#and so finnicky to clean

[twogriffons]

the boy dog im looking after had an upset tummy and had a few accident (on carpet 🥲) and his reactions have really reminded me of how erie has never felt sorry for anything a day in her life

this guy is so sensitive, and giving me big sad eyes, so im cleaning his poop up with a smile on my face and trying to have really good energy about it so he doesnt feel bad 😭

meanwhile when erie sees me clean up her messes she doesn't give any fucks. ive never made her feel bad for making a mess or having an accident and it really shows

[westenra97]

Piercing bumps,,

[peachyteabuck]

Peachy, happy belated birthday, I hope you had a great day!! Did anything exciting happen? Did you get an interesting gift? I hope Cowboy or your other cats didn't give you a scare!!

FUN FACT COWBOY DID GIVE ME A SCARE!!! he's going for a recheck thursday, just to make sure it's not another thing. if THAT thing doesn't show anything wrong, then it might just be that he's pissing everywhere and vomits more. idk. he is old (probably), and has cheated death many times. as the gf said i'm a worrier, so I could be overstressing tbh. ig we'll see thursday

BUT i did have a good day!! i went to dinner at my fav restaurant that i can only go to once a year.

the only gift i know i got was a gift card (bc im in another state until the 29th for work). i did get a pair of cow slippers + a planner + an elevated/slanted cat food bowl that cowboy seems to really like!! im gonna start using the planner (it's an UNDATED weekly planner which i'm so excited about) once i finish my current bujo.

also, pls look at this lil pathetic baby boy:

he looks SO scrungly, i think he woke up when the gf took pics of him yesterday

[lostinlovingrevery]

logan taking care of you when you’re drunk and/or sick and being such a softie

don’t tempt i will blow up your inbox

GOOOOOOD, I LOVE the idea of Logan taking care of me in my most vulnerable state. For more reasons than one ;)

I actually have several logan taking care of you headcanons in my drafts but I'm gonna go ahead and throw some out here :)

Logan Taking Care of You When You're Sick!

He loves it

I mean no, he doesn't love you getting sick and being unwell- but he loves taking care of you!!

He spent most of his life believing hes destined for violence, so being able to take care of you, make you meals, get you medicine, snuggle you- whatever you need, it gives him a new sense of purpose

He's making you the BEST comfort meals too- he's not letting you order out some nasty junk food that's only gonna make you feel worse, and absolutely NO MICROWAVE FOODS. Not that you have a microwave anyway.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup, veggie and beef soup, noodles with eggs, chives, peppers, hot chocolate, tea, chicken soup, dumplings, any type of pastas, waffles and bacon, so on so on- you're getting full meals with lots of protein, fruit, and veggies. In the beginning he probs wasn't the best cook and had a lot of basics but once he learns your taste he gets his way around the kitchen

Always checking on you- he won't hover you like you're dying, but he takes extra care to make sure you're okay no matter what you have- even if it's a lil cold

Nesting go brrrrr. Yes, he'll become a bit of a clean freak and makes sure your spot of choice to be sick in is cozy, comfy, and clean. You'll be wrapped in fuzzy blankets, your fav show/movies are put on- and of course, him. He'll be there to rub your back, snuggle you on his chest, soothe those aches and chills

He's super finnicky with medicine- it's not that he doesn't want to deny it to you, he knows it helps. It's just HE never had to take medicine so he's reading the directions and is now nervous he's going to accidentally overdose you. Writes down the times you're getting dayquil/nyquil, or other medicine of choice and is always ready on the dot to give you the next dose

He's very gentle with you too. Much more soft spoken and very caring- I mean he already is caring but he's so soothing to you, and doesn't make you feel bad for needing some support

if you're like me- who already doesn't want help when im HEALTHY, i'm 10 times worse when I'm sick and literally push myself over the limit and end up staying sick even longer- he will manhandle you and confiscate anything that you might try to get work done with, phone, laptop, and yes even that other laptop you don't use anymore but he knows you'll try it anyway.. He doesn't care about your whining on how you're "fine" (you're running a 102 degree fever) He'll tie you to the bed if he has to (hm)

he gets the most loving look while you're sleeping- practically snoring against his chest because you're congested and can't breathe through your nose. Hairs a mess, skin is sweaty from your fever, and you're drooling, but he thinks you're just the most precious thing he's ever seen.

Imagine you're stubbornly trying to fight off being sick, brushing Logan off with his concerns as you fight off your body aches with some advil and ignore the cough that's mysteriously appeared. throughout the day you're getting worse and Logans just watching you and its not until the evening where you officially feel awful- he doesn't tease you about it, just presses his lips to your forehead and gently remarking how warm you feel .Helps you undress and get into something comfy, before climbing into bed and tucking you into his side- scratching your back soothingly while you fight off the chills. He's warm, safe and while your body hurt to the touch- his was the only thing that soothed you

for belly aches, he makes sure to keep you hydrated and has crackers nearby- something you taught him since he didnt actually know himself, since he doesn't get belly pains (lucky bastard). Will very gently massage your belly to help it settle down. The warmth of his hand helps to (aka, it helps with cramps!!)

Thats about what I got so far but I'll have more with variant scenarios in the future <3

[le-chevalier-au-lion]

important uccio wifecoded detail: the motorhome that he apparently quite happily cleaned/tidied/maintained by himself for all the years they were on the road while vale only slept in it. not just vale’s wife but specifically his housewife

you built cathedrals in my mind that took ages to complete btw. jesus christ

the feminine mystique: vale/uccio [e]

It’s just another thing Uccio does for Valentino. Another space he slips into seamlessly. Maybe a girlfriend could do it, but Valentino doesn’t like his girlfriends touching his things, messing them up. They wouldn’t know how to, not really. Would get in the way.

Uccio knows him best.

