#This is a result of the God/Goddess sketches

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Behind The OC Name

Thank you @kaitaiga @alypink @welldonekhushi @revnah1406 for the tag! Let's do this!

OKAY. I'm gonna turn into a bachelor of yappology here so bear with me ☝️🤓

🌹 Charlotte 'Jade' Le Jardin 🌹

Initially, I wanted to name her 'Roxanne'. Some of you might know this, but Jade used to be my original story's main character called Louisa. BUT, Louisa's initial name was Roxanne. I didn't know why, but elementary school me liked Roxanne so much (I didn't even know that it's also a song title by The Police back then HAHAH). I wanted a very recognizable name, but I think it was a bit much, so I switched to Charlotte because of Charlotte Bronte, the writer. Also, it turns out that 'Charlotte' means 'free man', it's pretty cool since Jade's story is mainly about breaking free from MI6's influence and shackles along with her parents. Meanwhile, Le Jardin was the result of Jade's family's occupation as a florist. I mean, it's a fake last name anyway as they were making an entirely new identity after escaping from MI6.

Jade was literally just because she had a green eyes, but I felt it's too cliche so I made an entirely new black division of MI6 where each agent is named of a type of ore/jewel. Plus, Jade is just easy to pronounce and recognizable, perfect for communication purpose!

🐞 Eleanor 'Ladybug' Graham 🐞

Eleanor's name came up just out of the blue from my mind. I drew Lady's design first, and then decided to make a name for her, and it's either Eleanor or Claudia, and I thought Claudia doesn't suit her at all, so I stayed with Eleanor. Eleanor means 'Light-hearted' or 'shining light', kind of goes along with her 'take-it-easy' attitude and how she's a medic and becomes the light of hope for the wounded. The surname Graham is literally just my obsession with Will Graham from Hannibal. My 14-16 year old ahh was obsessed with NBC Hannibal, and Will held a special place in my heart LOL.

When I created Ladybug, I knew I wanted a special and a cheeky callsign for her to pair with Gaz. I never really liked bugs, but I thought back then that a ladybug's shape and pattern is so damn cute and endearingly silly. So I just went with Ladybug. AND THEN, The NFC Championship 2023 game happened between 49ers vs Lions. Brandon Aiyuk caught a pass from Brock Purdy after the ball straight up bounced from Kindle Vildor's helmet, which resulted in a touchdown in the next play. At the interview post game, Aiyuk said "a ladybug landed on my shoe." JUST THEN I KNEW THAT LADYBUG MEANS 'GOOD LUCK'. And then the gears on my brain turned, and I can connect with how Gaz is always unfortunately hanging/falling from an aircraft, be it an airplane or a helicopter. The fact that he's always came out ALIVE after those events just tell me, there's gotta be a ladybug that's always with him 24/7!

🔥 Barandos 'Bara' Tarigan 🔥

For Bara, I just KNOW that his name's gotta be Bara because there's a celebrity chef from Indonesia called Bara Patirajawane, and it's such a sick name that I just had to make it into a name of my OC HAHAH. Bara also means 'fire embers' and it's pretty cool ngl. Tarigan is a Batak tribe surname (I'm half Batak from my name), so I just wanna have that element on my OC.

⏳ Silja Freyrsdottir ⏳

For Silja, I actually had quite a hardtime to name my OC. I didn't know what her appeareance yet, her story yet, and like what her role was in the God of War Ragnarok storyline. So I started to think of what goddess she was, and I wanted it to be close to Heimdall, so the Goddess of Memory and Remembrance it was. I then searched for that kind of god in the Norse mythology, and I didn't really find anyone that came close to what I imagined, so I just started from sratch. I sketched her character, and as I draw her I make up a story in my mind. Oh, she's an adventurer, a rogue princess, hmmm from what realm, Alfheim? Let's do that cuz I love Freyr. I wanted her name to be either 'Silja' which ironically means 'blind', or Ragnhild, which means 'battlecounsel'. QUICKLY I feel that Ragnhild sounded to professional for her adventurous character. Silja sounded so right, and her name could be like a contradiction to what her ability is, which is seeing people's pasts, but blind to the present (a flaw much like Heimdall's).

Tagging YOU 🫵 Reblog this with your OC's name lore!

[stellar-solar-flare]

Coming soon: Sunspots | Bucky x Reader

Bucky Barnes x f!Reader, Steve Rogers x OFC | Explicit | longfic, canon divergence, romance, fluff, sorta-enemies-to-lovers, reluctant bodyguard Bucky.

☀️.

You’re finally chasing your dream career as a wedding planner, and when an opportunity arises, you jump at it. Which is how you end up signing up to plan the American wedding of the century: the fairytale ending of none other than Captain Steven G. Rogers. The chance of a lifetime.

You’ve got this. Right? Right? Sure, it’ll be a giant, public affair, and you’ve got far too many people trying to meddle with things, but they all want the best for the happy couple. Even the grumpy best man, who simply thinks that this is all too much of a circus and isn��t exactly hiding his opinion on the wedding industry.

But not everyone wants the best for Captain & Mrs. Rogers To Be.

When the wedding is threatened, Bucky becomes your reluctant body guard, and you’re forced to deal with him on top of everything else. And you don’t want to deal with him. Right? Right?

☀️.

It's my first time doing a Bucky longfic, and I'm looking forward to this! The fic will take place in my usual AI-verse, where SHIELD collapsed earlier, The Avengers Initiative took up the work with Steve as the Head Strategist and Tony as the Director and financial backer. No Civil War, Bucky got rescued earlier and got therapy, everyone lives no one dies, 2012-living-in-the-Tower vibes.

Reader is known as 'Sunbeam' after her wedding planning company Sunbeam Wedding Planning. Reader is depicted to be in her late twenties and a hopeless romantic. No Y/N and no description of appearance (other than clothes and such).

The future Mrs. Rogers is my OFC, Ember Theudhar, also known by her Avenger alias 'Shimmer'.

A sneak peek under the cut.

☀️.

“Hey, Shimmer. Can I come in?” Bucky said as he peeked in from the doorway, making Ember lift her head from her hands.

You shot Bucky a look that hopefully signaled in one gaze that you weren’t going to tolerate any sorts of stupidity right now and if he tried, god help you, you’d drag him out of here, supersoldier or not. Throwing hands to protect the bride who employed you might not have been in the letter of the contract, but again, it was in the spirit of it. Bucky seemed to understand, and his mouth tugged up for a brief smile.

“Hi, Sunbeam,” he said, and you replied with a tight smile.

“Yeah, sure. Come on in,” Ember said to him, sniffling still. “Sorry about the mess.”

She gestured towards the papers on the table, hundreds and hundreds of dress sketches that had been sent in as the result of the open call. Bucky pulled a chair for himself and slid a paper on top of the others.

“It’s been pretty overwhelming,” you said cautiously. “I’m not sure it’s a good time to ask about anything.”

“I promise I’ll be out of your hair after she takes a look at this,” Bucky said to you, and something about the voice was softer, warmer.

Ember dried her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan and looked at the sketch. As you heard her small gasp, you leaned in, but not before glancing at Bucky, who had a warm grin on his face. The sketch of the dress was beautiful. It was soft, romantic, the Swan Queen meets a forest goddess kind of vibe, and yes, it was something you could easily picture Ember in.

“What’s this?” you asked.

“I’m not telling either of you until I know what she thinks about it,” Bucky said, nodding towards Ember.

“Buck, please. At this point, I’d recognize the stroke of Steve’s pen even if you’d buried this into the pile,” Ember said, but her tone didn’t match the words.

Her eyes had locked on the sketch.

“Steve drew this?” you whispered. “But how —“

“He didn’t want me to feel like I had to,” Ember said, glancing up at Bucky, who nodded. “So he drew this but he didn’t send it for me, because he knew I’d recognize it was made by him anyway.”

“Yeah,” Bucky replied. “That’s pretty much it. So obviously, I stole it. Because I think that’s the dress for you, Shimmer, and it’d be a damn shame if you’d have to give up on it because Steve’s head is thicker than the ice on Titan. That’s how he sees you, and that’s how you should feel like on your wedding day. Like some damn fairytale goddess. Because that’s sure the look on the punk’s face when he looks at you.”

Something was stuck in your throat.

☀️.

[matsukaah]

•KimetsuOlymp AU

After so long cooking, here is my dish delivered to you. This is an AU (alternative universe) involving the Greek mythology of Olympus. I will remind you that the relationships between characters do not follow those of the gods of mythology 🤏🤓

I really liked it, it was fun and I hope it's to your liking, any mistake, spelling or coherence, I apologize ‼️

Maybe I'll write something about it, I just need time, I'm a born procrastinator

●How was it conceived? (and how he is Ume's brother)

(Purahahime is a name invented to refer to Gyutaro and Ume's mother)

The Purahahime was a woman of low status on Olympus, she could live her life without worries, but she craved too much to be praised by a good-looking God. She wanted to impress him anyway, she was nothing extraordinary, so she decided to have a child, even if it wasn't his, if it was strong enough it would definitely attract attention, that all the deities would know its name. She tried several times before Gyutaro began to be prepared, in better words, cursed, with the most diverse plagues so that his abilities would go to the limit, without thinking about what his body would end up looking like. The result of the various experiments, it was already a miracle that he was able to be born, but his appearance was deplorable, like a dark and soft amalgam.

