice in a row was pleasant. Heading out with full stomachs was pleasant. Having a lovingly prepared lunch to carry them through the day was pleasant. Leaving with a kiss on the cheek from an angel, was heaven on earth. 

Steve graciously accepts his kiss with a soft smile, leaning over so you can reach. He smells clean, like fresh, cotton sheets and has a smile that makes you go weak in the knees. “Thank you…” he whispers and kisses the crown of your head before heading through the door first.  

Andy kisses your knuckles first before leaning into your kiss against his cheek. He feels the light touch of your gentle fingers briefly comb through his neat beard and he raises a brow. Staying inclined towards you, he whispers, “You don’t like it?” he sounded willing to shave his entire beard off if that was your preference. 

“No no, I like it,” you look adorable flustered under his questioning but fond stare, it prompts you to answer his silent question, “I just wanted to know how it felt,” he chuckles lowly and brings your hand up to cup his cheek and feel for his beard a little longer, “I’m glad you think so. Take care, pretty girl,” he kisses your fingers before joining his captain outside.  

Jake approaches you shyly but with open arms. His bashfulness makes you smile and almost coo at his lovable image despite the visible muscle in his arms and his broad chest. You hug him close and turn your head to sweetly kiss him on the cheek. A little more shameless than the rest of his team, Jake quietly asks for a second kiss on his other cheek, which you happily grant. This sends him cheering and jumping in glee out the door, eager to brag about his second kiss to the rest of his teammates, “Have a great day, princess!” his favoured nickname still catches you off guard but you don’t let it show on your face this time. 

Ari doesn’t tease you by staying upright this time and happily bends down for his kiss. However, he isn’t eager to let you pull away, “Don’t be shy,” Ari teases, holding your chin hostage and moving his lips to brush against your own as he speaks, “Why not a kiss on the lips, angel?” Your heart jumps in your chest and you almost give in to his smooth seduction.

“Shove off, Ari,” Lloyd grumbles, pushing away the tall, broad-shouldered man who laughs in good humour. Ari appears to get equal satisfaction from seeing you flustered as he would if you actually gave in and kissed his lips. 

“I’ll get that kiss some day,” Ari promises as he steps away, leaving behind a grumbling Lloyd, who faces your flustered form sternly. 

“Don’t let him do shit you don’t like,” silently, Lloyd leans down for his kiss too. And, feeling in the mood to tease, you kiss him on the corner of his lips, ignoring Ari’s hearty laugh outside the door from the display. Pulling away you barely contain the giggle that bubbles up at the sight of Lloyd’s wide eyes and pink cheeks. 

“That moustache is a magnet,” you teasingly say, louder than you anticipated, which earned a round of laughter from the mercenaries outside the door. Lloyd refuses to burn a deeper shade of red and stomps off in a huff, stubbornly withholding his goodbyes despite your call to him. 

“Have a good day, Lloyd!”

Last up was Curtis who patiently waited for his kiss behind everyone else. He holds your much smaller hands in his own as he receives his kiss and he doesn’t seem to want to let go, lingering behind the front door with you as he stares into your eyes. He doesn’t say anything but it’s all in his gentle, blue eyes, “Take care, Curtis. Come home safe,” he visibly softens at your words and leans down to touch his forehead with yours.

“I’ll be back soon…”

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

It was just you and Ransom now. And Ransom was on a mission to test your limits. Confident in ‘innocently’ driving you away, he begins immediately with the chores you set yourself to do after the team leaves. 

He sits around observing while you wash the breakfast plates. You informed him you had planned several things to do for the house and it began with maintenance chores such as doing the dishes, sweeping the floors and some light dusting. Again, you keep clear of the upstairs for their privacy. Andy had kindly asked you that morning to help them wash their bedsheets and ensured everyone delivered theirs to the pantry for you to easily sort through and wash up. 

For now, you were sweeping the floors with a pan nearby to collect the debris. Ransom makes himself useful by doing nothing and instead, goes outside to get flowers for the dining table. He innocently forgets to dust the roots clean of soil before stepping through the front door and proudly showcasing his find and throwing clumps of dirt everywhere, rendering your earlier efforts useless. He expects you to angrily reprimand him for dirtying the floors again but is shocked to find you awed by his beautiful arrangement. 

“Ransom, these flowers are gorgeous,” you lean forward to smell the bunch as your hands come up instinctively to hover over where he’s gripping the stems, “wherever did you find them?” he can’t deny your pretty eyes and cute lips; before he can stop himself, he’s already apologising for his mistake of dirtying the floor. He hardly apologises to anyone, if, at all. 

“I’m sorry…about the floor,”

“Oh don’t worry, I can clean that up easily. Do you mind cleaning off the rest of the roots outside and putting the flowers in the sink with some water?” he’s captivated by your gentle demeanour and unjudging tone, “It’ll keep the flowers from wilting while I get a vase for them,”

Obediently, Ransom does as he’s told. Spurred on by your kind voice, gentle direction and sweet smile. It isn’t until he catches himself staring in wonderment while you tidy up the flowers on the dining room vase that he grows a newfound determination to push you away once more. He’s never felt so foolish! 

You just finished putting the team’s clean bedsheets on the washing line to dry when Ransom comes prancing by, only to trip and kick up mud right onto the freshly washed sheet. Still collapsed on the ground, Ransom expects you to angrily shout at him for muddying your hard work but is shocked once more when you rush to his side instead. 

“That fall looked like it hurt, are you alright?” you reach up and gently brush back his hair to examine his face before leaning back to observe the rest of his form for any injuries, “are you hurt anywhere? I’m not a medic but I know first aid,” as you continue fretting over him, Ransom stares in disbelief at you. 

“Wh-what about the sheets?” 

You only glace at the dirtied sheets briefly before returning your worried gaze back at him, “I can clean those again, easily,”

This would be harder than Ransom originally thought… but (and he’ll never admit this aloud) he quite likes your attention – you’re worried just for him, nobody else. Briefly, he wonders if he can easily monopolise you like this.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

The night before, you had offered to patch up Curtis’ torn shirt from his valiant rescue at the town square. Curtis couldn’t say ‘no’ to you and nodded with a small smile. This also prompted Ari and Steve to kindly ask if you could also sew up some of their torn clothes. Due to their occupation, many of their clothes now have rips and tears in them. Happily, you agreed and, equipped with their sewing kit, sit in the conservatory with a pile of their torn clothes on your left. You currently had one of Steve’s shirts in your lap, peacefully patching it up while Ransom talks your ear off. 

Surely you’d be annoyed by his endless yapping right? Nobody likes someone who talks too much, not only that but this was the perfect outlet for Ransom to talk about the miscellaneous things he normally didn’t have time to discuss with the others. 