They wouldn’t remember how to pack his suitcase to keep everything visible, so Valentino doesn’t have to tear through it. They wouldn’t think of checking under the bed for dirty mugs, wouldn’t clean them and slip them back into the kitchen before morning. Valentino has a thing about his mugs.

They wouldn’t book hotels with decent electrical installations and hair dryers or bring one just in case. They wouldn’t sort through his clothes on the flyouts, because he keeps tossing stuff back in his suitcase and complaining that they smell rank.

No one else would get it right.

So they’re in their motorhome, early in the season, back in Europe. Valentino’s point lead is starting to build. Uccio is folding one of his flannels, since Valentino always gets frustrated with the sleeves and crams them wherever there is space. They get wrinkled. He ends up looking like a mess, shabby.

Valentino comes in—“Uccio!’” Bright voice, crisp.

He’s been buzzing lately, the way he gets when the bike’s good, when the team feels right. That’s why he came back to Yamaha. He was just in a meeting about brake upgrades they want to bring to the next test.

Finnicky stuff. He and Uccio have to keep an eye on it, make sure nothing’s too useful to Lorenzo.

Uccio had set alarms so he wouldn’t sleep through it.

Valentino starts rambling, fast, technical, the kind of detail that lights him up, even if he’s gotten excellent at politics, at throwing elbows behind the scenes even if the war is happening inside his own team, which he’s always hated. His eyes are tired, though. Heavy.

“I fixed you a plate,” Uccio says, not looking up from the jeans he’s placing neatly into the suitcase. “Should still be hot.” He knows the meetings always run late, ten, fifteen minutes, not much more than that. He plans around it. Keeps things running smooth.

Valentino makes a sound—sharp, amused, kissing his teeth. When Uccio looks up, he’s already got that expression: narrowed eyes, eyebrows pulled low. Scheming. Only Valentino can fill something so large and over-dramatic.

Then the smirk.

“Did you do the dishes?”

Uccio would bristle, but there’s something about Valentino, his lazy, cat-like delight—he’s coming up with something. Or staring at him like Uccio is a puzzle, the most interesting thing in the world. It’s a mind fuck, the way he imagines going flat out on the straight for a last lap pass must be a mind fuck to Valentino. Dizzying.

“Yes.”

“And the sheets?”

They’ve been on the road a while. Valentino keeps bringing girls over. The sheets had been crusted with sweat, perfume, makeup smears. Uccio had changed them. Because it gives him a headache—makes something rattle in his chest, knocked loose, when Valentino fucks him there.

“You didn’t change them,” Uccio replies mildly.

Valentino laughs. Sharp-edged. He’s found something. Thinks he has. Uccio is familiar by now with this exact brand of amusement, the way it can scrape.

“Did you talk to Pecco’s team? He needs new leathers. And Franky’s agent—there was something about sponsors?”

Valentino crowds against him, so that Uccio is looking up, so that he’s eye level with his scruffy jeans and the waistband of his underwear and his skinny, concave stomach. He’s close enough to smell the cigarette in his clothes, the acrid, tar-thick stuff Valentino’s Aussie crew loves. The hot dust of a day spent loitering around the track, the asphalt.

“Boots,” Uccio corrects, calm. This is where it should happen—here, with just the two of them. Not in front of Pecco, or Franky, or—God forbid—a journalist. Valentino is just bad at remembering this kind of thing; he shouldn’t have to, since he’s busy with his racing. “And Franky’s contract negotiations wrapped up last week.”

Valentino’s tongue presses against his teeth. He chuckles, breathless, amazed at his own luck.

“Fucking—Lin keeps telling me I need a woman, you know,” he says.

Uccio’s throat tightens, tastes sandpapery and rough when he makes himself swallow. Hs skin is too hot, stretched too taut over his bones. “What?”

“He says I’m getting old. That I need someone to keep me out of trouble. Keep me from making a mess.” Valentino’s eyes are bright. Feverish. He reaches out, his hand landing at the base of Uccio’s neck, flesh-hot, squeezing a bit. “But I already have a housewife waiting up for me.”

A noise knocks its way out of Uccio—high-pitched at the end, embarrassing. He tries to cough around it. “What the fuck, Valentino?” But his ears are red, and it’s working down into his chest.

And Valentino—when he wants something—is a shark. Lazy, circling, smells blood in the water from miles away. He pushes a thumb to Uccio’s bottom lip, and when he opens for it sweetly, on command, Valentino pants, open-mouthed and clumsy.

But again, shark, so he hooks it inside, presses against the inside of his cheek.

“You cook. You clean. You do my laundry. You schedule my shit.” There’s an edge to his smile, but the words come out clumped together, in a rush, like Valentino can’t believe what he’s saying either. He’s getting red in the face too. “You’re even taking care of the kids. That’s a wife.”

Uccio’s lips stay tight around Valentino’s thumb, sucking mostly on instinct, feeling it drag over the edges of his teeth. It’s the kind of dumb shit they used to do back when Valentino was a gangly little bastard in 125ccs, long-haired and bratty—some ninety-whatever year that no one should still be thinking about, but Uccio does.

From this angle, he can see Valentino starting to get hard. If he shoved his jeans down, he’d see the turtle inked clean on his hip. His own tattooed 46 itches.

It is—technically—mortifying. Clogs the back of his throat with something thick and unnamable that he can’t swallow past. But it’s Valentino. And Uccio does things for him. Always has. Carries an extra coat because he gets cold and forgets to bring one. Tells him not to limp too hard when the cameras are around.

This too.

He’s also starting to get hard. Hyperaware of every shift in fabric against his cock.

“You’re gonna suck me off,” Valentino says. He’s probably aiming for commanding, overwhelming, cocky, but he’s shifting his weight restlessly, tiny snaps of his hips against nothing and can’t manage to make it land. There’s a perverse pleasure in stripping him of his show that Uccio will never, ever mention. “Won’t you?”

