#and today they dropped those dark concept pics

[carniekisses]

Here's a long post that I really hope Tumblr will not flag as NSFW (please don't flag this), I remember back when I showed off the needlefelt Gomer sculpture I had made, someone asked if I had like a work process to show off for it. And I did not, because I had kept it all confined to a private account. I thought it'd be fun to have something to show for it for this one.

So I've been wanting to make a BJD for at least the past 15 years, back when I was a kid with no money to buy supplies with and also with a worry for symmetry, and also also I wasn't very skilled. It's 2024, and I vaguely know how to use Blender now

I've started this project on April 6th, as I've been documenting this on the above mentioned private account.

Of said model I (much) later ended up only being able to salvage the physical sculpts of the chest and torso parts as I messed up somewhat badly, see down below. I also ended up dropping the 'magnets in hands & feet' concept as it was just redundant, one can simply unhook them off the elastic if they are to swap them out.

At any rate, I 3D printed it all and got to sanding, and painting.

So far so good I guess, really not a fan of how the knee and elbow bean slots were just holes (I fixed that later don't worry)

So This was Not looking good lmao. I used acrylic paint, which was not necessarily the problem, the problem was that I'd applied it with a sponge brush which caused the surface to feel really sandpapery once dry. So don't do that I suppose, bad idea

On top of this, I realized that given the thickness of this doll I absolutely needed double joints in the legs, in order to have decent articulation. You can see in the above pics I *had* sculpted those, but I later fused the knee beans with the shins with apoxy resin, for some reason? I think it was because as I posed the legs the knee beans kept falling *into* the hollowed out shins/thighs, and I got tired of it.

The final blows for this model were me applying some 3D finish resin in a last ditch effort to smooth out the horrible texture, which rendered the pieces extremely shiny and smooth (disgusting), WHICH then prompted me to apply matte varnish to fix that bullshit. It absolutely did not work lmfao, and I have no pictures of that disaster because I became pretty discouraged about having to go back to like square two or three.

Some time passed (months really because I kept getting distracted for many a reason [sanding is so fucking boring, Blender was a mistake, I was feeling overwhelmed, I was too sad/tired to work that day, etc.]), I buckled down and finally retooled the pieces that needed it: everything But the chest and torso parts, off of which I managed to sand the varnish and smooth resin. I had fixed all the double joints too to actually be decently functional this time. The head was completely resculpted to better reflect the character's latest design iteration.

bean slots: Fixed

So after sanding (which was the part I was dreading the entire time, because it's so tedious and also it hurts after a while), I caved and got myself an airbrush to, hopefully, lay paint down good this time.

Very glad I did because the difference is kinda crazy. Please ignore my dirty ass desk, it's what happens when you craft. These pictures are from last week btw.

The blue base and the blush were airsprayed, the finer details like the dark shading and the pinker parts were done with both chalk and just acrylic paint. I miiight remake the eyeballs, or at least add more of a smooth finish. The shine to them is really nice

Here's she with lashes, wearing a shitty little scrap of fabric I cut in 10 minutes for fun (please DON'T flag th), and posing to test out the double joints too, they definitely could be better but they work Fine and I'm okay with that.

As of today I'm waiting for the fibres to deliver, for the wig, I already have the cap done. I guess I can update this when it happens, thanks for reading so far, I hope it was interesting, see you next time.......

[stormyoceans]

I see dark tones, dark clothes, closed curtains. I see drama here. can we imagine that this will be a reverse concept, and the more Day loses his sight and gets closer to Mork, the more light tones will appear in their lives? unearthly theories are our everything. Besides, I've already appreciated Sea's blank stare. Do you have any thoughts on this, Monica?

YOU’VE ALREADY PRETTY MUCH SAID EVERYTHING IM THINKING TBH

i wasn’t too certain about it yesterday since we only had those monitor pictures to base ourselves on, but after they dropped the official ones today I’D BE READY TO BET ALL THE MONEY IN MY BANK ACCOUNT THAT WE’RE GONNA HAVE A COMPLEMENTARY AND TRANSITIONAL COLOR SCHEMES IN THE SHOW AND IF THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IM AFRAID THERE’S NOT ENOUGH THERAPY IN THE WORLD THAT’S GONNA MAKE ME NORMAL AGAIN

just look at the difference between the colors of day’s room in the mock trailer and in the official picture we got today:

in the mock trailer day is surrounded by light since the very beginning: even if the vertical and horizontal lines given by the shutters create a sense of imprisonement, the yellows and oranges ultimately give a feeling of warmth and openness. next to that, the complete tonal shift in the official pic is striking: day’s world is now full of blues and darkness, creating a sense of coldness and isolation. i know a lot of people are already missing the original color palette, but colors tell a story, they can set the tone of a scene, represent the characters’ emotions and show changes in the narrative. it’s also interesting to notice that, while the hue is primary blue now, the yellows and oranges aren’t completely gone, but they’re very desaturated

orange and blue are actually complementary colors: they’re on the opposite sides of the color wheel and this is often used to show internal or external conflict. in this case, orange is the world outside, bright and full of life that, however, is getting muted by the coldness of the blue, of a house that now really both looks and feels like a prison