The team always prioritised the mission, it was their livelihood and, although tumultuous, it was the one thing they were good at and the path to their retirement of such a life. It was this same focused mindset that they became the most sought-after group of mercenaries for hire with a clientele that ranged from high-class merchants to Royalty. Nevertheless, the men still had their own individual interests, Steve with his art, Andy with his reading, Ari with his plants, Lloyd with his knives and Jake with his magi-tech devices. Ransom was interested in writing and that meant having multifarious knowledge, including trivial things. 

He sat to your right, barely fitting into the loveseat atop the torn clothes on your left. You were almost pressing into his side as his arm slings across the back of the seat. The warmth you emit is pleasant, gently brushing against his sensitive nerves as he continues rambling on. He watches you nod at points and hum in thought or agreement with some of his statements. The action makes him grit his teeth. It’s annoying how you pretend to be listening when it’s clear that you’re not!

“What do you think?” he asks suddenly, hoping to catch you out and smirking confidently. 

“Hmmm… I think you’re right,” Ransom tries not to roll his eyes too obviously. What a basic, avoidant answer. “A lot of things can be improved when it comes to city layouts. It’s too dense and that makes it hard to navigate, both for the people and the policing patrol. Naturally, people who live in the city are used to the layout and the systems of city life, however, tourists aren’t as adept and that’s a major downfall, especially for businesses that rely on tourism to keep them going. I think there are some businesses tailored to helping tourists but it’s all for separate problems in tourism. I think having one business that does it all would be more beneficial…” you continue to comment on cities and Ransom’s eyes widen in disbelief; you were listening. As an amateur writer, he’s gotten into fleshing out specific locations that appear in his plot and, of course, there has to be a fictional city location too. Ransom’s fingertips itch to reach for his pen and paper but he doesn’t want to expose himself like this, he hasn’t even told the team about his hobby. They all believe he has an ego thing going on by shutting himself away at any given chance when he was only eagerly planning and writing up his many projects. The only person who knew of his passion was Jake, who helped him create a more convenient way of travelling with his papers. 

The acumen you were spewing was incredibly useful for his world-building but it also expressed how attentively you had paid attention to his ramblings, pulling on ideas he had presented much earlier. Unable to help himself, he softly pauses your speech before rushing off and coming back with a small notebook and pen. After that, Ransom’s ramblings had divulged into bouncing ideas off you and seeing your perspective on aspects Ransom has been stumped on for too long. You brought a fresh perspective and didn’t ask about his need to write things down from your conversation. There wasn’t a hint of judgement in your tone or eyes, you remained ever-patient with him, diving into his ideas with him wholeheartedly – never questioning, never condescending, never adjudicating. You’re just what he needs…

Ransom hasn’t felt this excited about his writing in a while and it’s all because of you. It was irritating but he couldn’t deny the elated pacing of his heart nor the tremor of delight in his fingers, slightly skewing his handwriting. But that didn’t matter. For once, he felt heard, he felt excitement for his writing outside his private quarters and it felt incredible. He doesn’t want the feeling to stop, even if it’s with you. 

Around noon, you urged Ransom to eat the boxed lunch you prepared for him that morning with the others. In the meantime, you whipped something up that was quick and easy but filling for yourself. Ransom shouldn’t have been surprised to see a note tucked away for himself but it was there, your penmanship as elegant and pretty as the last note, “May this meal be as comforting as having you around” It was touching and almost made him feel guilty about what he had done and what he planned to do later on. The assignment he had set for himself was still at the forefront and made the food you had lovingly prepared rather hard to swallow. 

You went back to sewing after lunch and conversed with Ransom again. And it tore at him every time you asked if he was enjoying the lunch you packed. It was his mistake to ask you about how you had made certain food items just to keep the conversation going—a habit he had grown from his speciality as an overt spy. The culpability that culminated around his airway was suffocating. 

He shakes the thoughts out of his head and focuses back on holding your attention, rambling on while occasionally pausing for your input on the subjects. In his mind, he was lulling you into a sense of comfort and ease in the hopes of driving you away or, at least, having reason to vote you out of the cottage by tonight. 

Through their earpieces, Curtis and Lloyd actively reported back to Andy and Steve, vocalising suspicious and noteworthy behaviour for the two to record and ruminate over. They had been stalking a select few nobles all morning and had made some progress on ones with access to the castle. The frequency of visits also needed noting but was impossible to track so early on in their investigation. At least they had some names to go off of and were content with returning to base. Jake and Ari would also be returning soon enough, hopefully with good progress to report also. Steve had full confidence that, despite the go-ahead he gave on engaging in suspicious and dangerous activity, nothing too alarming would occur just yet — it was just the beginning, after all.  

Those who were already there began eating the packed lunch you had prepared and couldn’t hold back their smiles, even Lloyd who made sure his back was turned so as not to be seen. Again, the lunch was still warm and it came with a short but sweet note.

Steve reads your note first, softly uttering the sweet words to himself with a gentle smile, “You deserve all good things today!” you’re too precious. Steve places the note down on the desk, keeping it in view as he eats your lovingly prepared lunch for him. Every so often, he would look up and smile more noticeably when his eyes trace the curving letters of your elegant penmanship. 

Andy also reads his note first, somehow, feeling more anticipation for the note than eating the lunch, “Hope this brightens your day the way you brighten mine!” you certainly know how to make someone feel special. As a mercenary, that is a rare feeling to experience and Andy wants to savour every sensation of it, from the ache in his heart to the lightness in his head to the butterflies in his stomach.  

Curtis silently goes about opening his lunch and preparing to savour every bite, “A little reminder: you’re appreciated!” he smiles and carefully pockets your note before proceeding to eat his lunch. He misses you but being able to eat your cooking away from home is comforting. Curtis will defend his choice in having you stay no matter what; he hasn’t felt this comforted and cared for in such a long time. He’s sure it’s the same for the rest of the team. 

Lloyd doesn’t read his note aloud but is prompted to when Jake and Ari finally arrive back. Ari sees him with the note and innocently asks what it says with a sly smirk hidden beneath his beard. With all eyes on him, Lloyd begrudgingly reads his note aloud, “Smile! There’s someone out here who thinks you’re amazing!”

With a teasing grin, Jake goads the neat man, “Where’s that smile Lloydie?~” Lloyd raises a clenched fist and growls, threatening the Beta to continue but Jake is unphased cackling mischievously as he slinks away with ease, his smaller frame making him the most agile in the group. 

Jake immediately makes his way to his boxed lunch and happily announces his note after fawning over your ability to, once again, keep his lunch warm, “You’re in my thoughts today – I hope this lunch brings you joy!” Jake coos and does a little dance before sitting down to eat his lunch, “she’s the best!”

Ari wastes no time in tucking into his lunch, holding your note to him in one hand and reading as he ate, “Packed with love, just like every note to you,” the sweet message makes the broad-shouldered man chuckle and turn to his teammates, who were holding their notes close, “she’s Luna material, I tell you,” he knows that bit by bit, they’re getting accustomed to the idea he’s putting forward. Gradually, more and more of them will be picking up what he’s putting down. He’s confident that it’ll only be a matter of time before they’re claiming you and vice versa to form an official pack. 