Then—cuoricina. Sickly sweet. Like something out of those soap operas their mothers used to deny watching to hell and back. Uccio barely hears it through the pounding of blood in his ears.

Valentino always starts shit. Uccio always follows.

He nods.

Valentino’s mangled pinkie rests awkwardly at his jaw. His other hand brushes clumsily against the front of his face as he fumbles with his jeans, trying to get them down one-handed. Halfway through, Uccio snaps back into his own body and swats him off.

“Eager much?” He’s immediately pressing the tip of his cock against his lips, though, pulling them open, a noise ground out from behind his teeth. “Did my wife miss me while I was working?”

So, so much, Uccio opens his mouth to snark, but he's barely gotten his mouth open before Valentino pushes the head of his cock past his lips. He chokes, mistimed and wet, this wordless garble, giving Valentino the chance to push in in deeper until Uccio’s nose is brushing against his navel and his drool is slicking up his balls.

He scowls, pinches the inside of Valentino’s thigh—hard enough to make a point. Not that he really minds. Valentino’s dick is pretty, lean, perfectly manageable with decades of practice. Still—

“Sorry, love,” Valentino says, breath hitching.

His head is tipped back, so all Uccio sees is the badly shaved bottom of his chin and the line of his throat, how it flutters when he swallows.

It gets a little embarrassing after that—mostly for Valentino, which is fine, because Uccio will never tell. The sounds Valentino makes are breathy and thin, breaking off between the kind of porn-raunchy nonsense he spits out—my wife, my love, my favorite whore.

Valentino is Valentino, though. Uccio laughs, this bubbly, dizzy thing around the dick in his mouth. Hysterical.  He knows he’s going to jerk off to this later. For a while. Probably the same way the girls do, after Valentino’s been an asshole to them. But Uccio has been fucking Valentino longer than any of them. Before any of them even showed up.

It’s fast too. Valentino’s hands clamp on both sides of his head, pull him down until Uccio’s nose is buried in the thatch of hair at the base of his cock. The skin there smells like sweat and neutral soap.

“Uccio,” he groans, hips rolling.

Uccio waits to stop sucking until Valentino has gone from lax to tense again, small, fidgety shivers knifing through him. He pulls off and swallows. No mess. Valentino’s come tastes bitter.

But his eyes—his eyes are sweet, wide, too much for his face. He looks down at Uccio’s still-hard dick, throbbing between his legs, inside his clothes, at the damp spot where the head is. Uccio realizes he’s trembling, those small shakes.

“Were you in a rush?” he asks, sardonic, to cover up for himself.

Valentino giggles. Loose and stupid, the way he always gets after coming. “I’m gonna roll over and fall asleep.”

Uccio nudges him with a toe until he gets down on the ground with him, curling up like a sated cat—bony and gangly, cool where their skin touches. His hand paws at Uccio’s waistband until he helps him get his dick out. It’s a good day, if he isn’t whining about having to touch dick.

Valentino wraps his hand around him, starts jerking him off with rough, dry pulls. The skin on his palm is cracked, lined from the brakes, leathery. It barely even feels good. Uccio closes his eyes, aftervisions of white lace burnt there. Valentino wouldn’t ever set foot in a church for that.

The whole thing feels glossy, surreal, out of focus like a fever dream. The more he pictures a gold band on one skinny, crooked finger, the wetter and louder the slide of Valentino’s hand on his cock feels.

“I would be an asshole if I didn’t make my wife feel good, eh?” He pants, leers. You wouldn’t get him to talk about this with a gun to his head, ever. It’ll probably never happen again.

Uccio shakes his head wildly, like a kicked dog. “You are an asshole.”

But he comes quietly at my wife, with just a breathy gasp, this choked whimper, and lets Valentino wipe his hand clean on his shorts.

There’s this pressure inside his chest, that he should say something, smooth things out. But the moment has that fragile, too-full quality that cracks if you breathe wrong. Eventually, Valentino shifts, slow and catlike, muttering something under his breath that might be Italian, might be gibberish.

Out of all his nasty habits, allergic to afterglow might be the most annoying.

Valentino strokes the side of his face, this sleight of hand of affection that he dredges up when things get too real. “Thanks, babe,” he says, infuriatingly, before wriggling out of the rest of his clothes and wandering off in nothing but yesterday’s Yamaha shirt.

“Fuck off, Vale,” Uccio huffs. He shoves Valentino’s socks into his sneakers, then scoops up his underwear and jeans, tossing them into the laundry pile.

Hopeless case.

[leidensygdom]

hello!! i love your art so much, your colors are beautiful and your characters are just so 👁️👁️ and i adore seeing them on my dash :)

i had a question about how you do the details on your fabrics: how do you keep the patterns on clothes on a body looking so,,, clean and readable while also making it make sense on the form under it?

like the cape/sleeve(? idk what it is but it looks cool as hell) on the magnolia commission pattern looks so cool and it's still readable on the fabric (like, if i wanted i could probably do a silly sketch of it) BUT ALSO it seems to make sense with the folds so it doesn't just look unnatural and stiff?

i'm so sorry this is kind of a long ask but like. would you be down to talk about your process for patterns on clothing? it's cool if you're not, that's totally fair, just figured i'd ask

have a wonderful day!!

OOOH Thank you so much for the ask!! I wanna do a more in depth tutorial, but I tend to make patterns in two different ways, with one being fully hand-drawn and the other playing with mesh transforms or the... Uh, liquify CSP tool? Let me find examples

This is an example of a fully hand-drawn pattern. No trickery here- Only trying to eyeball everything. It's kinda a lot of work to draw it manually, but it's the more convenient option if the character I'm drawing doesn't have files for the patterns, or if the files are a bit too different from my usual style, as they could potentially not look great with my linearted or painted style

And then- For cases such as Nolia's cloak, I did the entire pattern as a separate file, then placed it using Photoshop's mesh transform!