Purahahime didn't see the value in him, she considered killing him, but he was too strong for her unhappiness (or happiness?). Not ending his life proved advantageous, as it worked, the man believed that the reason for Gyutaro's strength was his mother's womb, even if it was grotesque. Thus, Ume was conceived, unfortunately unlike her brother she was born stunning, even as a child deities stopped their work to appreciate her, but she was weak compared to her brother, which angered her parents, neglecting them both.

Eventually Purahahime was killed by the man she loved, he believed he had been tricked into blaming her for his daughter's weakness. Currently he has found other women, not bothering to look at any of the children. Gyutaro initially felt envious, surely if he had that smooth skin or that white hair he would be congratulated just for being born. But she won his heart, since they share the same cruel blue eyes (Gyutaro has them, but normally keeps his haunting eyes, with yellow sclera and green irises with red interior), they are miserable, just like her and him, so that he decided to take care of her.

•What type of role does he perform?

Gyutaro is the God of iron, he would be perfect for a guard due to his strength, but he preferred it this way. Being the most skilled craftsman Olympus has ever seen, his story of suffering, humiliation and hard work teaches that not all Greek gods had that gentle life on Olympus.

●What is his relationship with the others on Olympus?

He detests several people, especially Tengen, the God of wine and parties, he continually throws his festivities that for Gyutaro feel like the ground is shaking, his sensitive ears making his head pound in pain, making it impossible for him to work. Also due to envy, he is always surrounded by his three wives in addition to the countless number of nymphs and goddesses who aspire to the position of “wife number four”, in his words.

Tanjiro, the son of the Sun, just how he screams irritates him a lot, but he doesn't hate him, it's just unpleasant how he always manages to break the divine artifacts that Gyutaro prepares with so much care, the way Tanjiro is always friendly and always smiling is intimidating too , his eyes seem to stare into Gyutaro's soul, he would destroy him if Tanjiro's younger sister wasn't Ume's close friend.

Ume, she uses the pseudonym of several names, but Daki is the most used, she is considered the concept of beauty. Gyutaro loves his sister, but he can't help but think that she was drawn with care by the gods and looks like he was a sketch made by a boar with a brush in his hand. Raising her was a difficult task, but he made sure she lacked nothing, if she felt hungry, would he hunt, new clothes? he steals and sews until she feels satisfied. Even when she blossomed into the beautiful flower she is, she never left her brother out of her life, insisting that he accompany her to parties and speaking highly of him to everyone he interacts with, even if he feels anxious about the attention she brings. , usually hiding on benches behind the pillars, just enjoying wine.

Obanai and Mitsuri, they are always together since they date. Gyutaro likes Obanai, his hair full of snakes managed to make them identify with each other, in addition to the various types of exotic requests he makes, such as pure pure ornaments for his loved one. Mtsuri talks to him when Gyutaro visits Obanai, sometimes trying to marry him, which doesn't work, to the point where he started to reject her, but appreciates her good intentions.

He has some other relationships, but he doesn't keep in touch with them, as he doesn't usually leave his work area, which is also his home.

●How does his body work?

It seems difficult, but the parts harmonize complicatedly, curved horns like those of a buffalo, to protect its bat ears, which are super sensitive to sounds, but this makes its head weigh too much, having to cut them frequently until they grow back to the point of bothering him.

His ears accurately hear everything around him, especially the tinkling of metal, knowing whether or not it is of good quality, he has learned to recognize the sound of people and other creatures and differentiate them. Sometimes they turn them down to muffle the sound, partially working.

His eyes have this monstrous tone, despite having them normal, blue and white sclerae, but they are sensitive and do not see in the dark as he likes, his usual green and red eyes imitate those of reptiles and cats, he hates light, he feels like he is going go blind if you stay in the sun.

Legs are heavy, being mixtures of several types of animals, being fast and strong, but heavy, he avoids moving, as it leaves him exhausted and sore.

An amusing detail is that because of this large amount of blood mixture involving bovine animals, when he feels irritated he unconsciously drags his feet on the ground like a bull

He has a small snake tail, Chioi, a black snake with purple eyes, he has deceptive abilities, disturbing the senses of anyone who looks at him, he loves to pretend to have five heads like a hydra, people's look of terror makes them both laugh.

His blood has a corrosive poison, protect yourself under your fingernails, but if his blood is ingested it will have the same effect.

Gyutaro has a deformed body from birth, but he eats little of everything his body needs, leaving him weak. However, he eats “enough” to stay upright and working.

It's the same things said above, but in image form, I thought it was super cute and decided to keep it🫡‼️

and of course, my oc Matsu no au, they are my babies‼️‼️‼️

[chaoticly-shy-dragon]

I might have lost my mind over @tumblerislovetumblerislife 's sun and moon gods/cloud and star goddesses au - this is the result. (can’t see the stars for clouds - is the fic and it's awesome!)

The girls are just hundreds of sketches in my notebook for now but one day when exams aren't a thing I might draw them in color too! More sketches under the cut as well as additional notes about the fits:

It's the boys and Niko. And the spirits.

Charles is a literal sunshine here and I tried to show that. His laurels exude sunlight;

I took artistic libraries with the veil,,;

As they get closer to that eclipse ritual thing Edwin's veils get less heavy and more translucent-y; the hat's decorations are either jewels made into flowers or those flowers that only bloom at night

Niko's father faded and her hair darkened because of it; she got better with the help of Edwin and a pair of dead dandelion ghosts;

Charles gave Crystal some of his sunlight beams and she uses them when going to functions and official goddess business; they make for great David repellent as well - sharp and vicious as their burn;

Niko's hair gets braided with stardust and shines in blue, red and white when the light hits right;

Lightning earrings exist: Me: I have to learn how to draw lightning so fast

Charles is covered in gold because I could and his shirt is in sunrise gradient because it's thematic and cute;

Edwin's buttons are phases of the moon and his vest has an iridescent shine to it, there are also stars-dots on the veil;

Yes, I did put Edwin in bloomers, no, I'm not sorry;

Yes, I made Charles wear the Orpheus' scarf, no, I'm even less sorry.

[jpriest85-blog]

Recently, I got into @vendetta-if and have been coming up with concept art of my MC, Katerina aka Kitty. Including a portrait of her with how I imagine Viktor and Yevette appearing, fashion lineup of clothing she would wear, concept sketches of her tattoos, and a full body reference picture of her tattoos and underwear. Damn no wonder Ash got so flustered in the demo😘

Vendetta MC info

Name: Katerina Viktorovna Smirnova [ Катерина Викторовна Смирнова]

Nickname: Kitty

Gender: Female

Sexual preferences: Bisexual

Codename: Anath, Canaanite Goddess of warfare and the hunt who defeats the death god Mot for killing Ba'al, in a rather brutal fashion.

Pistols: Freyr & Freyja

Mask: Venetian mask with wings and crown made of a swirling black

Car: Black and gold Mercedes Benz Maybach S650.

Face claim: Haya Maraachli

Fashion preferences: Fancy elegant clothes in a variety of styles and colors.

ROs: Ash & Rin

Height: 6ft./182.88cms

Ethnicity: Mix of Russian, Syrian, and French descent

Hair: long, straight black hair

Eyes: Brown

Complexion: olive complexion

Tattoos & distinguishing features: a couple of beauty marks on her face on the left side of her chin and upper lip. As well as a few in memoriam tattoos; a stylized camera on the left side of her chest for her father, a stylized motorcycle with flowers on her right shoulder for Cara, and a cameo tattoo on her left wrist depicting her grandmother.

Personality: At first appearance, Kitty seems like a spoiled sweet rich girl, bubbly, charming, and fashionable, but she is also incredibly educated and intelligent. Imagine Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Only Kitty is a brunette, was born into an infamous criminal family, and is aspiring to become a vigilante like her father Although considering the kind of student she was, Katerina could easily get into Harvard, although she'd be more likely to pursue a major in business or anthropology rather than focusing on law.

She's also a huge Nerd. She was president of the school debate team, graduated as class valedictorian, and everything. She does tend to dress fashionably, and she is fascinated by a wide variety of subjects, and she will study extensively in her free time whenever she develops an interest in a new subject matter. As a result, she's now fluent in over 7 languages; English, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin, and French, and is even attempting to learn Sign language. She's just as likely to be interested in popular media, as well as more academic fare, with equal enthusiasm. So she's the type of person who'd enjoy listening to popular music as well as podcast lectures on ancient civilizations, or the latest blockbuster movie and documentaries about endangered species, etc. She's also considerate enough not to talk down to the people around her. She doesn't want to make someone feel stupid or bad about themselves just because they don't know something, this just means it's an opportunity to introduce them to something new they can get excited about!