There’s no way on earth Ari will be letting you go; having you around makes the days feel so much easier to face and there’s a warmth that lingers in every minute spent thinking of you. The mercenary life isn’t a glorious one, you need thick skin to be able to endure it but having to do it for an extended period will make any person go numb. Ari is finally starting to feel something again and he can tell that you’re having the same effect on his teammates. These are the people he’s grown to trust his life with, the ones who he would sacrifice his life for – that’s the type of bond they have. They’re so close to becoming an official pack, all they need is an omega, a Luna to balance them out. The pack will be Alpha-heavy but that isn’t a bad thing, they know how to take care of each other and readily keep others in line if need be. Jake and Ransom are also the perfect Betas, caring for each other and offering stability to the group. You coming along was a blessing they didn’t deserve but desperately needed. You are their missing piece — their omega, their Luna, who will soften their hardened exteriors and provide a gentleness they’ve been deprived of for too long. 

“She deserves better,” Steve comments, immediately drawing attention. Ari figures their captain will be the hardest to crack but his heart is in the right place and Ari can’t fault him for that. Meeting eyes with Andy, a silent alliance is formed. Both Alphas are motivated to keep you and will make it their mission to convince everyone else that you have to stay by them. 

To your surprise, Ransom had offered to help you with dinner prep and you were delighted. It was a small gesture but it brings back memories of having a bustling kitchen full of talented cooks preparing meals for the Queen and the majority of staff. The feeling warmed your chest and made your limbs feel lighter. However, you never expected the put-together and suave man to be such an uncoordinated mess in the kitchen. Watching him cut vegetables almost gave you a heart attack. Nevertheless, you remained ever-patient… His clumsiness was something you looked upon with a touch of fondness, seeing your younger self in him. Ransom almost couldn’t hide his shock when you placed your hands atop his to slowly guide his movements. 

He sucks in a sharp breath when you simply tut but giggle at his inexperienced navigation of the cupboards, handing you something entirely different to what you had asked for. 

“It’s okay, I can’t expect you to get it right the first time or even the second time,” you said. 

He grits his teeth when you also didn’t find fault in his trip over a chair leg and falling head-first into the sink, accidentally turning on the faucet and sending water everywhere.

“It’s an easy clean-up. Are you hurt at all? I’m worried,” you said. 

His eyes bulged when you dismissed the way had sabotaged the broth by adding too much salt and smoothly fixed it by adding some tomatoes and a little lemon juice. 

“They help balance out the salt. It’s a useful tip a really good chef taught me,” you said. 

It wasn’t until he flailed his arms widely, tipping over the pot and spilling the bubbling broth that you finally seemed to snap. And, although it was what Ransom wanted, he didn’t feel satisfied by it, at all. 

“That was so stupid of you to do!” you shout at him, eyes gleaming with rage and jaw clenched to hold back words you didn’t mean. This was what Ransom wanted but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything other than an apology. “Don’t do that again!” you snap sharply, your words making him flinch more than when you were tending to his minor burn. Thankfully he didn’t burn himself from the spilled soup but rather the side of the cooking pot. For twenty or so minutes, you held his hand under some cool running water, removed his rings in the process and carefully patted his skin dry with a clean towel. You rushed to your wicker basket to retrieve a tub of aloe vera gel and antibiotic ointment you created with Alma and Otis (the palace herbalist and gardener). It was completely silent as you slowly began to wrap his hand with gauze and, when Ransom finally found the courage to face you again, he found your hands shaking and your eyes welling up with tears. 

“I’m sorry,” he apologises but you don’t respond, only sniffle and stubbornly rub at your teary eyes. Ransom’s chest constricted painfully at the sight – you were crying over him the same way you had cried over Curtis the day before. This was the first time anyone had cried for him like this and, although it hurt to know that he was the cause, Ransom couldn’t deny your beauty. He’s always wanted to be cared for and loved sweetly by someone and you were doing it all as if it was the natural thing to do. He can no longer stubbornly deny your kind, sweet nature — you’re everything he’s ever hoped for and he wasn’t going to sabotage having you ever again. 

Keeping your head down to focus on bandaging his hand, he leans forward and presses his lips against the crown of your head. He whispers another apology. He’s filled with regret for wasting an entire day trying to rile up a sweetheart like you. You didn’t deserve his underhandedness. He knows swarms of people more deserving of his trickery than you. 

“...don’t ever do that again…” you whisper and his heart swells. 

“I won’t, I promise,” once his burn was securely wrapped, you jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. It was only natural for him to return your affection, a silent agreement to not do anything reckless again. The pheromones you released made your distress obvious and he instinctively began releasing a tranquilising scent. As a Beta, it was the perfect remedy to get you to calm. You had to redo the dish from the beginning but were in much better spirits. And Ransom would make sure you stayed that way. 

The team returned right on schedule, just as you were turning off the burners and Ransom was setting the table. Despite the exhaustion of the day weighing down their shoulders, the mercenary group immediately brightened at the delicious smell in the air. 

“What’s on the menu, angel?” Ari calls out fondly. 

“You’ll find out after you wash up, now go!” you shoo playfully and Ari laughs before complying. Everyone else follows him up to the washrooms, all of them even taking the time to change out of their ‘work’ attire and into more comfortable, loungewear. 

Like every night, the team compliment you on your labour and the delicious spread laid out for them. Tonight they were being treated to two main dishes: a hearty pasta soup with handmade spinach and ricotta tortellini and a creamy, lemon chicken orzo. For sides, there was fresh garlic bread and a simple but refreshing side salad. And, for dessert, cookie brownies. 

“Delicious as always, thank you,” Steve voices sincerely, meeting your eyes from across the table as Jake chimes in with his own praises. 

“Yeah! I swear you can cook everything, princess!”

 “Thank you,” you smile warmly, “but Ransom helped a lot too,” the man seems flustered by the sudden direction of praise but huffs stubbornly. 

“You did most of the work anyway,”

Jake leans over and inspects his fellow Beta’s injury, “Is that why you’re hand is bandaged up?” Curtis raises a brow and looks at you as Andy makes a sound of curiosity. 

“Th-there was a little accident in the kitchen…” you explain, avoiding their eyes as you didn’t know how comfortable Ransom would be with what you choose to divulge. The Beta immediately picks up on your intentions and holds back a smile. You’re far too considerate for someone like him —he appreciates it so much. 