Here's a WIP file from when I placed all the patterns after finishing the lineart, where you can see them in full contrast. I tend to keep my patterns in different files- The black parts here are not joined with the base color of the cloth, so I can bring nice highlights and texturing when they're meant to be golden inlays, for example. Now, the Photoshop mesh transform is a bit finnicky to use, and I don't have any proper step by step of it- I could potentially record how I do it someday. But let's take the humble cylinder and demonstrate it quickly:

So, the mesh warp tool is the one on the right- You can see these sort of blue lines creating a mesh. I'm sure CSP has it in it's pro level or something? Correct me if I'm wrong. You play around with the different sections, move it to the right place, and put it on the cylinder. This is a very simplified form. You can make many subsections to your meshes (that's 3x3- you can have stuff such as 20x20) for when you have multiple folds.

And then you can just shade your pattern accordingly so it fits the volume of the drawing, and- ta-daa!

This is by no means an easy method. Sometimes you can get away with the Liquify tool (which CSP has and it's very decent), which I've used when the pattern in question was over a simpler surface with few folds. It takes some practise to use that well, and it isn't gonna be the best for complex ones, but it's also an option. Let me do a lil compilation of some patterns I've done and which tools I used for each!

The tool I use highly depends on the time I have, the level of finish for the drawing, and so on. CSP's liquify is probably the fastest but gives simpler results, drawing them manually works better with some styles and more organic/less geometrical patterns, the mesh tool takes a bunch of time but it's great for small repeating patterns that are meant to be very precise or geometrical.

If people would be interested in it, I may someday do a video tutorial of me doing a pattern and then putting it over a folded cloth. I do hope this can help a bit tho!!

[riacte]

I know you made a post a while back on how to write Rendog, do you by any chance have tips for False or any posts on how to write her? The docs I have found on False are very limited XP

Thanks for the ask!

I personally find False tricky to characterise because her reactions can be finnicky and unpredictable, but that's why I like her.

False loves animals. Her bases are full of them and she gives them silly names like Noddy (she's bad with names)

False has mentioned her favourite animals are foxes and she didn't really understand the bird association until chat pointed out it was because she built an eagle for like two times

False knows she has an intimidating reputation but she doesn't fully vibe with it because she thinks she's rusty and out of practice.

False is community oriented and quietly connects different areas done by hermits (what she did at the end of S6, especially prominent with the districts, also what she's doing with the rivers this season). She keeps the group together and keeps infrastructure running (she contributed to the HC7 Nether hub) without making a big deal out of it

Based off the above, False has a flexible style and can work with a variety of aesthetics/styles while keeping them coherent with the overall landscape, clean, and on a realistic scale (realistic for Minecraft builds anyway). She has a keen eye and can easily pick up the finer details of someone's build/vision.

False's kindness really shines through her actions. She may be snarky and sarcastic a lot of the time, so you may not hear her say she cares for someone or openly show verbal affection but you know she does because she does favours for them/spends time with them/remembers specific details about them. Which ironically ties to the following:

False has bad memory and Does Not Remember a lot of "significant" things (she forgot her MCC10 Orange team once)

Some phrases to pepper in [insert British accent]: "Oh my goodness" "Blimey" "What the heck man?" "Flippin'" and her catchphrase of sorts for this season in the form of a horn— "Oh my God HI"

False sometimes introduces her male collaborators with a mister prefix to the audience presumably for fun and whimsy, I don't know if she does this for the female collaborators

False is VERY skittish and scared while being competent at facing whatever she's scared of. She's constantly confused. Think Xisuma and Mumbo's type of British confusion. She's paranoid.

False is mischievous and quick witted. She can come up with pranks on the fly and execute them swiftly. (For example, the invisible hat/briefcase prank on Gem) She loves punching/shooting/killing people and throwing them into one block holes.

Honestly, False is just random at times. Why does she have two phantoms in boats on her base? Dunno. Why does she sleep in that awfully cramped staircase bed? Dunno but it doesn't seem like she's changing it. Why is it called Big Business? It just is. It's for fun and whimsy (until she gets scared and starts crying and running away).

False has a tendency to randomly sneak up on someone and randomly escape. She's hard to catch. She's an enigma.

False tends to stay quiet during big group events and is also the type to get talked over

It takes time for her to warm up to new people so she'll be pretty quiet around them, however she will speak up for business/practical purposes (eg. her comms when she plays competitively).

I think this already gets talked a lot but False has great spatial awareness + reflexes and does a lot of the wrangling when it comes to team games

I don't think this can make it into a fanfic but she LOVES using emojis 😄🤨😒 I think for her HC7, most of her episode titles have an emoji

This is more of a personal interpretation but False seems like she would be scared/wary/paranoid of things most people don't care about but then when something actually freaky shows up she's like "yeah sure whatever".

False disrupts the flow when she's expected to go with it and goes with the flow when she's expected to disrupt it.

TLDR:

Surface level: quiet, skittish, alarmed, confused, nervous, wary, awkward, snarky, sarcastic

Under the surface level: cautious, considerate, kind, patient, loyal, humble

I really want to emphasize that she teases/kills/roasts her friends because that's how she shows affection. The more I watch her, the more it hits me how kind and patient she is but I guess that doesn't fit into the slay girlboss trope. And if she does show affection, it's in a subtle way, like quietly correcting someone's self deprecating joke or giving "gifts" to them in the form of pranks.

[claypigeonpottery]

Do you have any tips for making flat clay bits stay flat after firing? I made some jars with fairly basic lids and the lids warped and no longer look good. Thanks for your time!

ah warping, my old enemy

I have a couple tips! it’s not 100% foolproof, in my experience, but they’ll up your chances significantly.