Honestly, Kitty tends to be more offended by people who pretend to know everything, especially when they're trying to just suck up to her. Sure, she was brought up to be enough of a lady to be polite to people, but she doesn't enjoy folks wanting to get closer to her just to get on good with her family. Reminds her too much of her childhood when other kids pretended to be friends with her to get her to do their homework, make connections with her family, take advantage of her generosity, or even seduce her when she "grew up pretty." As a result, despite the fact Katerina is a very sociable and charming person, her friend group is pretty small. There are very few people she trusts explicitly outside of her family, Ash, and Rin. Although Skylar and Detective Valdez are strong candidates to join her inner circle depending on how things play out.

She also tends to be pretty generous since she still remembers how much her father used to worry about money and expenses when she was growing up. She understands how many advantages and opportunities having money can afford, especially as she got older and studied business and accounting to help better assist her uncle. As much as she still wants to be a vigilante, she knows change can't really happen until more people have better opportunities and chances to earn a living without having to resort to crime out of desperation. So she started to secretly start up and fund charity programs that help to improve people's lives like food banks, rehab treatment, after-school and scholarship programs, etc. All of these donations and charity projects are strictly anonymous though, considering her family's reputation she doesn't want the much needed funds being taken away from these people in case of suspicions of money laundering, or that she's using the charities as a PR tactic.

While she usually tries to be optimistic, losing her father so young still takes its toll on her. Katerina still struggles with PTSD, anxiety, depression and even developed OCD after her father's murder. Young children deal with grief and trauma in different ways and in Kitty's case she became an overachiever instead of lashing out; after all, the last thing she promised her father before he died was to be a good girl. She'd push herself to smile and be the dutiful student and child so as not to cause problems for the people around her. Her uncle and grandparents are already grieving and struggling enough, although at the time, she didn't realize she was worrying her family more. Especially her Uncle Luka, sure he didn't have much experience in childcare except for babysitting Kitty and Ash. He's no stranger to concealing his real feelings to not publicly appear weak, but his niece is still so young that she shouldn't be hiding her grief and pain behind a smile like a Stepford wife!

Especially when he knows she's not sleeping well, and he even caught her out of bed in the middle of the night obsessively scrubbing the walls and ceiling. The worst incident was when Kitty was 11 and woke up from a nightmare about her father's murder. Even after washing her face and hands, she still remembers the feeling of her father's blood seeping into her clothes. While she can't see any blood, she can still feel it warm and tacky against her skin. So she kept washing, but the sink wasn't big enough, so she stepped into the shower still in her pjs, and just kept scrubbing even long after the water ran cold and the shadows started multiplying. When her uncle found her, he frantically turned off the shower and wrapped her in a towel, trapping her hands to stop her from scrubbing her skin raw. Luka started taking her to a therapist after this incident, and she still sees a psychiatrist pretty regularly.

It's helped her manage and deal with things, especially after understanding her obsessive fixation with order and cleaning can flare up when she's stressed or trying to reassert some control in her life. Although she still doesn't bring up her attempts at becoming a vigilante and hunting down her father's murder with her doctors for obvious reasons. She's also explored other ways to help her cope in addition to therapy, although some methods are more effective than others. Sure, smoking can help lower her stress, but tobacco and nicotine have long-term health risks, so she's been trying to quit. Kitty has responded well with animal therapy, especially the treatments that involved horses. As a result, her uncle and grandfather both had horse stables added to the family estate, as well as staff, horses, equestrian equipment, and training for her.

Additional info & Headcanons

Kitty tends to be very cuddly and affectionate with people she's close to, ever since she was a child. She'd always cuddle her dad, Uncle Luka, Cara, and even Takashi. She always greeted her grandparents with a hug and 3 alternating kisses on the cheek, even as an adult. Although she often leaves lipstick marks on her Deda Pavel, so now she also makes sure to wipe his cheek after a rather humorous incident when several people were too afraid to let the intimidating Morozov patriarch know he still had colorful lipstick marks on his face. Ash and Rin also grew accustomed to Kitty's gestures of affection, although Ash is a bit more self conscious about the physical contact when she started developing feelings for Kitty, and Rin was initially unused to people being so cuddly with him, other than his father, but he's learned to appreciate it (especially with the advantages of the height difference between himself and Kitty). Once Kitty decides to trust and welcome Jackal into the family, Artyom can expect an enthusiastic bear hug from her as well.

Is a bit of a foodie and enjoys a wide range of different types of meals. Her palette isn't limited to higher end foods, sure she enjoys caviar and champagne as much as the next person but she also loves food discovered from some little hole in the wall spot, or even home cooked meals. She even has an anonymous food review blog that's very popular on social media. Even Skylar follows it.

As far as Kitty's own cooking skills, she's decent enough on her own but needs more practice for more complicated recipes. Especially after the time she tried learning how to make Crème Brûlée, she asked Ash to help her and they both set off the fire alarm…thankfully they always make sure the fire extinguishers are nearby and in working condition.

Kitty prefers strong black tea when she needs a caffeine boost, as coffee tends to give her heart burn. She also picked up the habit of drinking her tea with a sugar cube in her mouth, which she learned from her grandmother when they used to have tea together.

She always has a little tin filled with sugar cubes in her purse, usually because she prefers them to the little sugar packets when drinking her tea and to give little treats for her horses. As a result, Katerina is well known by the mounted units in EPD because the horses always know she's got treats for them.

Since starting animal therapy, Kitty has owned and grown attached to many horses over the years. Her current therapy horse is a Snowflake Appaloosa she named Zefir after the candy. Although after meeting Detective Valdez and seeing how overworked and stressed out they are, she is considering introducing Satana to her horses.

While Kitty still struggles with her OCD she did pick up some useful skills while trying to manage it. She learned how to get blood stains out of almost anything and how to use her Gravikinesis to find and dispose of trace evidence in hard to reach places.

While therapy has helped Katerina learn not to bury her feelings, she still doesn't like crying in public. Partly out not wanting to be vulnerable in front of strangers, and she gets embarrassed by how messy she appears while crying; runny makeup, her face gets all red and puffy, hiccups, ect. She doesn't have any problem crying in front of, or even on, people she trusts like her family, Ash, and Rin. Although sometimes Ash gets too emotional when Kitty starts crying, and if it's not a situation where she can fix things by killing the bastard that made Kitty cry in the first place, Ash will start crying too. Usually, Luka or Rin has to console them both when this happens. Comfort food like ice cream has proven to be effective.

Considering Katerina's affinity to horses, it would surprise no one to learn she was a huge fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon as a child. However, Ash also used to watch the cartoon with her religiously when they were both little girls. Rin will sometimes tease Ash about it as he's one of the few people who remembers this fact and can get away with talking about it without risking death.

When Kitty was a child, she and Ash both joined the Girl Scouts. It was an enjoyable experience, although sadly short-lived, because Ash and Kitty used overly aggressive tactics when selling cookies, like intimidation and racketeering. So they were both kicked out, and Viktor made both girls apologize and refund all the people they extorted. Still, Kitty did learn some useful skills like first aid and fire safety. So whenever Girl Scout Cookie Season comes around, she'll buy everything she can from any Girlscout she encounters and hand out boxes to family, friends, and even staff.

Katerina has astigmatism and has needed corrective lenses since she was 13. She normally wears contact lenses but prefers to wear glasses when at home, during business meetings, or when researching.

Katerina was sort of a late bloomer and was very cubby as a child. Viktor did everything he could to make sure his daughter never felt self-conscious about it, especially since he was also a heavy kid before he had his growth spurt. For the most part, it worked, but Kitty would still feel self-conscious about herself from other kids teasing or fashion advertising. Especially the ones that featured her mother.

When Katerina hit her growth spurt at 14, she was very caught off guard by the sudden attention when people would try asking her out or flirting with her. Especially since many of these same people didn't even give her a second look when she still had her "baby fat," she didn't even lose any actual weight, but because she's taller now she looks thinner.

This has also made her friends and family extra protective of Kitty, and they are often very successful at scarring off any creeps and perverts. There was one incident when Luka was giving Kitty a driving lesson when she was 15, a couple of frat boys pulled up to them at a red light and immediately started aggressively hitting on Katerina when they spotted her in the driver's seat. They didn't notice Luka blinking into their back seat where he proceeded to beat them half to death for harassing his underage niece.

Whenever folks only compliment Kitty on her looks, she quickly loses interest. Sure, she'll politely accept the compliment if it's their first meeting and the other person isn't being a creep. However, if that's the only thing that they're interested in, she'll disengage.