“It was my fault,” he focuses on his food, ignoring Ari’s knowing smirk at his clear change of demeanour towards you while everyone else’s jaw drops — this is the first time they’ve seen Ransom admit to being wrong. “I didn’t know what I was doing in the kitchen,”

“But he’s a quick learner,” you helpfully chirp, and Andy smiles at your sweetness. For Ransom to be treated so purely was unheard of, the merc has had to deal with and smile at the most disgusting low lives of society, the ones who ruthlessly trample on innocent lives without a care, all for their selfish gains. This is a first time for Ransom, and it’s amusing to see its effect on him.  

“I see,” Steve pipes up and smiles, almost mischievously, at Ransom, “good job, Ran,”

Everyone finds Ransom’s behaviour towards you so uncharacteristic and different they decide to stay downstairs to witness the cleanup the merc promised to help you with because of a previous incident. You were surprised Ransom had brought up the incident himself and, though you weren’t quite sure what he was referring to, you happily accepted some helpful company. 

Lloyd glared while everyone else stared with amused faces as Ransom followed you about the kitchen like a lost puppy, doing your bidding and assisting wherever he could. He wiped down surfaces, dried while you washed and put away the ceramic plates that were stored in the higher cupboards. 

Ari had to bite his lip to keep from grinning too hard while Andy and Steve leaned back in their chairs with observant eyes, carefully taking in the profound influence you’ve had on the usually snappy and sarcastic merc. Curtis remains quiet and stoic but there’s a glimmer of understanding in his eyes. Jake leans forward and rests his head against his folded arms, smiling softly. He’s so happy to see Ransom like this, his shoulders weren’t tense, and his eyes looked gentler — it was a good change. Lloyd, as stubborn and cold-hearted as he was could tell that Ransom was finally allowing himself to feel the warmth of acceptance and kindness he had always longed for but never received in his family. Yes, he found the group but they always had a job to do and needed to be kept at a distance despite the obvious bond that was forming between them all. 

The last person to bid you goodnight was Ransom, whom you swiftly pulled down to kiss the cheek of. “Pleasant dreams Ransom, thank you for keeping me company today,”

Staring into your eyes and taking in your sweetly, smiling lips, Ransom felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to lean forward and…kiss you? Embrace you? He did none of those things, succumbing to the heat in his cheeks was more than enough. 

“Goodnight,” he rushes upstairs, face turned away from you and hiding his beaming smile. 

navi. | series masterlist | six. the foolish genius →

a/n : i'm so sorry this took so long, my lovelies! (ó﹏ò���) life has been a bit demanding recently, i'm trying to do a lot of personal development stuff and it's more tiring than i expected. i hope you darlings enjoy this update though, please tell me what you think and hopefully, the next chapter can come sooner (づ>/////<)づ♡

taglist : @imyourbratzdoll @lovinglimerence @saturdayrj @baw1066 @whereismymindnow @urmomw4ntsme @oneandonlybbygrl

[anantaru]

Hellooooooo

I was wondering how would Alhaitham and Ayato would react to hearing the safe word in the middle of the act? Like they pushed reader's limits, they seem to be pretty rough and demanding in bed and that's kinda scary sometimes

cw. after saying the safe word, a lil angst, fem! reader, heavily comforting you

ayato, who would— and such goes in the generality of standings, without stating, express leaden depicted signs of embodied guiltiness for turning you, his darling, he devotedly treasured, this uncomfortable and hurting during an endearing time where he should've coddled you with a sundry of effusive pleasure.

conceivably, ayato might've fell in to be inordinately rough tonight as he was severely frustrated from his own bottled up emotions— one of the leading factors being the tracked down obvious that he hasn't seen you nor spend sufficient time with you in what felt like plentiful years.

his troubled breath was stranded immovable in his glued down throat upon listening to you suddenly cry out the safe word he was sure would never be used by any of you— to proceed, ayato had directly pulled out of you, the touch cautious, as controlled as possible as to not dispense any more damage before really saying anything, he can barely marge his eyes on you and it broke his heart that he was the reason you experienced pain— when he should've loyally lavaged you with nothing but pure comfort.

supplementary he puts forth your name in a tottery declare and then staggers through his frazzled breathing, "are you okay, please— please take your time." ayato eases himself back into this pivotal situation, but he will not touch you, he keeps his hands away from you. "i apologize with my entire heart— i did not mean for this to happen." as to bring grave attention in his sentence, he closely whispers an inch lower, soothingly, "i am so so sorry."

ayato will wait a fair enough of much required time, additionally giving you copious reasonable space before you, yourself, have allowed him to come close again. His glimmering eyes fall to your bare, trembling body as to calmly throw a silky blanket at your naked frame to have you a sprinkle more shielded and protected as well as have your body heat rise up again.

while you aided him to lean back into your arms, ayato breaks apart from within, bit by bit, his body was stilling and sheened of cold sweat, but it's about patience now— and he knows, he has to keep a clear head as always, he mustn't let his emotions run free.

"it's okay ayato." you close your arms around his neck and it almost brings him to tears— such spoken tears that he originally severed off himself earlier, the same way he had done so his whole life.

"it is not, i should've known better."

family was everything to ayato and you were a part of his. On this ending night he had done nothing more than to spoil you and apologize a handful more times, you let his warm palms seep into your gladdened skin and your eyes flutter close of the heavy tiredness— you realize he was warm but his breathing sounded patched together, even though he tried to hide it endlessly.

alhaitham, whose flexed up muscles loosened up the immediate wounded second of your excruciating voice thickly closing around his ear shells. This uncomfortable weight on his chest, or the penetrating shock in his eyes, he was aware that he unarguably went overboard this night, for certain, and promptly backed off your tremulous body without accidentally creating added problems.

with how he had been largely shadowing over yourself, he could easily perceive the state of your low lidded eyes— your vision had turned entirely blurry which was the straight up cause of warm tears simmering from each twist of your eyes.

"do not rush yourself." not at all did alhaitham appear as confident and collected as he usually was, "i apologize - i apologize, i don't know what—" your hard processed breaths overwhelmingly shook at each explosive word of him, it was demanding for you to state something, taxing on your emotions while at the same time cloaking back your cried which he had fortunately discerned himself, then stopping in midst his own sentencing, yet cursing himself.

it's not as if alhaitham doesn't want to do anything, all he craved for was to enclose his large arms around yourself and apologize once more— though he does nothing, not for now at least, he waits until you do something instead, after all, crossing your boundaries again would be the last thing he had in mind.

"can you-" he noiselessly jolts back when detecting your broken voice in the dim room, you mutely wrap your hand around his wrist, "can you please .." and he knows what you meant, in the wake of it, it wasn't back breaking to see through your quavery ways of stating.

he crumbles next to your body and closes his arm around your waist, your eyes were swelled up and with one gentle palm he shushed away the wetness on your cheeks, but remained careful in his proceedings.

"i'm sorry." you shake your head at his strangled heaves, applying yourself up forward into his chest, "it's okay." - "i know you would never hurt me on purpose."

but even with your presented reassurance, his heart burned, he huffs his warm breath on your forehead and presses his lips on your head, his hands in process of moving unsure on where to wavelessly rest themselves on. "it will never happen again."

he recollects himself, his words holding all meaningful purpose behind them, "i know." you smoother yourself further into him, systematically calming down more and feeling yourself back into his body.