1. don’t bend the clay when you’re peeling it off the table. roll it out on a spare piece of canvas so you can peel the canvas off the bottom of the tile instead of peeling up the tile. maybe you could use a spatula lol I haven’t tried that (yet)

the reason for this is that the clay remembers being bent, and it can return to that shape in the glaze kiln, even if it was flat after the bisque firing. if I accidentally bend my pigeon tiles when the clay is wet, I see that exact bend appear in them once they’re glazed

2. dry them slowly and evenly, and when I say evenly I mean the bottom too, otherwise the edges tend to curl as they dry faster than the middle

what I’ve been doing is rolling the clay out on a strip of canvas. I cut out what I need, then let the pieces harden up just enough that I can peel the canvas off the bottoms of the tiles and have them stay flat. then I dry them on this:

it’s egg crate, for dividing fish tanks (side note: my spouse @subpar-lemon-bar carved these pigeons! I’m enjoying introducing him to decorating pottery)

I put this egg crate in a drawer and cover the drawer in dry-cleaning plastic so everything dries slowly and the plastic isn’t touching the clay. this might seem super finnicky but I’m sick of warping and so far this has really helped. my last few coasters haven’t gone through the kiln yet but so far they are flat. I’ll update if that changes lol

[queerly-autistic]

I think about this scene all the time because it's one of those moments that seems throwaway but, when you actually look at it, it's so fundamental to Ed's character.

Ed is very clearly depicted as someone who likes being clean. He hates being dirty, and he hates mess. We get quite a few moments that show us this quite explicitly, and this is one of them. It's why the weird fanon about Ed not knowing how to be clean or not understanding what soap is (wtf?) is such nonsense (and also racist) - he's explicitly depicted as feeling so strongly about being clean that he made a 'no pets' rule on his ship specifically to avoid mess.

But, liking being clean and hating mess? That's far too much of a soft feminine trait for Blackbeard to have. Blackbeard's very survival depends on being seen as stereotypically hypermasculine. Blackbeard can't dislike dirt or be finnicky about being clean. So, Ed has had to come up with another explanation as to why pets aren't allowed aboard his ship that fits the Blackbeard persona.

I think this is a really fundamental moment in terms of understanding Blackbeard as a mask that's been constructed in order to survive, and how it sits at odds with the man - Ed - underneath it. And it also highlights the significance of his time with Stede, and the impact that Stede's radical softness (his natural eschewing of traditional masculinity just by being himself) has had on Ed. Stede doesn't just accept all these soft (traditionally more feminine) traits that Ed has felt compelled to hide for decades, but he creates an entire space where Ed feels much safer to just...be Ed.

To the point where, by the time this scene rolls around, Ed has pretty much forgotten about the need to pretend that this is about anything other than him wanting to be clean.

[irregular-child]

Ok so...

me and @whitetape were hanging out the other day, and all of a sudden he pops up and asks me...

"Is it taboo to have a picture of an omega in their nest?"

Yes, my loves, we're discussing the omegaverse!

We chatted for a while and came to the following conclusions

TABOOS:

It is not taboo to have a picture of an omega in their nest, if the omega consented

An empty nest without an omega in it , with the omega's consent, is ok but looked at weird

It is ok to post a picture of an omega in their nest, but is seen as nsfw and more conservative types think its not ok, irregardless of the omega's state of dress

It's seen as never ok to post an empty nest outside of a nsfw/fetish context

BUT

There are parts of the internet where people post nest pics in an aesthetic way

Advice columns/reddit asks/etc

Though these are usually nests posted by the omegas that own them

There are some exceptions, such as non-omega parents with omega children

These are usually asking for advice or help with helping their children build nests

BEHAVIOR:

Nests were traditionally seen as an omega only thing, and kinda still are, but as time goes on, acceptance grows for non-omegas building nests

There are usually children of omegas who miss the sensation of nesting with their dams, or people very close to their omegas with the same motivation

The acceptance exists but non-omegas nesting seen as different to omegas nesting

The act of nesting for omegas is inherently instinct driven behavior

While the act of nesting for non-omegas is seen as more of a comforting act, the same as a child sucking their thumb

CULTURAL NORMS:

The typical timeline of an omega inviting their partner into their nest varies from omega to omega

But culturally in the west, the typical expected timeline is 3-4 months into the relationship

There are some non-omegas, generally alphas, who are pushy about it since its commonly seen as a trust thing

Though the real shitbags will twist it into a "you don't love me" thing

This 3-4 month mark is where a lot of people end relationships

For those who make it past that, the 2 1/2-3 year mark is usually when the omega allows their partner to start referring to it as "their nest" instead of just the omega's

This could happen as early as 1 year into the relationship, some couples go 10 years together without talking about it, but 2 1/2-3 years is the norm

Most omegas take the subtle approach of slipping it into conversation, as to not spook their partners for various reasons

Though some do prefer to have a conversation about it

NESTS:

Typically, nests are made of the basic materials of blankets, pillows, and scented clothes

The scents may be from a romantic partner, close friends, family members, pack members, etc

It just has to be from someone the omega holds dear

Other materials/nest behaviors vary on an omega to omega basis

Some omegas like having stuffed animals in their nest, some see it as childish

Some omegas keep any important items, no matter the material (laptops, notebooks, water bottes, meds, etc), others have a strictly soft items nest

Some omegas eat in their nests, others don't even drink water in their nests

Some omegas clean all nests materials at once, others stagger different materials at different times

Some omegas allow pets in their nests, others keep them out

These preferences can also cause the end of relationships, especially in omega/omega relationships

A good portion of omega/omega relationships sleep in separate nests/beds/rooms

Other than partners, generally only dams and younger, non-omega siblings are allowed in an omega's nest

However, behavior towards non-omegas being in nests are finnicky in general

Betas are generally ok, up to presentation

Alphas are generally kicked out around age 7, since its the age when gender roles are more heavily cemented in children

We will be back folks! Next time with presentation worldbuilding! :D

[dutiful-wildcraft]

Something something Autistic Johnny who has energy abound quite often, but his social battery does run out *fast* if he isn't allowed time to recharge. Catch him hiding in Simon's room bc he knows no one else will look for him there.