Katerina has a variety of interests, much like a Renaissance man or woman in this case. She is not interested in folks getting close to her just because of her family, wealth, or in an attempt to get into her pants! She speaks over 7 languages and tries initiating a conversation with her about food, history, art, or even something obscure, like the life cycle about an endangered beetle! Just say something of value to the conversation if you want anything more than a standard polite response from her!

Katerina has some very mixed feelings about her mother. While Yevette's rejection of her did hurt and affect her, she still had Cara and her grandmother in her life. They helped shape her into the kind of woman she wants to be. Although as she got older, she's learned to let go of some of the hurt…mostly. She understands not everyone is meant to be a parent and believes Yevette is just one of those people who doesn't have it in her to be a mother. Sure, Kitty doesn't want Yevette to die, but for the most part, her mother is a stranger to her. Just because she grew up seeing Mirage everywhere in TV, comics, ads, and movies doesn't mean they know each other even if Yevette did give birth to her. Sure she'll be polite to Yevette, after all Baba Alina made sure Katerina was raised to be a respectful young lady, but if Yevette wants to build an actual relationship with Kitty she needs to show she means it. Katerina learned early on how to deal with folks who have ulterior motives for getting close to her. She doesn't need that BS from her own mother!

Over the years, movie nights with Uncle Luka will sometimes inspire new interests and hobbies for Kitty. Like when she wanted to learn how to use a whip after watching Indiana Jones, or getting into Egyptology and ancient cultures after watching The Mummy films, both the original horror films from 1932 starring Boris Karloff, and the 1999 movie starring Brendon Frazer.

Kitty did eventually learn how to use a whip. It even helps her practice using precision with her Umbrakinesis abilities. As well as winning first place at last year's Halloween costume contest when she dressed up Julie Newmar's iconic Catwoman, complete with whip stunt demonstration and terrible cat puns.

The 1999 Mummy film also helped young Kitty realize she was Bisexual as she developed crushes on a good part of the main cast; Brendon Frazer, Rachel Weisz, Oded Fehr, and even Patricia Velasquez.

Likewise, these movie nights sometimes inspired a few fears and phobias. Such as when Luka made the mistake of showing her Mimic, directed by Guillermo del Toro, and she developed an intense fear of cockroaches. She liked del Toro's other films, and usually, when a scary movie bothered her, learning more about the subject made her less scared. Like after she watched Jaws, she got less scared when she learned real sharks are much different than from the movie.Cockroaches were the exception, though the more she learned about the insects, the more they freaked her out.

Despite already being pretty tall, Kitty tends to wear high heels, except when she's relaxing, exercising, or doing missions. She claims she likes the added height because other than her mother, she's the shortest one out of her relatives by comparison (although at 6ft./182.88cms, she isn't that much shorter than her Uncle and Grandparents). Also, the thin heels can make an effective impromptu stabbing weapon in a pinch. Why do you think Stiletto heels share their name with a type of dagger?

[cypaira-the-skeleton]

Once @horrorartist23 made a comic regarding The Impossible God Roger adopting Raven when she was a baby from an alleyway on Earth. Seeing the kind of clothing The Imp. God wears, I had to brain storm a bit on what kind of clothing would Raven grow up to wear. So I went over to google and search for ancient Greek clothing that children wore, and found this result:

It may not be accurate but I made it similar enough. I even changed her hair style just a bit as well.

Seeing that the imp. god has a very important duty amongst the heavens I imagined that he would let his daughter come along with him, letting her drift on top of a cloud, possibly even teaching her the roots of his role.

I feel really proud of this simple Sketch 😊. It's simple, it's relaxing, and I'm impressed at the random floating land in the background as well😄❤️❤️

"A human girl raised by the strongest god in existence, unaware of her origins, believing she might be the next goddess to be; Blissfully ignorant of the actual truth. It doesn't really matter though, atleast she gets to learn about the secrets of the Realm of the 10 Gods with her beloved Father"

[somethingclevermahogony]

My MC, Narul

I found my old notepad and on a whim decided to sketch the MC for my WIP, Testaments of the Green Sea. I am kinda rusty when it comes to drawing, tbh I haven’t just sat down and drawn something in months. But I’m hoping that now I can get back to drawing. BTW, the next part of my folkstory, Seha and the Golden Trout should hopefully be up tomorrow, I just keep forgetting about it, oops. 

Here is some info about Narul. I posted this stuff before but I know how easily stuff can disappear

Some facts about Narul 

-Narul is a forestfolk, that is to say, the descendent of a group of people physically changed by the effects of wild magic. Forestfolk are incredibly varied. Narul appears to be mostly human, save for his size and strength. Other forestfolk may be almost unrecognizable. 

-Narul is a massive man, supernaturally so. At 8’10” and quite large besides that. He is so large that the slave quarters had to be reconstructed just to fit him. His fingers are too big for most delicate tasks, and he is rather clumsy. Additionally, as a result of his heritage, he is inhumanly strong, a fact of which he is keenly aware and fears.

-Because of his condition, Narul must undergo weekly bloodletting treatments to keep the magic inside of him at bay

-Narul is currently a slave in the palace of Hutbari, king of Labisaj where he is marched around either as a bodyguard or as a sort of freak.

-Narul is adopted, his original mother was a priestess of the goddess Sonma, his father was an unknown forestfolk. His adopted mother is a slave woman named Bira

-His best and only close friend, is his adoptive brother, Suru

-“The Pabaket's eyes locked on the figure behind Hutbari, and he was momentarily dumbstruck. The slave was towering and robust, head, shoulders, and chest, over anyone else in the room. His skin was like dulled copper, slightly darker than the various Labisaji nobles, if only because of his many hours in the sun. He was not so delicately and exquisitely proportioned as the statues of gods and kings that guarded the temples. He was far more brutish in his build, with large rough hands, a broad face with thick brows, and wide powerful shoulders. His bare chest was hairy, his jaw and head covered with a thick beard and neck-length curling black hair.” - Excerpt from Chapter 1 describing Narul.

-Because of his size and strength, Narul has the potential to be quite dangerous to normal humans, as he has been repeatedly reminded of since his childhood. This has led to severe anxiety and a poor sense of self-esteem for the young (23) slave. Though he has had crushes on several men and women in the palace and beyond, he is too fearful of his own strength to commit himself to a relationship. Even if he wasn’t, he is painfully awkward when it comes to talking to people he may like

-While his gruff appearance frightens most that meet him, he is incredibly tender-hearted and not a particularly adventurous person, much to the constant bemusement of his much wilder and smaller brother, Suru.

-Bisexual Disaster XXXL, his first crush was on a young lord at Hutbari’s palace. When he attempted to approach the lord and express his feelings, the man, being half Narul’s size, was terrified as he believed that the stammering and muttering giant was planning on eating him. The lord fled in fear, leaving a stunned Narul standing in the palace courtyard. The same lord would later lose his title after deserting the battlefield during a skirmish with Macurian raiders; 

Narul’s second attempt to approach a crush, in this case, a young seamstress, ended much the same. The blows to Narul’s self-esteem from these particular encounters have had a lasting effect on the young slave. He has not approached anyone about romantic feelings since as he feels he will scare them.

-As with most commoners, he is completely illiterate, though he can count

-His favorite color is orange, like the hasir flowers which decorate the streets during the fall festivals

-The last time Narul was outside of the walls of Labisaj was when he was an infant

- Narul is surprisingly pious, if only because he worries the gods may punish him more than they seemingly already have. He will leave coins or scraps of food at the shrine of Jalbaba, patron god of forestfolk and spirits. This is one of the smaller and less respected shrines in the city. The patron of the city is the mountain goddess, Humbalibal

-His favorite food is a kind of barley cake called kipsha. Kipsha can be sweet or savory, with the most popular variety and Narul’s favorite, being smothered in honey, chopped figs, and black pepper

-Narul enjoys performances that can be viewed at festivals. Though he remembers all of the lines and jokes of the most popular poems and plays, they still make him cry and laugh. He is particularly interested in romance.

[johnashtongolden]

Almost forgot I doodled this in my journal before going to sleep last night. I’m becoming very interested in exploring this idea of non-specific angelic, high vibrational, spiritual entities that emerge from my subconscious. I’ve done a handful of drawings of beings like this as a form of meditation, and I really enjoy the process and the result. - #Angelic #angels #spiritual #Grace #peace #harmony #meditation #beauty #goddess #spiritguide #healer #highvibes #resonance #DivineFeminine #glory #sketchbook #journal #drawing #sketch #doodle #Feminine #streamofconsciousness #johnnygoldenart #johnashtongolden #mortalmirrorstudio (at Garden of the Gods) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClVhlgZOKS3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tarangarts0]

Unveiling the Timeless Splendor of Tanjore Painting: A Glimpse into a Treasured Art Form"

Tanjore painting, also known as Thanjavur painting, is a classical South Indian art form that dates back to the 16th century. Originating in the town of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, India, Tanjore painting is renowned for its rich colors, intricate details, and devotion to religious themes. In this blog post, we'll embark on a journey to explore the beauty, history, and significance of Tanjore painting.