"you're everything."

©2023 anantaru do not share, copy, translate any of my work

[deception-united]

hey hey~

you may have encountered this question before, but what advice would you give to avoid 'info dumping' in world building?

I feel like there's a thin line between stopping the narrative to educate readers on sth happening and overwhelming them with information mid-narrative. Any tips?

Hi, thanks for asking!

Managing the flow of information in worldbuilding can be tricky but crucial for maintaining reader engagement. Here are some tips to avoid info dumping:

Integrate information naturally. Rather than stopping the narrative to explain details about your world, try to weave them seamlessly into the story. Show rather than tell whenever possible. For example, instead of describing the history of a city, have characters interact with elements of that history, or have a character bring it up in dialogue.

Focus on relevant details. Only include information that is essential to the plot or character development. Ask yourself whether the detail you're providing is necessary for the reader to understand the current scene or advance the story. If not, consider leaving it out or finding a more subtle way to introduce it later.

Drip-feed information. Instead of dumping large amounts of information all at once, sprinkle details throughout the narrative. This keeps readers engaged and curious, as they gradually piece together the world without feeling overwhelmed.

Use dialogue & interaction. Characters can be great vehicles for delivering information about the world in a natural way. Through dialogue, you can reveal aspects of the world while also developing character relationships and dynamics.

Show, don’t tell. Redundant as this piece of advice is, it's important to keep in mind. Rather than explaining the intricacies of your world directly to the reader, demonstrate them through action, dialogue, and description. Let readers experience the world alongside your characters.

Start small. Begin with small details and gradually expand the world as the story progresses. This prevents overwhelming readers with too much information upfront and allows them to become familiar with the world at a comfortable pace.

Trust your readers. Readers can infer information from context clues (sometimes information that the author themself didn't actually think about). Trust them to pick up on subtle hints and nuances without needing everything spelled out explicitly.

Use back matter. Consider including supplementary material at the end of your book, such as a glossary or appendix, for readers who want to delve deeper into the world without interrupting the narrative flow.

Remember, worldbuilding should enhance the story, not overshadow it. Hope this was helpful ❤

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[saphflare]

Small hc I have is that players that are the owners or at least the "origin" player of servers can mess not just with the code of their world in modifying weapons or mechanics, but can also cause permanently changes to code within players on the server, including themselves, whether intentional or accidental. And to some extent, this ability transfers to other players designated as admins depending on how much power they are given.

Anyways, so when Rat got flung 7 million blocks out into the world border, he was in so much pain from not dying that he impulsively reached into his own code and disabled the part that allowed him to feel pain. The issue is I imagine normally "modding" is done in a workshop setting that would have like equipment and safeguards against things like this. So he wasn't exactly safely doing it or in a setting that allowed him to experiment carefully like the other mods he done. So while he stopped the pain (aka the damage tilt) and it was useful to not be constantly in agony while getting back, when he tried to revert it after he returned, he realized he didn't really know what he did and it kind of messed up a lot more things than he initially thought it did.

And that basically was Rat damaged most of his sensory abilities, though primarily it was his sense of touch that was messed up, he also found a few other oddities in his sense of taste, sight, and hearing (no sense of hunger, salty things were sweet & vice versa, music did not sound right, etc.) Luckily those last ones weren't too life-threatening necessarily, and I think it would be funny if he could scarf down spicy food without feeling a single thing, while he saw Astronyu and Lux dying over the same dinner he was casually inhaling.

I know nothing about coding and how exactly you might fuck up something that you don't know what happened to the base code stuff. But whatever Rat did he fucked it up good because reasonably he didn't exactly have clarity of mind while doing it. So since this isn't an easy fix, he makes a quick supplementary code to help alert him if he was low on health or hunger. Since he is well aware of why the sensation of pain is needed in ppl as much as he liked not feeling any. While he has some success in creating mimicry modifications to help him bring back or fix some sensations, he hasn't exactly figured out how to bring everything to how it was. And he decided to forgo with coding back his sensory ability to feel pain, since those attempts weren't going well.

But hey, he is surviving for the most part and he has people looking out for him :)

I like to imagine this also inspired him to look into messing with internal player coding, which culminated in the Defile (aka becoming ink blob stuff) mod.

===

Slight bonus round

(also TW for self-neglect/harm)

Rat is terrible at taking care of himself even before this incident and he is kinda worse off after the 7 million block incident. But Lux and Astronyu find ways to help make sure he is listening to his supplementary reminders and you know taking care of himself. Until of course, Lux is dead and, more often than not, Rat just stops trying. Stops listening to Astronyu trying to help and often lets himself die to respawn. It's more efficient that way and well it isn't like he feels pain, he just locks himself in his room or workshop and sets his respawn there whenever he needs to just keep himself there. And at least, he keeps himself busy in there alone, and it is okay, as long as he ignores the sad way Astronyu looks at him each time he comes out after locking himself away for so long.

He is living in some way, at least.

[lemonhemlock]

I did not get into Game of thrones when it first started airing. In fact, I waited until it was long past it's heyday (around s6 or 7) to check it out because the marketing and the conversation surrounding it misled me into thinking it was nothing more than "grimdark" bullshit. As one famous YouTuber sarcastically called it "hot fantasy that fucks." So, I avoided Martin's work for literal years due to the impression that I got from online reactors and show-only casuals who did as you and a few others have described as his work being fundamentally misinterpreted.

Fortunately, I overcame my hang-ups, purchased the books (even the supplementary material) and fell down an entire rabbit hole of ASOIAF which led me to recognizing that this world he spent decades creating is far more complex than what had been portrayed onscreen. Regardless of the possibility of the books remaining unfinished (which I am fine with, personally), what George has created is a genuine work of art that I imagine took a tremendous amount of time and energy. So, for so many people online to behave like children and throw tantrums because they feel entitled to him (ew) instead of ushering forth more reasonable conversations and legitimate debates about the nature of his situation frankly makes me look at this fandom with a heavy dose of skepticism.

It is truly baffling to hear even professional critics and see articles describing George as being "ungrateful" or "unprofessional" when it has been well-documented just how often authors get locked out of the adaptation process and left to the wayside as consultants. Look at what happened to Rick Riordan and Christopher Paolini! George R.R. Martin is not the only author to have qualms with how a multimillion dollar studio has mishandled his creative work, and to act like he should remain silent just because he's amassed a certain degree of wealth is quite frankly, ridiculous. He shouldn't have to settle down, be grateful, and stay quiet because the greedy corporate executives and their media drones will get offended by actual criticism that could alter the perception of the adaption being revealed as mediocre for having departed from the source material.