Johnny who even gets agitated when spending too much time with the ones he loves. Gaz who is kind of a cuddler, but learned that Johnny sometimes needed Soap Time. No talking, no interacting, no touching.

A lot of times this is before bed. Johnny curled up on his side on the couch, knees to his chest with his favorite waited blanket, scrolling through his phone while Simon waits in bed for him.

Johnny who gets dysregulated when his Safe People are missing or unreachable.

Johnny who paces the halls when he's stressed out.

Price plopping headphones on him and having him sit with him awhile so he can calm down.

Johnny who's finnicky about food in the mess, and happily eats the same mashed potatoes everyday bc the consistency is the same.

Johnny who is picky about scents and has taken to making sure the 141 all washes their clothes with the same detergent.

John who meticulously cleans his space and equips all his gear the same way everytime.

[beejwatch]

HIIII YOUR GIFS ARE SOOOO SO GORGEOUS. I am aware that it would be a real commitment but I would LOVE to hear about your giffing process as someone who's kind of amateur at it and trying to learn how to make them better. Genuinely some of the cleanest + best colored I've seen, I'm constantly in awe

this is so nice thank yew.... i really have a lot of fun making them so its good to hear!!!! ill put this all under a read more for u :-)

so the thing i learned about cleanness and sharpness is you really have to have like. a really good copy of the thing youre giffing and a way of extracting frames from it that doesnt lose quality. i used to make little mp4 clips and get them into photoshop that way but at some point i learned to use the program ffmpeg and i use that to extract frames right from the hd remaster mkv files so the colour and quality is still really nice. i also recently started using this sharpening action linked here and its amazing and works perfectly for my copy of mash, really crispy and nice. for colouring ough i really dont know im still wildly amateurish at colouring... i click and click and click until i think it looks nice lol i end up with upwards of 20 versions of one gif from all the adjustments i make to it. I honestly think i over-colour LOL but one thing i try to do is make skin tones consistent throughout multiple gifs especially for the same character (like the hawk and marg sets). that sort of helps make them look more connected and uniform yknow. My usual colouring steps end up looking something like this:

and then on top of that ill add some more selective colours and hue/saturations to adjust reds and yellows and try to get skin tones looking nice or like.. example brightening hawks red robe or making trees in the background greener. i get really finnicky about this like this gif for example from the tuttle set:

i individually made and masked a selective colour layer for every single frame so i could make the dog tags more silver instead of the greenish yellow colour they originally were without messing with the colours around them... lmao #unemployed. like there could be an easier way to do stuff like that but if there is i dont know it. i hope some of that is helpful!!!!

[polarmoon]

hii! I hope youre having a wonderful day! I kept seeing your signal hill posts popup in the ts2 tag and they've been suuuper inspiring and I've been making plans to start my own ts2 neighborhood! I was curious to know how often your game crashes and if you had any personal tips for preserving the longevity of your neighborhood as I've followed several tutorials online but I'm still super paranoid. sorry if this was a weird ask! hope u have a wonderful day !!

hey! im glad my posts could inspire someone :D i love ts2 and its nice seeing more people want to get into it!

my game is kind of finnicky, any crashes i get depend on a lot of different factors, but usually memory issues. on average i probably get 1 crash every 2 play sessions maybe?

restarting your game / your pc can help a lot with memory issues and usually helps for me. i can usually squeeze out a 5-6 hour play session before having any memory issues, as long as i don't load too many lots. i also do get random crashes sometimes and those are a bummer but saving frequently helps soften the blow lol.

as for hood longevity i think a lot of it comes down to not bogging your game down with too much high poly cc, making frequent backups of your hood, and being aware of how the game runs. if you've got some time to spare, april black's corruption video is really helpful in killing paranoia about ts2.

in general though i recommend just starting! you'll never know if you like it if you don't start. start small if you're worried about putting a lot of effort into a giant hood and build from there so it's lower risk, especially if you're new to the game. playing premades can also help too since they're ready to jump into (make sure to get clean templates tho if you do play with premades)

i hope this helped!

[weemietime]

I have a theory. I have no way to prove this, since evolutionary biology is such a finnicky field on its own and often things don't evolve for reasons, they just happen due to random chaos. But, I have dermatillomania. This is a Body-Focused Repetitive Behavior disorder (on the OCD spectrum as well) which involves picking at pimples and scabs etc.

For most of my life I have done this. And I have never gotten an infection, even though I have had lots of injuries and thus many scars as a product of the extremely abusive environment I was exposed to as a child. It is distinct from self-harm (though not entirely disconnected from the concept) because we don't usually make wounds to pick, we just pick at what shows up. It is also distinct because our impetus is different, we don't do this to regulate our emotions. It feels good to pick, the perception of pain is different.

It is painful at times, but I don't experience it as actual pain the way you would if you stubbed a toe or something. (I do get pain in the wounds after I am done picking, just not during the process.) It's actually a self-soothing behavior so we do it when we are bored, at ease, distracted, and to calm down (so it does have emotional regulation overlap, but it's nuanced - we usually are not in Active Distress when picking).

Here is my theory: part of wound care in medicine involves something called debridement, which is where dead skin and foreign materials are removed from a person's wound, sometimes requiring to make the wound a bit bigger to do so. Despite the nature of this disorder being somewhat unhygienic (having open wounds exposed), my wounds are always extremely clean looking.

So I often wonder if dermatillomania might persist in humans because it's a form of debridement. This would reduce infection and thus improve our chance for survival.