The History of Tanjore Painting:

Tanjore painting flourished under the patronage of the Nayak and Maratha rulers of the Thanjavur region during the 16th to 18th centuries. Influenced by the traditional art forms of the Vijayanagar Empire and the exquisite craftsmanship of the Chola dynasty, Tanjore painting evolved into a distinctive style characterized by its use of gold leaf, vibrant hues, and elaborate ornamentation.

Technique and Materials:

One of the defining features of Tanjore painting is the meticulous attention to detail in every aspect of the artwork. Artists typically begin by sketching the outline of the subject, which is often a deity or mythological scene, on a canvas stretched over a wooden board. The next step involves applying a paste made from chalk powder and glue to create a raised surface for the embellishments.

Gold foil, known as "varak," is then carefully affixed to the raised areas, lending a radiant glow to the painting. Semi-precious stones, glass beads, and pearls are often used to adorn the artwork, adding to its opulence and allure. Finally, the painting is adorned with bold colors derived from natural pigments, resulting in a mesmerizing visual spectacle that captivates the viewer's imagination.

Themes and Symbolism:

Tanjore paintings predominantly depict scenes from Hindu mythology, with gods and goddesses such as Krishna, Lakshmi, and Saraswati being popular subjects. Each element of the painting carries symbolic significance, conveying profound spiritual messages and invoking a sense of devotion in the viewer. The intricate details, vibrant colors, and lavish ornamentation serve to elevate the divine presence portrayed in the artwork, creating a transcendent experience for the beholder.

Legacy and Revival:

While Tanjore painting reached its zenith during the Nayak and Maratha periods, it experienced a decline in popularity during the colonial era. However, concerted efforts by artists and enthusiasts have led to a revival of interest in this traditional art form in recent years. Artisans continue to practice and preserve the techniques passed down through generations, ensuring that Tanjore painting remains a cherished part of India's cultural heritage.

Conclusion:

Tanjore painting stands as a testament to the ingenuity, creativity, and spiritual fervor of the artisans who crafted these masterpieces centuries ago. Through its intricate designs, vibrant colors, and timeless themes, Tanjore painting continues to enchant and inspire audiences around the world, serving as a vibrant reminder of India's rich cultural legacy. As we marvel at the splendor of these exquisite artworks, we are transported to a realm where divinity and beauty converge in perfect harmony, leaving an indelible imprint on our hearts and minds.

[senatushq]

Pandora

NAME/ALIASES. UTP AGE & BIRTH DATE. Prehistoric & Unknown SPECIES. Aspect GENDER & PRONOUNS. Female & She/Her or She/They AFFILIATIONS. UTP OCCUPATION. UTP

History

A first draft of Vulcan’s forge, a blueprint Prometheus and the master of the forged worked off of for Prometheus to later use. Elven blood flowed through your veins, but Pandora might have been a creature of Elysia and yet she was not a true daughter of the Gods. Still, the Seldarine sent her gifts enough, a lifelong companion and friend in the form of Epimetheus, a complexion to rival any Goddess from Yidhra, and a jar of wonders that she was tasked to never open. Like Pandora’s jar, she too was the work of distillation, a soul pulled from the clutches of the Abyss, a dark elf that had been forged into the body of something akin to the divine. No place among the light, and no place among the dark, Pandora was made a curious spectator of both instead. More scholar than warrior, as her cousins Melpomene and Titania trained under their tutors, Pandora preferred instead to sketch or draw figures she saw in the stars. While the Muses dance and sang, Pandora’s feet were clumsy and served her little beyond keeping her upright and in motion. 

The mortal realm had been plagued by the presence of The Great Old Ones for countless years, poisoned earth, famine, and decay ran rampant over the desolate world. From this harsh, cruel place, Eden’s beauty was distilled and to Pandora’s pithos the horrors were to be stored. Pandora had no place in Elysia, but as the prototype that predated Adam, Lilith, and Eve, she was permitted to watch the realm that could never be hers begin to grow. Hardly above the rank of youth, curious Pandora picked at the contents of her jar, wondering after what could possibly be stored inside that was so horrible? Eden’s destiny fell upon it, Laurelin and Telperion burned, but while so many of her kind fled back to Elysia and abandoned the garden, Pandora couldn’t help but let her curiosity bubble to a head. She lifted the lid and released famine, plagues, curses, and diseases into the realm before quickly sealing it shut again. Pandora took her pithos and departed for Elysia where she remained, daughter of Vulcan, Pandora had his curiosity but lacked his aptitude for the forge. In Elysia she remained, until it was conquered by the forces of the Abyss, Oztalun overthrew the hierarchy and once more Pandora returned to the realm of mortals. 

Connections

Eden:She was the blueprint for Lilith, for Eve, and for all the women that would come from them.

Artemis: Pandora was built to be a blueprint, and somehow landed with a place among the Gods as a result.

Psyche: Outcasts amidst the realm of Elysia, Pandroa had her jar to keep her company and Psyche had her daimona.

Abilities

Pithos: Lady of the jar, Pandora can trap people in her pithos, or use it to release curses upon people, families, species, or entire cities within a specified range.

Immortal: Pandora will never age and cannot currently be killed. If cut down she'll just get back up again.

Immunity: Cannot be cursed or contained in any way, shape or farm.

Protected: Unknowingly tethered to the life of her pithos, Pandora cannot die so long as the jar remains intact.

Weaknesses

Elven: Pandora is incapable of telling any lies and when pierced by iron it will burn her and disrupt her manifestation.

Pithos: Her power is tethered to her jar, if it breaks she'll die and she can't use any magic without it.

Seraph: A seraph blade through her heart will disrupt her magic and break any of her curses.

THIS SKELETON IS CURRENTLY CLOSED.

[chaospenelope]

Been a while since I drew them both...

[davidmann95]

How about those JL storyboards?

In case you haven’t heard, Zack Snyder is putting on display the ‘storyboards’ - i.e. a rough plot summary accompanied by some Jim Lee sketches - for what would have been Justice League 2 and 3, or as this puts it 2 and ‘2A’. You can see them here (I imagine better-quality versions will soon be released), and read a transcript here. This is evidently a very early version: this was apparently pitched prior to the release of BvS and Justice League being rewritten in the wake of it, with numerous plot details that now don’t line up with what we know about the Snyder Cut, plus it outright mentions it builds on the originally planned versions of the Batman and Flash movies. But it’s a broad outline of what was gonna go down, and while I initially thought it was Snyder throwing in the towel, the timing - paired with the ambiguity left by the necessity for changes, including that this doesn’t factor whatever that “massive cliffhanger” at the end of the Cut is - says to me he’s hoping this’ll be a force multiplier behind efforts to will sequel/s into existence. He’s probably right.

I’ll be discussing spoilers below, but in short: with this Zack Snyder has finally lived up to Alan Moore, in that like Twilight of the Superheroes I wouldn’t believe this was real as opposed to a shockingly on-point parody if not for direct, irrefutable evidence.

Doing some rapid-fire bullet points for this baby to kick us off:

* Folks who know the subject say a lot of this is a yet further continuation of Snyder doing Arthuriana fanfic with the League reskinned over those major players, and I’ll take their word for it.

* I don’t know whether I love or hate that in Justice League 2 the Justice League are only an extant thing for the first scene, and then it’s Snyder giving everybody their own mini-movies. It’s compressing the entire MCU “loosely interconnected solo stories leading to a single big movie later” strategy into a single movie!

*  Funniest line in the whole thing: "Even Lantern has heard of the Kryptonian, worried that he's under the control of Darkseid. He heard his spirit was unbreakable." Hal what fuckin' Superman movie did YOU watch? Second funniest being “IT WILL GIVE HIM POWER OVER ALL LIVING LIFE”

* 90% of the plot I have nothing to say about, it’s generic stage-setting crap. That to be clear is the ‘shocked it’s Snyder’ element, it feels so crassly commercial in a way I can’t believe is coming from the BvS guy.

* Most of what I have to say is unsurprisingly gonna be about a handful of characters but Cyborg’s happy ending being “he isn’t visibly disabled anymore!” is not great!

* The Goddess of War battle with Superman...never pays off? No clue why it’s there.

* What I’d originally heard was that the Codex in Superman’s blood was the last key to the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why Darkseid was coming to Earth. It’s not like all of this wouldn’t have already been averted by Kal-El’s pod smacking into an asteroid on the way to Earth so it’s not as if this makes it any more Superman’s fault, and it would have at least tied all this back to the beginning of the movies, but I suppose that was either fake or from a later draft.