TLDR: authors should be allowed to speak up about their art being sacrificed for commercialization.

Thank you so much for this message, anon! This needs to be talked about more, because I don't think a lot of commentators truly understand the vulgar, late-capitalistic sheen that seems to set in and slowly poison any ASOIAF adaptation. It honestly baffles me how quick some members of this fandom are to rush to the defense of, what is essentially (let's not be kidding ourselves here), a cashgrab by a giant corporation to the detriment of the actual artist and the actual creative foundation behind it.

Why else would "MAX" (if that is even their name) make another (or several other) ASOIAF adaptations? Not to stay true to any philosophical aesthetic vision, as it has become more than apparent with Season 2, but to increase shareholder profits by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Even the basic premise has been shifted in order to address popular trends and satisfy the mindless consumer that doesn't want to engage with anything deeper than their favourite tropes, prettily packaged:

from a story about a doomed ouroborous family superimposed on the pitfalls of feudalism, with villainy and heroism to be found on both sides, it has been simplified and reduced to a narrative that exalts white feminism and disqualifies anyone who opposes its girlboss protagonist. This is Sheryl Sandberg's version of Fire and Blood.

Truly, I think Sara Hess did (unintentionally) outline it the best: "civilians don't matter in Game of Thrones". They don't matter in Game of Thrones, but they matter in A Song of Ice and Fire. The entire heart of the series is contained in Septon Maribald's speech. The writers "kind of", must have forgotten, though.

[flawlessflesh]

at arm's length

CW: Discussion of CSA and trafficking

I originally wrote this meta in response to a retrospring anon - These are my thoughts on the impact of child abuse on Thistle's ability to form relationships or feel attraction.

Keep in mind as you read that this is based on my personal interpretation of Thistle as a present-day teen who was trafficked for several years before being taken to the golden kingdom. This meta is canon-adjacent, not canon, and can be considered supplementary info for my fics.

-

Thistle has a heaping pile of trauma centered on interpersonal relationships and intimacy. This, along with his lifespan, inhibits him from forming equal relationships with others, and outside of his very small family group he doesn’t feel safe or capable of reaching out to people or letting people in.

He can feel attraction towards others but he shuts it down and doesn’t act on it because it feels like something bad will happen if he does. I consider him to be more comfortable around men than he is with women because he thinks he knows what he can expect from men (men were the main perpetrators of his abuse, but men like Freinag and Delgal are also the most important relationships in his life), but he has no idea what to expect from women. Best to avoid them. Most of his attraction is towards men as well and that complicates things due to the likelihood that these historical fantasy tall-man societies are homophobic - and Thistle isn’t treated like a man but he also isn’t a woman, so is it allowed? Is there something wrong with him for feeling this way? He doesn’t know. It isn't safe. So he keeps it all to himself.

In my timeline, Thistle doesn’t start puberty until a few years before the kingdom is turned into a dungeon. He never has the typical experience of crushes and childhood romance because he has no peers to engage in them with - his slower aging and his race isolate him. Everyone sees the silly little elf jester first and not the person. All he has is the royal family. Delgal goes through puberty, fools around, gets married, and through it all Thistle only understands that behavior like it’s something he’s read about in a book. He's disturbed by it too, having only had negative experiences with human sexuality, as little as he remembers of it. As an aside, I think when Thistle was brought to the castle he briefly had a crush on the king, but it was a child’s harmless emotion directed towards someone safe who he perceived as having saved him. If you’ve ever had a strong attachment towards a teacher or mentor growing up it was like that, and Freinag wasn’t aware of it and did not encourage it.

This is going deep into headcanon territory now. Thistle was trafficked by the troupe master of the traveling performers who had him before he was given to King Freinag. Thistle has suppressed the entire thing and can’t clearly recall the last twenty years of his life before Freinag. The information he has about that time is what people later told him (“your parents abandoned you”, “you were part of a traveling troupe”, “you already knew how to play the flute and follow instructions well”, etc). Freinag unintentionally replicates the emotional abuse that Thistle suffered — he calls Thistle his child but treats him more like a pet who has to perform for approval, and he is overly physically affectionate while neglecting the very real parental needs Thistle has as a young child. Thistle's hurt is like a barely scabbed over wound that keeps being picked at until it bleeds again.

Thistle grows up with an incorrect idea of how adults are allowed to treat him which leads to wariness towards everyone who is not the immediate royal family. They’re safe, they don’t do anything bad, but he can’t trust anyone else. Plus - he doesn’t like when strangers single him out for being an elf. He wants to fit in so badly and instead they invade his space and point out how he’s different and are always reaching for his ears. The few times he feels attraction he suppresses it on instinct without trying to understanding what it is or what prompted it. He doesn’t want to feel drawn to anyone he isn’t already close to. It’s a self-preservation mechanism and a reaction to the abuse he suffered, and after a while the curiosity is blocked off altogether.

In a post-canon future where he’s found a will to live and is healed to the point where he is interested in meeting new people, I still think he wouldn’t want to have an intimate relationship. It’s like a chasm, a frightening abyss of possibility for new experiences but also for getting hurt, and he has been hurt too many times already. Friendship would be daunting enough - I genuinely think he’d struggle with it - but anything more is equivalent with ruinous loss of control in his mind. Things can get better with time, conscious work, and understanding, but this mindset is where I see him staying for a long while. Thistle doesn’t do well with change or admitting truths to himself that he’s worked very, very hard to suppress.

[remembrancersticky]

I had a shower epiphany a few weeks ago and have just been working on cranking out this oneshot. Oh, I had so much fun with this. Thanks to @squishyowl for the dividers! They are very pretty!

You get dragged along for a fishing trip, scent a space wolf, and he carves your name onto his (metaphorical?) heart. Fenrysian is just Norwegian here for the sake of simplicity. Very fluffy given this is 40k. TW for hunting, non-sexual nudity, and cannon-typical violence. Asmundr art here and here.

Space Wolf OC(Asmundr) x Serf!Fem!Reader - SFW - 2.8k Words

The world of Silġ was not the coldest you had ever been to. But it was still the thickest part of winter on this side of the planet, and you could feel the moisture of your breath catch and freeze against your eyelashes when the wind shifted.

You waddled behind the three wolves you served today, waylaid by the heaviest furs and boots you owned and the sled-cart you pulled along behind you. The blizzard that had raged for the last month ended a few days ago, though the warp storm that trapped your ship here had not. The sky still sputtered out a sporadic scattering of snow, powdering the dense ice on which you tread.

The three in front of you wore no more than training armor and pelt. You were envious of their enhanced thermo-regulation as you flexed your fingers to stave off the chill that had seeped through your thick mittens.

“Here,” the venerable veteran, Ægir, announced, stabbing his chainsword into the ice.

You slowed as you caught up to the group and looked about. You were the only thing besides flat ice for several kilometers in any direction.

“Finally!”