[glittergummy]

Here she is! Trans Gameboy advance sp :)

Her shell is rough for wear, definitely been through it but she works fine after I cleaned the game slot

Battery is a bit finnicky if she’s not connected but I could always buy a new battery

I also might get a new shell since I’ve done it before with another Gameboy advance so but I really would want to keep the blue top/pink bottom theme so I might have to buy two sets

[stepswordsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne Speedpaints 🖤💙🐍🐇

KuroEne Kiss (Post Version)

【KagePro】 KuroEne/SaeEne 🖤💛💙

【カゲプロ】 黒コノエネ/クロエネ/冴えエネ

My shadow wants to swallow up this dream of yours.

Original Post

I hadn't posted the version with the painted auras (the one I originally had) cuz it's not a huge enough change to warrant a post on its own to me.

Once I refine this more in the future, I'd post a new version. But I figured I could post the speedpaints here 👍

Kuroha Speedpaint 🖤💛🐍

Recorded me doing the rough base colours for this one 😌 I had a lot of fun choosing the colours for this one! 💗🫶

Original Time: 45 minutes (Sped up by 16x)

BGM: Outer Science Rearrange Cover (ft. Kagamine Len) 🎵

Kuroha and Ene Speedpaint 🖤💙🐍🐇

I did a bit of edits on Kuroha's colours, then filled in the base colours for Ene~

Working with cool colours is super fun 🙌

Original Time: 45 minutes (Sped up by 16x)

BGM: Outer Science (ft. IA & ONE) 🎵

Rambles

This KuroEne kiss art is honestly one of my fave arts I've ever done 🖤💙🐍🐇🥺

This was the version of the doodle I posted online. I corrected the colours after I stopped recording.

Their expressions are sooo good here and I love the colours so much! I'm so proud because it has some of the best colour work I've ever done irt colour coordination.

I've been busy so I haven't gotten the chance to clean it up and refine it, so for now I just posted the doodle WIP.

I recorded me doing the rough colour drafts on my KuroEne doodle! 🥰

I originally recorded these around late July and posted these on my side blog back when I was still on priv, but I figured these are better to post on my art blog instead.

These aren't refined, and just me roughly filling in the base colours on my sketches to get an idea of colours

Since Idk when I'll get to refine these drawings and clean up the sketch and lines

Tumblr's finnicky with posting videos ngl, so I posted YT links this time. I put them as Unlisted. Feel free to check them out if you're interested in my drawing process ^^

I described my art process in the video description, but I can also put them down below in the post too.

At first, I chose a much more muted colour palette for Kuroha than I usually would. I wanted to try out Sidu's muted colours, since I usually pick saturated colours. But then at the end, I ended up picking a more vibrant colour palette for Ene.

And once I turned both Kuroha and Ene's layers back on, I noticed Saeru had muted colours while Ene had vibrant ones, so I was like "Ok, I need to coordinate the colours after this."

So I just recorded until I filled in the base colours.

When I record my screen with OBS, I put it on Window Capture so it doesn't record "Layer > New Correction Layer > Hue/Saturation and Gradient Map" menu screens.

So after I was done recording, I coordinated the colours and shifted both to saturated colours. I adjusted the colours with gradient maps and shifted the colours manually. I think I work much better with saturated colours anyways.

I shifted Saeru's tones to purple~ish reds because I love the visual contrast it creates against Ene's blues.

I shifted Ene's tones to a different hue of blue to match Saeru's colours better.

I also made Saeru have paler skin compared to Ene, cuz it makes sense with him being a snake/non-human ^^

The more red + purple toned Kuroha has really nice visual contrast against Ene's cool colours (blues) in her design~

At first I wanted to do both a Muted + Saturated colours version, but I think I just work better with saturated colours tbh. It was a fun experiment though.

I adore Sidu's aesthetic sense and colours and rendering. She has amazing values. Iirc she starts by painting in grayscale first, which explains why her values are so good.

KuroEne Doodles

Different versions I played around with!

This shows how I got to the current colours. I play around a lot with Correction Layers (Hue and Saturation, Brightness and Contrast, and Gradient Maps) until I get the ones that look the best to me ^^

OG

(+) Hue shift on Ene

(+) Red hue shift on Kuroha

(+) Hue shift on Ene

(+) Red/pink hue shift and increased saturation on Kuroha's skin

(+) Increased brightness and saturation on OG

(+) Hue shift on Ene

(+) Increased Brightness and red hue shift on Kuroha

(+) More red hue shift on Kuroha

(+) More red hue shift on Kuroha

(+) Multiply Layer on both

(+) Hue shift on Ene

(+) More red hue shift on Kuroha

(+) Hue shift on Ene

First one's the OG.

I first started with choosing a more muted colour palette than I usually would. I wanted to do quick rough colour drafts to get an idea for colours...

I'm not sure when I'll finally get to refine this (clean up the sketch), but it's one of my fave drawings I've done, so I wanted to add quick colours on it.

Picked a muted colour palette for Kuroha and a more vibrant colour palette for Ene, and then coordinated the colours after.

Art Process Rambles

I put the video description rambles under the cut (describing my art process)

Inspiration

Kagerou Daze VII -from the darkness- Kuroha/Saeru Illustration by Sidu

Ene SPDG (Super Pretty Dennou Girl) Illustration by Sidu

Outer Science MV by Sidu

I honestly love the idea of Saeru taking more red tones. Gives him more visual contrast against Ene's blues.

Because it just reminds me of the red tinted shots in the Outer Science MV where he smears the MekaDan members' blood onto his face... It fits him so well. I love these shots sm

Kuroha Speedpaint

Decided to fill in the rough base colours for this! I love doing rough colour drafts~ Helps me get a good idea of colours.

I put Outer Science as the BGM. Fitting for the Outer Science Person~

I also love the tuning and adlibs and robotic voice effects on the Len fan-cover of Outer Science so much~ The tuning is superior to the Original to me. So it's my personal favourite version of Outer Science and my favourite fan-cover.

Watching this fan-cover is what got me into KagePro. It was my first time watching the Outer Science MV.