* I have NO idea how this was reimagined without the ‘love triangle’, it’s the central character thing and the entire climax flows directly out of it!

* Darkseid’s kinda a chump in this, huh

Anonymous said: So: Does Zack Snyder hate Superman?

Look: the hilarity of this when Cuck Kent has been a go-to Snyder cult insult towards ‘inferior’ takes on Superman for years cannot be understated, yet at the same time I can almost wrap my brain around where Snyder’s coming from with that as the end for his take on the character. He talked in that Variety piece on how his interest in Superman is informed by having adopted children himself, and Deborah Snyder is the stepmother to his kids by previous relationships, so I can see where he’d be coming from, and I can even imagine how he’d see this as ‘rhyming’ in the sense of “the series begins with Kal-El being adopted by Earth, it ends with him adopting a child of Earth!” In the same way as MARTHA, I can envision how he would put these pieces together in his head thematically without registering or caring what the end result would actually look like. In this case, Superman raising the kid of the man who beat the shit out of him who Batman had with Clark’s wife, who earlier told Bruce she was staying with Clark because he ‘needed her’, suggesting if inadvertently that this really honest to god was a “she’s only staying with Superman out of pity, she really loved Batman more” thing.

But Clark is nothing in this. He’s sad and existential because of coming back from the dead I guess, then he’s corrupted, then time’s undone and he woo-rah rallies the collective armies of the world (interesting angle for the ‘anti-military/anti-establishment’ Superman he’s talked up as) as his big heroic moment in the finale, and then he stops being sad because he’s adopting a kid. So his big much-ballyhooed, extremely necessary five-movie character arc towards truly becoming Superman was:

Sad weird kid -> sad weird kid learns he’s an alien, is still weird and sad, maybe he shouldn’t save people because things could go really wrong? -> his dad is so convinced it could go wrong he lets himself die -> ????? -> Clark is saving people anyway -> learns his origin, gets an inspiring speech about being a bridge between worlds and a costume -> becomes superman (not Superman, that’s later) to save the world, albeit a very property-damagey version, rejects his heritage he just learned about and space dad’s bridge idea -> folks hate him being superman and that sucks though at least he’s got a girlfriend now -> things go so wrong he considers not being superman but his ghost dad reminds him shit always goes wrong so he should be good anyway, which sorta feels like it contradicts his previous advice -> immediate renewed goodness is out the window as he’s blackmailed into having to try and kill a dude but the dude happens to coincidentally have some things in common so they don’t kill each other after all -> big monster now but superman keeps supermaning at it because he loves his girlfriend and he dies -> he’s brought back, wears black which apparently means now he likes Krypton again? -> he has work friends now but he’s still sad because he was dead -> evil now! -> wait nevermind time travel -> rallies the troops -> his wife’s having a kid so he’s not sad anymore -> Superman! Who gives way to more Batman.

Do I think Zack Snyder is lying when he says he likes Superman? No. I think he sincerely finds much of the basic conceits and imagery engaging. But I don’t think he meaningfully gives shit about Clark as a character, just a vessel for Big Iconic Beats he wants to hit. Whereas while for instance he’s critical of Batman as an idea (at least up to a point), he’s much more passionately, directly enamored with him as a presence and personality. So while Superman may be the character whose ostensible myth cycle or arc or however it’s spun might be propelling a lot of events here, it’s a distant appreciation - of course the other guy takes over and subsumes him into his own narrative. Of course Batman is the savior, the past and the future (though if he’s supposed to be Batman’s kid raised by Superman there’s no excuse for him not to be Nightwing), the tragic martyr to our potential. Admittedly the implication here is also that Batman can apparently only REALLY with his whole heart be willing to sacrifice his life to save an innocent, for that matter apparently his great love, once said innocent is a receptacle for his Bat-brood, but he and Clark are both already irredeemable pieces of shit by the end of BvS so it’s not like this even registers by comparison.

Anonymous said: That “plan” Snyder had was utter dogshit. Picture proof that DC & WB hate Superman. Also I love how you’re like Jor-El: Every single idealistic take you had about Snyder, his fandom, and BvS was wrong. Snyder’s an edgy hack, his fanbase just wants to jerk off to their edgy self-insert Batgod as he screams FUCK while mowing people down with machine guns, and the idea that BvS said Superman was better than Bats was completely wrong. You know what comes next SuperMann: Either you die or I do.

In the final analysis, beyond that mother of god is there sure no conceivable excuse for the treatment of Lois in this? The temptation is to join that anon and say as I originally tweeted that these were “built entirely to disabuse every single redemptive reading of the previous work and any notion of these movies as nuanced, artistic, self-reflective, or meaningful”.

...

...

...yeah, okay, that’s mostly right. Zack Snyder’s vision really was the vision of an edgelord idiot with bad ideas who was never going to build up to anything that would reframe it all as a sensible whole. He’s a sincere edgelord genuinely trying really hard with his bad ideas who put some of them together quite cleverly! But they’re fucking bad and the endgame was never anything more than ramping up into smashing the action figures together as big as he could, the political overtones and moral sketchiness of BvS while trying to say something in that movie reverberated through the grand scheme of his pentalogy in no way beyond giving his boys a big sad pit to rise out of so when they kicked ass later it’d rule harder, and all the gods among men questions and horror and trappings were only that: trappings. Apparently he’s really pleasant and well-meaning in person, but at his core his art as embodied in a couple weeks in his 4-hour R-rated Justice League movie meant to be seen in black-and-white all comes down to that time he yelled at someone on Twitter that he couldn’t appreciate Snyder’s work because it’s for grown-ups. He made half-clever, occasionally exciting shit cape movies for a bunch of corny pseudo-intellectual douchebags, folks latching onto and justifying blockbusters that at least acknowledge how horrifying the world is right now even if the superheroes are basically useless in the face of it if not outright part of the problem until a convenient alien invasion shows up to justify them, and a handful of non-asshole smart people who vibe with it but...well. ‘Suckered’ is a harsh word, and definitely doesn’t apply to all of them re: what they’ve gotten out of it up to this point and would (somehow) get out of this. But it doesn’t apply to none of them, either.

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing (June 13-19, 2021)

Here’s your weekly roll-up everyone!  Show your fellow fans some love!

--Mod LAM

Fanfiction

The Life of the Immortal Jellyfish (Ch.1/34) by @lemontrash​

Pairings: Duo x Wufei

Characters: 5 pilots + Relena, Hilde, Noin, Une

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: mostly canon compliant, post-Endless Waltz, UST, insomnia, roommates, Preventers, developing friendship, slow burn

Summary:  Is it chance that lands Duo and Wufei in the same university dorm room? They're not stupid enough to believe that but too tired to fight it. Duo's dragged himself back from the brink of going too far and remains teetering on the edge while Wufei's doggedly trying to prove himself to the 'good guys' in the aftermath of the Eve Wars. Sleep and normalcy eludes them both. As they become increasingly aware how damaged they are, they start to edge towards friendship, or something more, but all too soon the peace seems jeopardised by a new and manipulative threat.

And We'll Drink (to the Gentle, and Meek, and the Kind) by @boxofhatebrains

Pairings: Howard x Professor G

Characters: Howard, Professor G

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags / Warnings: drinking, getting to know each other, period-typical sexism, smoking, pre-canon, unrequited love, plans for the future

Summary: Desperado wants to know what makes this guy tick, what makes it impossible for him to despise Mike like he does with the other scientists. What his hobbies are. What he dislikes.He just wants...and it’s awful. He hates wanting for things. Wanting for these things comes with disappointment. Always disappointment.

Six Meetings between Death and Duo Maxwell by @angelselene

Pairings: N/A

Characters: Duo, Death of the Endless and Desire of the Endless (Sandman Comics)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags / Warnings: Sandman crossover

Summary: The first time Death sees him, he’s a little boy with ragged hair and purple eyes that seem to glow. Humans don’t have eyes like that, she knows, but whether he’s a child of a more than half-forgotten god or goddess or something else, she isn’t sure.

Fanart

Dad Bod Duo and Duo Care Bear by @gundayum

Month of Trowa by @theboringbluecrayon

Duo Sketch by @owodeya

Duo and Zechs Doodle by @keiko1183

Gigi (Gundam Hathaway) and Relena and Heero and Relena by @alphaikaros

Other Fanwork

Headcanons and Discussion

A bunch of folks answered the OTP Meme when asked, so be sure to check your mutuals.  Some highlights: 

@lemontrash on Duo x Wufei, Heero x Wufei, and Heero x Trowa

@lifeaftermeteor on Wufei x Relena

@noirangetrois on Heero x Wufei

And a special treat - @gemstonecircles answered several via ficlet!  