The youngest, Asmundr, was not known to keep his opinions to himself at the best of times. He was brash and stubborn in every aspect of his life. He was the one that insisted you join them on this venture.

The company and ship’s crew were trapped on Silġ until the warp storm passed. You had already been stuck more than several weeks and many of the younger warriors were antsy for activity beyond their regular training. And, while rations were not depleted, it did no harm to secure supplementary provisions while they were available. Ergo, the Wolf Lord had allowed the formation of a few small hunting parties.

While you assisted the entire pack as your services were needed, Asmundr had all but named you as his personal serf. Not that he had asked anyone in particular, nor would he ever be granted a personal serf given his rank and status if he had. He was simply dogged in requesting your time, specifically. Not that you minded spending so much time with him; he had grown on you quite a bit, and you enjoyed the stories he would regale you with as you cared for his armor.

And so, here you were. Accompanying the small expedition on their fishing trip. You had given up on getting an explanation for exactly what you were meant to do beyond ferry equipment or attend to whatever unfavorable task may arise. Frankly, it was simply a nice change of pace from the monotony of the last few weeks, nice to be away from the stagnant air of the ship, and you were thankful to have been allowed to attend.

Hodr swiped his boot along the ground to disturb the thick layers of snow and reveal the solid ice beneath. Though not as old as Ægir, the scars upon his face told a story of numerous battles fought with unfettered ferocity. He was cold, stoic, but on occasion you glimpsed something wild lurking deep within his eye.

After stomping solidly on the ice without so much as a crack, Hodr gave a nod to Ægir, who activated his chainsword.

Still stuck in the ice, the blade began throwing up shards of ice and compact snow. You turned slightly and covered your face with a mitten to prevent anything from lodging in your eyes. You felt the pitter patter of debris against your form suddenly disappear. Looking up, it seemed Asmundr unthinkingly shifted his position to effectively shield you from the onslaught.

“Mortal,” Hodr called, as the roar of the sword died down. “Bring the pick and shovel.”

You pulled the tools from the sled and made your way to the hole-in-progress. In order to support the weight of three space marines (and especially the earlier stomping), the ice was undoubtedly thick. This pass with the chainsword had not even been close to reaching the water below. Hodr reached down to grapple with the large slab of ice that had been cut away while you worked on extricating the smaller shards. Once the site was cleared, Asmundr gently pulled you a step back as Ægir began his next series of cuts. This process repeated three times before a sufficient opening was formed.

Standing, you wiped the snow off of your knees and pushed the ice shards nearest the opening away with your boot. Suddenly, you felt something thick and heavy land across your back and weigh down on your shoulders. You were almost embarrassed about the surprised yelp you let out, but it was worth it to hear the youngest of the wolves let out a full bellied laugh.

“I trust you to keep this warm for me, vennen min!” Asmundr’s voice bounced with mirth behind you. You rearranged the large pelt he had thrown on you as you turned to face him. And quickly decided to look anywhere else as he undressed to the fullest extent possible.

“O-Of course, my lord.” You elected to keep your head pointed towards the sky as you extended your hands to take the remainder of his clothes. You could clearly hear the other two wolves snickering behind the sound of blood rushing through your ears. It did not seem nearly as cold out as it did just a few minutes ago.

Asmundr placed the wad of clothes in your hands with a smirk before leaning into the sled to fetch his polespear.

“Be ready, brother,” Ægir said as he nudged Hodr bodily. “You’ll have to make up the pup’s slack.”

The young pup bristled in agitation before he sharply pivoted on his brothers with a note of forced laughter. Coincidentally, you suddenly received a full view of all his glory.

“Ha! Afraid you’re not gonna be able to keep up, old man?”

You forced your eyes not to wander below his ribs, which was very difficult as he stood with his chest puffed out and fists confidently resting on his hips. Your face felt so hot that you thought the ice would melt under your feet and swallow you whole.

Despite your years in service to the Vlka Fenryka, you doubted that you’d ever understand just how…comfortable they seemed to be in their plain skin. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact they were Astartes, specifically. You’d imagine it would be difficult to feel vulnerable in any state with the physique of one of the Emperor’s Angels.

“Worried that you’ll drive the best game away in your haste.” Hodr’s voice sounded suddenly closer than you anticipated. Your heart jumped when you felt his hand reach around from behind you, lifting your chin to look Asmundr in the eyes and gently squishing your cheeks together. “It just won’t do if there isn’t enough to go around.” The narrowing of the younger wolf’s pupils was almost hidden by the steam billowing from his flared nostrils. “We can’t have thralls of skin and bone.” His whisper tickled your ear, sending a shiver shooting up your spine.

“I do not leave her wanting,” Asmundr snarled, closing the distance and gripping Hodr’s wrist tightly. You could hear something creak beneath your chin, but the grip on your face never tightened.

“Prove it.” You could hear Hodr’s grin as he finally released you.

Oh, something in Asmundr’s eyes sparked as he threw his brother’s hand away. He spared you a brief glance as he squared his shoulders and quickly cracked his neck.

“Time me!” Asmundr yelled back to Ægir as he raced to the opening and jumped into the abyss.

The air was pregnant with silence for a moment.

“Well,” Ægir laughed, rough and gravelly, “He should be plenty motivated now!”

Ten minutes. It had already been ten minutes.

A space marine could hold his breath for approximately twenty-five minutes, or so you’d been told.

You had heard from one of the company’s Kaerls that she had once heard a story of a chapter that regularly held their breath for the better part of a standard hour. You thought it sounded a bit outlandish, but you prayed now it was true as the minutes continued ticking on.

The first several minutes were spent in a bit of an awkward silence. Or, at least, you felt it was awkward. You busied yourself by meticulously folding Asmundr’s clothes and running an inventory of the little equipment in the sled before cleaning the hole of any lingering debris. You noted that Hodr’s gaze seemed to return the distant tree line frequently while Ægir whittled away on a piece of bone.

“It’s been ten minutes.” The booming voice of the veteran seemed to rattle through your chest, and you nearly lost your footing at the sudden announcement.

 The undignified sound you made as you recovered your stance drew a chuckle from the eldest wolf.

“I’m curious,” Ægir said, pointing his knife in your direction. “What do you suppose the pup’s hunting for right now?”

You stared blankly at him.

“Fish, my lord?”

That veteran laughed, tried to control himself, and began laughing some more before he started coughing.

“You’re not wrong, thrall,” he conceded. You watched a flock of dark birds chitter and flee their roost in the distance. So far away they were like a smear against the sky.

“You know,” he started back up, dropping his gaze to return to the bone figure he was making. “I was out on campaign with the pup.” A thin flake fell away from his hands. “And it was fierce, to be sure. Well, while we were holed up in some throne-forsaken pit, the daft boy starts singing. Badly, mind you, and quiet, but singing nonetheless. And so, I ask him ‘Boy, what do you think you’re doing?’” Ægir looked up and you realized that you’d thoughtlessly drifted closer as the veteran continued. “And do you know what he tells me?”