The tuning and mixing in this fan-made rearrange cover is insanely good. It's stronger than the original. The chorus has so much oomph and power to it in this, and I love the added adlibs and robotic effects on certain lines.

I prefer the instrumentals (guitar riffs, drums, and bass) of the OG though. The fan-cover version's instrumentals sounds more like an arcade, which is also fun.

0:00

I start with colour picking from the colour edit I did as a guide for colours.

The original refs, the Kagerou Daze VII -from the darkness- Kuroha/Saeru illust and Ene SPDG illust are by Sidu.

Sidu has a great sense of values and picks very muted colours, so I did a colour edit for fun to shift colours closer to the saturated cooler tones I would choose.

Doing colour edits for fun first helps me harmonize colours better compared to if I just made a colour swatch. It helps me see how the colours work together.

The faster way to fill in the base colours would be to create a new layer and temporarily close all the lines, then select the outside of the lines, invert the selection, and then use the bucket tool. I'd do this for more refined drawings that are in the lineart stage

I manually fill in the colours when doing rough base colours though. Manually filling in the base colours is relaxing ngl

Since they're rough colour drafts, I'm not shading/blocking in shadows, I just wanna get an idea of how the colours look together

1:05 - 1:10

When I do Gradient Maps and Layer Mode effects, I either clip them to the Colours, or put them in a folder and set them to Through so they can show on the layers underneath it.

I realized I couldn't eye drop the exact colours on the colour edit ref with the Folder set to Through Layer Mode (60% opacity), so I duplicated it, then merged the layers

I also adjusted the settings of my Eyedrop tool later so that it can grab the colour from the image itself, rather than just the colour on the Layer it's on. Cuz if you're not on the exact Layer, then it won't grab any colour.

1:12

I was considering whether I wanted to airbrush the tips of the fingers with a dark gradient cuz I love the darkened gradient limbs design trope. Douman has it canonically, and my friend Raisu added it on Idate's design (which is why I always draw him with it).

Decided to go without it here tho cuz I feel like it takes away from the colours

1:42

Doing colour edits and adjustments with Posterization and Hue/Saturation effects can throw the contrast out of wack, so I adjust the colours myself on my own drawings.

I usually shift the hues of shadows and highlights (in comparison to the base colours) to keep the colours interesting. I try to use different hues for them so the colours can pop more. I was trying to come up with a good colour for the darker black inner clothes

2:17 - 2:25

After roughly colouring the black spirals around him, I use Posterization on CSP.

Window Capture on OBS only records the main window for CSP, but I went to Layer > New Correction Layer > Posterization which creates a Posterization layer. I adjust the colours with this, which increases the contrast and darkens the colours slightly.

I'll probably fix the colours of the dark sleeves manually later.

2:26

I draw my lines on vector layers so I can easily adjust and edit (move and scale down/up) my lines without losing quality.

I duplicate the lineart, so I can use a CSP Auto Action that colours the lines. I used to manually colour my lines, but this one's quick and you can get really pretty line colours with it, cuz it colours the lineart according to the colours underneath.

It doesn't show the windows that performs the Auto Action through the recording, but I downloaded an Auto Action available on the CSP Assets Store that's called "Better Line Color" that follows a series of steps (it can be mimicked manually on other programs) and adjusts the colour of the lines according to the colours underneath it.

I think when I refine the drawing more, I wouldn't have the dark spirals apart of the lineart, and would just paint it instead.

I was playing around with whether I wanted the coloured lineart to be on "Multiply" or "Colour Burn" Layer mode. Depending on the drawing, either has really nice effects.

On my other drawings, like the coloured IdaTatsu and Selena doodles I had, I preferred the coloured lines on Colour Burn Layer mode cuz it adds a subtle saturated glow to the lines. Here, it adds a slightly blue edge to the lineart.

I went with Multiply for now (just cuz this keeps the colours of the black spirals intact better, but I'll consider which one looks better after)

After the recording was done, though, I just switched back to the painted black spirals I originally drew.

Ene Speedpaint

0:00 - 0:32

I clean up the colours on Kuroha a bit. I also add back the gray transition colour on the hair (between the highlights and base colour)

I brighten the eyes a bit and make it slightly more saturated

0:32

I start filling in the base colours for Ene, picking from a more vibrant colour palette (edit of Sidu's art)

0:45

I realized that her digital structures are shorter on the side closer to her mouth, so I adjusted the lines a bit

0:48

I start filling in the rest of the base colours. At the time, I wasn't whether I want to have Ene's eyes as ice blue or saturate them more…

1:44

I wanted to saturate the skin more so it'd have more contrast, but decided to keep that for later.

1:58

Added a muted gray transition colour on the hair

2:00

Started splotching colours on the sweater and skirt to get an idea of colours.

2:25

Upped the Brightness and Contrast on the skin. Played around with Posterization on the Colours.

Since Kuroha's lines were black, I decided to do the Better Line Color on Kuroha's lines again. This time I used the Bucket tool to colour the lines with a dark blue colour, clipped them, duplicated the lines and then did the Better Line Color Auto Action again.

I also did the same for Ene's lines. I set it on Multiply cuz I liked the soft look the coloured lines

2:42 - 2:51

Before I added the colours, I just had Kuroha's lines above Ene's lines folder, and then had a white layer in the middle.

I was still wondering how I'd show Ene's hand on his sleeve, but Kuroha's colours still being over hers… I was considering just putting the folder of his colours on top of hers, but HMM…

For now though, I just duplicated the lines and colours for a PNG version, then cut from that, for showing on my socials

End: Once I turned back on Kuroha's colours, I realized that I chose a really muted palette for him and a really vibrant one for Ene, so after I finished recording, I played around with the Gradient Maps and saturated the colours and eyes more.

I'll definitely coordinate their colour palettes more later. I'll do a muted version and saturated version.