Fighting Against the Odds (1xR, PG-13, sex/violence)

Turn the Necessity to Glorious Gain (1xR, G, contemplative)

“What hath night to do with sleep?” (2xH, G, sleep systems)

Nicknames (5xS, PG, humor)

Best of the Bunch (2xH, bi!Duo, PG, humor)

Other Fun Stuff

@cuteciboulette continues to share highlights from their DJ collection. This week’s is from “Fantasia”

Which GW Pilot Are You Quiz, results featuring @incorrectgundamwingquotes, @cloakandfire, @gemstonecircles, @lemontrash, and @grey-sentry

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​ continues to bring the laughs (Exhibit A, reference to NSFW off-screen 3x4)

@janaverse shares some randomly generated quotes (featuring Heero, Duo, and Vodka)

Calendar Events

@gundam-wing-pride has compiled a Roll Up of Pride Event posts

@gwcocktailfriday is back with this week’s prompt!  Be sure to post your responses on Friday (June 25) between 3-5PM EST!

@gundamzine has opened up the mailing list, so be sure to register to get your FREE PDF on October 1!  In the mean time, be sure to follow the account so that you can learn about the stellar 2021 Zine Crew members. Also consider donating to the team’s chosen charity, World Literacy Foundation (donations are optional, but encouraged when possible). 

@seasons-of-gundamwing is still looking for prompt suggestions for the Summer Boys Event (July 25-31)!  TODAY (June 20) IS THE LAST DAY TO GET THEM IN!

The @gwshootingstars event WILL NOT BE HELD.  However, @lifeaftermeteor is going to look at the possibility of still convening some Q&A this fall/winter on the so-called “Big GW Server,” if schedules align.

And as always, be sure to check out our consolidated events calendar and let us know what we’re missing!!

[threewaysdivided]

Persephone

Final linework of the design I sketched out for @batmanisagatewaydrug​’s tattoo inspiration post.

Definitely helped that I’d recently watched Overly Sarcastic Productions’ Hades and Persephone myth video so I already had Ancient Greek Underworld Gods on the brain.  

It also made it fun to try and cram as many Persephone-related things into the design as I could.  Including:

The arch that forms the 'top of the skull’ is styled after Ancient Greek plate and pottery designs

Symbols at the top of the arch read ‘Pe’ ‘Re’ ‘Swa’ in Linear B, believed to be the Mycenaean Greek spelling of either Persephone’s name or the name of a precursor goddess who would later become Persephone

Flowers on the left are Asphodels, who give their name to and are described by Homer as a defining feature of one of the three major areas of Hades

On the right are Poppies, associated with death/ sleep/ remembrance, and used as grave-offerings by Ancient Greeks and Romans

The ‘eyes’ and ‘tears’ of the skull are Pomegranate jewels/arils in reference to the main abduction myth

Persephone's concealing dress-and-hood outfit were inspired by the veil of Despoina; a goddess whose real name was supposedly a secret to outsiders. Sources disagree but Despoina may be a bi-name of Persephone used by her mystery cult to avoid invoking her true name, a specific aspect/ older version of Persephone worshipped in Arcadia, or a epithet shared by her and few other Ancient Greek Goddesses

Some theories suggest that the vagueness and mystery of the lore/ writings/ stories around Persephone (and Underworld gods more broadly) may come from a “don’t speak her name, you might get her attention” fear of inviting death's presence, which I tried to incorporate into her pose

For fairly obvious symbolic reasons I tried to fit the whole design into a skull shape, hence the jawbone.

I’m really really happy with the end result of this one. It came out shockingly fast for me too - usually it takes ages to think about the design, look up a bunch of references, do a heap of trial sketches and refine once digitised, but in this case my brain was like “hey, make it a skull” and then we were off to the races.

[darkdevasofdestruction]

lmao retail workers always have aces up their sleeves! Anyways, I'm in a sally face mood today and it's been a while since last time I requested something! Can I request some fluffy romantic head-canons for Sally? 💙 ilovehimsomuch I need some cliché high school crush stuff, how would he get his clueless S/O's attention, how does he confess? Kill me with fluff! *swoons*

GJAUIWKUFYVHCHEJBFILAUSOV*PUIG FHAWUIFG F:IAWOFIGAWIUA

YOU LIKE

SALLY FAC E!?#!?!

OF:AH:AWIFHOAWUFHOAWU:FHAW

I SCREECHED OUT LOUD AND I TEARED UP

OAUGIAAWI’M  BREATHING HEAVIER THAN THE HEAVY BREATHING CAT MEME

YES YES YEFS YE SYE SYES YES I WILL WRITE ANYTHING FOR SALLY MY GOD, I CAN’T STOP MY EXCTITEMENT, BLESSSSSSS, IDK IF I CAN WRITE PROPERLY, I”M SORRY BUT OMFG I”m SO ENTHUSIASTIC ATM ;AWIHFAWOF:HAWO

---

HE IS SO SWEET AND BEAUTIFUL

And yes, now I can write properly, got a 15 minute walk with my puppy and now I’m calmer.All good x

---

Poor Poor Sal, if it wasn’t for Larry and his other friends that he met, his Highschool experience would have been a living nightmare...Not that most of his life wasn’t already pretty tragic as it was.

Thankfully, he wasn’t a dumb person, contrary to what his bullies thought, but he wasn’t a genius either, so there were a few times where he might have needed some academic help, and you were there to help, which is how you became friends.

He was absolutely shocked that you treated him so kindly, as if there wasn’t nothing wrong with him - Or rather said, as if he was just a normal kid with no mask, no weird long blue hair with 2 pigtails and a girly nickname or a pretty short stature.

Sal was even more surprised when you suggested going to a nice and more private cafe to study, claiming it would be a much better atmosphere for studying and relaxing, which would eliminate any shyness and nervousness either of you would have, and honestly, he was incredibly grateful for your intuition and kindness with everything.

Your voice was so warm and kind, you were so patient, helping him out with every little thing that for you might seem easy, but he was struggling with...

Your smile was dazzling, looking like literal sunshine, your hair was draping and framing your face like you were a renaissance painting made by da Vinci, and your vibe was so soothing that he felt as safe as if you, a guardian angel, was wrapping her pristine wings around him.

His heart was beating so fast, and at first he didn’t understand why - Or rather said, he didn’t want to admit that he actually fell for someone.

I mean...He’s Sally Face...Who’d ever like someone as weird and disfigured as him...?

That day, when you were done studying, he walked you home, and you smiled so sweetly at him when you waved him goodbye, that he felt his knees weaken.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sal.”

It wasn’t a goodbye, it was a see you later - You actually were okay with seeing him again.

Larry is the first person who hears about everything and you bet he’s super happy about the whole idea, and he’s going to play match-maker no matter what.

His bro’s happiness is the most important thing in his life, after all, and if you showed him so much kindness and were so passive about his looks and everything, then that can only mean you have the potential to be such a great match for the blue haired soft baby.

From then on, Larry is going to make sure you are one of the group and you hang out with them more often, and as often as possible, would get everyone away from there, leaving only the two of you alone.

Sal would try to use some gaming flirt lines or pick up lines, but you’d merely laugh at how funny, cute and imaginative they were, not picking up the hint.

He would give you little gifts, with some occasions even flowers, but you’d only play it as him being a sweetheart with his friends.

He would even write songs for you and will give them to you, but you only thought he was trying to write love songs to express himself.

Everything he tried to do, all the little, subtle...Not so subtle hints that he tried to give you, when he tried to test out the waters...They only made you think he was a nice friend.

He couldn’t realise how you could be so clueless to his affections towards you, and it was driving him crazy.

Not only him, but Larry as well, would groan and hit his head on the desk, annoyed at how blind you could be and how you were forcing Sal to outright confess his love for you, so after a long enough time, when the blue haired boy finally managed to muster the courage, Larry started helping him create a love confession.

He would hype up Sally a lot and help him rehears how to ask you out, what to wear, what to say, what to gift you and so on...

But honestly now, when do plans E V E R work the way they are supposed to?!

He’s a mess, he’s stuttering and blushing like crazy (not that you can see it), he somehow managed to grip so hard on the flowers out of anxiousness that he destroyed them and he basically had to run away so he wouldn’t make an even bigger idiot out of him and make you hate him.

You tried to access his walkie talkie a lot, but he kept it shut out of embarrassment, so Larry was the next best option, and he mentioned a place where Sal would go sometimes when he needs to feel better, so following the directions, you saw Sal playing his guitar while staring up at the cloud, his voice expressing the beautiful sorrow that he felt in his heart.

You listened attentively to the sad lyrics and you realised that he himself wrote the lyrics, and you approached him as soon as he was done with the song.

“That was beautiful, Sal. I never knew you had such an angelic voice. And your guitar skills are really something...Will you teach me one day?” you walked next to him, unintentionally scaring him out of his wits.

That only made him let out a small shriek, jolting in place and hitting his head on a tree branch, and in result, making his mask fly away.