“No, my lord.”

“He says, ‘Well, that little serf sings this when she’s in the armory, and I thought maybe it would help me focus.’” Another flake fell from his hand as he scoffs, “Focus, my missing big toe.”

Ægir looked like he was about to continue, loudly, but shut his mouth and looked past you a moment before you heard it.

A loud wet thwacking noise echoed across the empty plane and time seemed to pass slower than usual as you saw a vibrant, gleaming, blue fish that could rival the stature of terminator power armor surge out of the icy depths and caress the grey sky, before making its arched decent like an angry torpedo with needlepoint teeth.

You hadn’t survived this long in such a cruel galaxy without any wits at all, and ran to give the beast a wide berth upon its impact with the surface. Its furiously flailing body splashed little droplets of water against your form, which froze solid in the cold air.

“Ha! No wonder he likes you so much,” Ægir ribbed at you, as he seamlessly stabbed the wriggling thing through the back of its head, piercing whatever brain it could have. “You scurry about like ei lita kanin!”

The burning retort that had definitely been on the tip of your tongue was tragically cut short by a sudden series of muted vibrations that traveled up your legs. Something was hitting the ice…

Your feet were moving before you could think. What help could you realistically offer Asmundr from here? You could not dive into the freezing water, you could not drag him back to safety, you could not even pull his body up onto shore without dislocating your shoulder in the attempt. But you knelt stupidly by the hole anyways; you had to be as close to his side as possible, in case he needed you. Because you would do all those useless things if he so much as hesitated in telling you not to.

Not long after, the surface of the water began bursting with bubbles of air from the depths, bringing with them deep oily blood. You called out to him, as if he would be able to hear you meters away and underwater.

“Mundi! Are you okay?!”

Time seemed to drag on for an eternity as the bubbling died down and the water remained still.

You had just started to loosen the straps of your outermost layers to dive in yourself when a crimson streak began racing towards the surface. You could feel your heart fall back into place.

Asmundr’s red hair clung to his forehead and neck as he beamed at you in pride. Or, as best he could.

The spear he lifted out of the water held four native fish, each easily as long as your arm and thicker around than both of your thighs. A massive bony fish with pearlescent armor still wiggled in his maw, cracked where his fangs dug tightly into its flesh. He threw the spear up onto the ice before hefting his bulk out of the hole.

Sitting on the ledge of the ice beside you, he pulled the fish from his teeth. His smug smile showcased the gleaming red that clung to his canines and dripped down his chin. He glanced about briefly before his expression morphed into one of confusion.

“Where’s Hodr?”

Oh. You hadn’t even noticed he’d left.

“Not far,” Ægir said. “He picked up a scent while you were out.”

“Are you okay, Mundi?” You had been keenly looking him over for any obvious injuries he may have sustained since he surfaced. He didn’t seem any worse for wear, but maybe he just rammed the ice with his thick head. You stood up to get a better look. “It sounded like you hit the ice pretty hard.”

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t near the ice at all.” Rivulets of water trickled down Asmundr’s body, his core temperature just enough to keep the water from freezing against his skin in the cold air. “Are you sure you’re not the one that hit the ice?”

You couldn’t bring yourself to be annoyed by his teasing tone. You were just relieved that he was okay.

Asmundr’s gaze turned sharply from you to the horizon at a noise you could not hear.

“Finally done batting that pest around, Hodr?”

You turned towards Ægir’s call and watched as Hodr dragged along an enormous, white-feathered land-shark behind him.

“Six minutes,” the wolf bellowed, shaking the leg of his kill. “How long was the pup?”

“Thirteen minutes!”

Something rumbled deep in Asmundr’s chest at the veteran’s announcement and he huffed in irritation. If you hadn’t just been willing to throw yourself into the icy void after your companion out of shear worry, you would have found his pouting cute.

“Mundi,” you started softly as he plopped himself away from his brothers to work on his kills. He did not look up. He was still wet and bare and the wind was still so cold and you did not think you could handle the implausible thought of him catching a chill.

“Mundi, you need to dry off,” you chided as you unwrapped the outermost fur you wore from your waist. It would be warmer and drier than the one he placed on your shoulders, which had kept you plenty warm, but also collected a non-insignificant amount of flurries.

He grumbled something as he continued to work on dislodging his kills from the spear.

You pursed your lips before running the fur across his shoulders and up his neck, before tousling his hair the best you could. You left the fur draped across his shoulders, which he gripped closed across his chest with one hand. He remained incredibly tense before in-taking sharply and shaking his upper body vigorously. You did not escape the resulting splatter.

He tilted his head back to look you in the eyes, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding when you recognized amusement and joy in them.

“I’m keeping this!” Asmundr announced, sounding very pleased. “But you have to hold onto this,” he tugged slightly at the pelt that still engulfed the entirety of your upper body, “for me, in return.”

The request turned something in your chest.

“Of course,” you agreed, and you couldn’t help the smile on your lips.

 He smiled up at you in turn, his eyes softening as his gaze lingered. In that moment, it felt as if something in the universe had clicked into place. After a few seconds, he abruptly looked back down and dragged the armored fish over to him.

“And,” he drew the word out for a long moment, as he began carving familiar runes into the pearlescent plating with his spear. “You need to make good use of this.” He passed you the fish barring your name, and you had to steel yourself to keep from tumbling under the weight of it.

[dogtoling]

today's idea for a concept:

me trying to fix the inkling mouth breathing problem. With supplementary text:

Inkfish in particular have a multi-layered respiratory system with several adaptations to an active, terrestrial lifestyle. The paired gills have a large surface area in the chest area of the organ sac, and are the primary method of gas exchange. However, Inkfish also have a separate air sac in their chest for supplementary air capture. This air sac is a specialized chamber developed over time from a part of the stomach, and in modern Inkfish, it is used for breathing and vocalization. The gills and air sac function in tandem, although one can be momentarily disabled, and either function can be given priority. Breathing over the gills is typically a passive process of the body, whereas use of the air sac, or “lung”, ramps up in times of strenuous exercise, or in dry environments where it may be prioritized while the absorption efficiency of the gills is reduced. On top of these two methods, the thin skin of Inkfish also allows for somewhat efficient gas diffusion throughout the body’s surfaces.

It is thought that Cephalings and Inkfish specifically first adapted to breathing through their buccal cavities in their early land stage, during which their gills were fairly inefficient. Therefore, gulping air into the stomach and intestine became a method to absorb extra oxygen into the bloodstream, which helped the early Inklings thrive and keep up high levels of physical activity in spite of their early land gills and somewhat inefficient oxygen transportation. Over time, a part of the stomach modified into an air sac and separated from the stomach entirely into a large gas chamber. This also paved the way for complex vocal communication.