He didn’t realise it at first, especially because you didn’t sketch any kind of reaction when you went to fetch him back the mask, and he only realised it when you kneeled next to him, offering to help him put it back.

Poor Sally freaked out big time, covering his face, saying how you shouldn’t look at someone like him, that you’re too perfect to stay around him, and you could feel his voice wavering, breaking, his eyes glistering with tears.

It took every ounce of power you had to put away his hands and kiss him as gently as possible, only to leave him speechless, powerless, unable to hold the tears from streaming his pale cheeks.

Once you reassure him that he is in no way ugly, and that he shouldn’t ever downgrade his worth the way he did, the only thing he can say is a short and genuine love confession, so soft and genuine that it made your heart skip a bit, seeing the love and innocence in his beautiful eyes.

From then on, you, Sal and Larry would be the terrific trio, but this is a request specifically about Sally, so here goes that.

He’s still going to feel insecure, since you could do SO much better, he says, but you wouldn’t hear any of that shit.

He would let you play with his hair, styling it in any way you want, and hell, if you want to, he could style your hair in any way you want, and yes, that means braiding too.

Sally would absolutely MELT if you’d want to match clothes or hairstyles with him, oh god, how cute would that be?!

He honestly looks at you like a Goddess or something since you’re always so sweet with him, even during the times when you’re sad about something, which is when he knows he must step in and make sure you’re okay, trying his best to at least make you smile, if you can’t feel a genuine laugh.

Sal loves to gift you plushies for some reason and when he sees you cuddling with it on a night when you have a sleep over...You killed this boy.

Overall, he’s...Like...The sweetest person in the world? Would care about you, your heart and your well-being literally above anything else?

Would be okay with hugs and cuddles and kisses of any kind at ANY time you want, no matter the place or occasion.

If you’re in public, he would blush a bit, but as long as it made you happy, it didn’t really matter.

And, I mean, it kinda made him be filled with a certain sense of pride and confidence whenever you’d so freely flaunt your relationship in public because -

YOU WEREN’T ASHAMED OF BEING WITH HIM!!!

And

HE WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE AN ANGEL AS HIS LOVER!!!

So basically

He got the Jackpot.

[hadtochangemyurlquick]

i saw in your bio your pronouns are “she/her probs” if you wouldn’t mind could you elaborate on that? you 100% don’t have to bc at the end of the day it’s none of my business but i’ve been thinking a lot about my own gender identity recently and your pronouns caught my eye

okay so basically, when i was born the doctor wasn’t there, he was helping out the teenage girl next door, and my mom had done it a bunch of times already so it was kinda no big deal? so there was no one there to be like “it’s a girl!” and i’ve been chasing that high ever since.

i was the youngest of too many, growing up on street with only little boys and my parents were never home so we’d basically be out and about until like 11pm trying to decide which god from the greek mythos was our secret parent and never once was i a girl with them we just didn’t have gender it didn’t exist

my two older sisters were extremely close whereas my two older brothers were hated each other and I was close with both of them individually so i never interacted with my sisters bc they were always hanging out together

when i started being a woman in middle school (my mom said I had to :/ ) i didn’t do it right and the first question i got asked was “are you a boy or are you a lesbian?”

i was so obsessed with looking like my older brother i kept my hair super super long and to this day he hasn’t cut it he keeps it in a man bun but i cut mine short directly after high school so i could go to an hwc like the fucking lesbian i am

the first girl i dated had four fingers in total on both her hands, not counting thumbs, and we fell in love play wrestling and like, physically rough housing, like i had with the little boys on my street growing up. she plays the viola to this day i think

when i first saw my now ex-boyfriend my first thought was, he’s either a lesbian or he’s trans, and to this day he’s identified as every label on the lgbtqa spectrum which is funny to me

i like the way i look in a binder but maybe that’s just cause i hate my body and want to punish it?

growing up i played a bunch of sports bc the commutes were the only guaranteed time alone i had with my dad and it was on a softball field in sixth grade that i realized i was a lesbian while looking at the short stop. her sister was a lesbian but the girl i liked was very straight :/

every dress i buy makes me look like an ethereal woodland goddess except for the one i bought that makes me look like a witch, and i look objectively gorgeous in them all except i dont wanna be pretty i want girls to jump out of their boots when they see me so i can catch them in my big strong arms and carry them home

once this kid i had a crush on and i watched the carmilla movie together. they were dating someone and i was pretty sure i was in love with them and when the sex scene came on i did not kiss them which i am both proud of and deeply regret

we also watched the miseducation of cameron post together with similar results

my grandfather carried around a pocket knife around with him everywhere bc he wanted to be useful, i carry around a backpack with a playing deck, a phone charger, a portable charger, a charger for my portable charger, a bar, bandaids, hand sanitizer, pen, pencil, notepad, pencil sharpener, a candle, a flashlight, a compass, matches, a book, lip stuff, pads, tampons, advil, neosporin, and a knife.

my dad has a big leather jacket i steal from him constantly and it’s big and brown and i keep an acorn in the pocket of it like i’m a stardew valley character who might need a nature snack. it’s very good for hiding in and definitely conceals my body

whenever i go shopping with my sisters they always try and dress me up as femininely as possible, despite neither of them being feminine in the slightest. whenever i go shopping with my brother i always empty my wallet. so i dont go shopping.

once i explained this problem to a close friend and he dropped off four shirts and those are pretty much the only thing i wear now. i found one pair of jeans that fit and i just wash those when they get dirty and hope low rise comes back into fashion eventually cause high rise hurts my belly

over time my friend group and family (extended family) has become increasingly trans allowing me to explore my gender for what it is, i don’t feel as though i always need to present anything bc often they’re too tired or in chronic pain to present anything either. in truth, my name is not gus, but it’s one i’m considering going by offline and that a few friends call me. i have warned my fam that i might change my name and pronouns and they were all like :/// okay sweetie, but not they/them okay? the grammar would be a nightmare which like. i’ll take it. they accepted me being a theater kid when i thought i was a theater kid, i’ll give ‘em a break on this one

this snl sketch is a very good thing that was made, my sister is one of those women at the beginning, she’s extremely fashion minded and so smart and aesthetic. the line ‘as a child you were humiliated in a kohls fitting room where your mother said something so harmful it seared off the top layer of your brain”

it was actually my mother’s room where i had been called fat one too many times by my brother and went to her and asked if i was. she said i could stand to lose a few.

my mother really struggled to lose her own baby weight as she had me late in life and with so many kids financial woes didn’t really ease out until i was maybe 7? 8? i didn’t realize at the time but she was looking at her reflection in one of the big mirrors she had in her room and even if she was talking to me she wasn’t talking to me, you know?

my mom did eventually lose the weight and got really in shape, like insanely in shape, she can now outrun god and dead lift satan on the days where her knee isn’t bothering her.

what else what else.

this poem:

“the tomboy grew up and she never went tame and she never found boys or makeup or nothing – nothing wrong with the girls who did but also it’s not inevitable, this progression womanhood rejected you, because where are the grownup tomboys? there’s no room for the rough-and-tumble girls to become rough-and-tumble foulmouthed broad-shouldered women. it’s alright to play at, daughter, they told you, but you have to grow up, and you were confused because you were playing at nothing the tomboy grew up, nonetheless. and instead of wrestling with friends she wrestled with herself for a while. but despite what they said, here she is, still rough, still wild. don’t believe the lies, daughter. grow as you need to. allow yourself to be pruned only to become stronger. grow bold and proud, daughter, like the trees that give you shelter, tomboy, wild girl. love the girls you dream of being strong for and the friends who bear you up when the storms shake your roots. there is value in the crabapple trees, wild daughter, even if the orchard-keeper turns up his nose. know this always, daughter: i love you exactly as you are, and however you need to be” by @sailorshadow

for julia in nebraska by addrienne rich

my friend got me that shirt during quarantine and i got the haircut a few weeks later

on the subject of rita mae brown who wrote ruby fruit jungle, i read the book while overseas in two days, didn’t look up the entire time, and was one of the first gay books i read. one of the things i loved about it was how the speaker was so unapologetically herself. how it ends on a note of bitter strength and triumphant defeat. i reread it while in georgia last year and found i had outgrown it. you might find some comfort in it, idk, just watch out bc there is some terf stuff in it? it aint perfect so just keep an eye out for that, it doesn’t ruin the book i don’t think, there’s other good stuff in it.

here’s some pictures of men:

growing up i was also surrounded by picture books, my grandmother was a children’s book librarian, and here are a couple of important figures:

then how to catch an elephant by amy schwartz but in particular this page:

and i’m sure i’m forgetting things but here’s my gender euphoria playlist:

i’m sure there’s stuff i’m not thinking of but i think that’s the gist of it? if you have any questions feel free to ask

ope! i almost forgot a couple of other important things:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq27hcPTzDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENxbcvUXfnM

hope this helps you on your journey!!!!!!