this isn’t gonna last forever though. both mork and day start the show in a very bad place: albeit in different ways, they both have isolated themselves from the world and no longer have faith in the future. they are, however, very different people coming from different social classes, which is bound to create some initial conflict between them. we already know from the mock trailer that they won’t get along right away and the colors are now showing us that as well, but as they spend more time together, as they get closer, as both their relationship and themselves start to change, the more i believe the colors surrounding them will change as well: the blues and the grays are gonna give way to the oranges and the yellows, and they’re all gonna get brighter, more vibrant

in the end, like you said, day’s sight is gonna be swallowed by darkness, but day himself is gonna be surrounded by light and happiness and warmth  

[meowstix]

RATING EVERY BEYBLADE DRAGON

IT'S APPRECIATE A DRAGON DAY AND OF COURSE, I AM ALWAYS APPRECIATING DRAGONS BUT TODAY I'M GONNA DO IT EVEN MORE! and well. beyblade sure does have many dragons! so i looked through em all (or atleast, as many as i have good pics of) and i am going to rate All Of Them. i'm also gonna be rating these out of 5 stars because i'm really bad at rating things out of 10

unfortunately, because i cannot find any high quality pictures of many bit chip-exclusive designs, some of them will not be mentioned. trust me i wish i had pics of em all

dragoon/seiryu: the azure dragon, the absolute og. i mean not THE original but i don't have any good images of ultimate dragoon or whatever it's called's bit chip. 5/5 it's fucking seiryu

cyber dragoon: i've literally been insane about the digital sacred beasts plotline for MONTHS now. not quiiiite five stars but almost.

dark dragoon: i only ever got halfway through the movie i'm gonna be real. nothing Bad about this one but if i want a seiryu recolor i'd definitely go for cyber dragoon instead, 3 stars

gaia dragoon/koryu: this is probably the closest bsb has to an average western dragon, not too much of note although the colors.. do not look very threatening to be honest. 3 stars, gets one taken off because i swear i had a render of it and i'm genuinely pretty bummed i couldn't find it

dark gaia dragoon: as i said before i never finished the movie so i have no idea how this thing is in that. looks sick as fuck in the concept art though, 5/5 stars

amphilyon/amphisbaena: yeah so for some fucking reason this is the only sacred beast besides the main 5 to have a name other than that of its corresponding bey. not sure what's up with that but honestly this thing looked way cooler when we saw it in season 1 than it is in full color. 3 and a half stars, i'd put it at 2 and a half but giancarlo is neat

DRAGOON VARIANT LIGHTNING ROUND

ice: it sure is dragoon and it sure is ice. not much of note here, 3 stars master: i'm not fond of any of the master variants but this is probably the second best one behind master draciel. 1 and a half stars spark: if the fact that i went and drew it once didn't tip you off i think this one goes fucking hard. 5 stars, wish we saw it in the anime death: i don't have anything to say other than yeah that's sick. 8/10 rock: it barely resembles seiryu but it DOES remind me of dire miralis from monster hunter so that's a plus, 3 stars metal: is it me or do the metal variants look slightly fucked up. i'm gonna be real i kind of wish these designs were used for the digital sacred beasts though ig that defeats the point of those being copies. anyway gonna give this one 3 and a half stars knight: this thing looks so generic it's insane i would see this in a set of fantasy-themed stock art. zero stars it's not even fucking blue kids: weird little freak. 2.5 stars

that completes bakuten shoot, leading into metal fight. i know almost none of these and if i missed any, it's because i'm mainly going off the ones listed in @mach-speed-spin's post on dragon beyblades.

L-drago: like the ONLY cool creature design i saw in mfb before i dropped it. 4/5 i don't care if it's evil i think it's Neat

orochi: this is just a skylander you can't trick me. it would make a damn good one though, 2.5 stars

leviathan: yeah this one goes pretty hard. 4 stars

i'm gonna be real mfb didn't have a lot in the first place but i hit the image limit so dragooon (three Os) and behemoth aren't here sorry to any fans of those

finally is burst, which i keep hearing has too many dragons, and to that i say fuck you there's no such thing as too many dragons. for the record because of how many variations some of these have across the seasons i'm only gonna be rating their original designs.

wyvern: that's a wyvern alright! 4/5

quetzalcoatl: i wasn't sure whether to count this one as a dragon but wikipedia says quetzalcoatl is a dragon so i'll take their word on this. 2 out of 5, it's fine i guess.

longinus: banger design but i would punt lui without hesitation given the opportunity. goes from a 5/5 to a 3/5 because of that.

fafnir: almost a pretty solid dragon design but idk man the beak is really throwing me off here. 2.5 stars.

bahamut: oh this is ABSOLUTELY a banger, and associated with a character who deserved more screentime. 5/5

kukulcan: another one that's apparently a dragon according to wikipedia. kurt's actual character is neat but his design made me go "wait this guy looks kinda like ghasem" and his avatar made me go "wait this looks kinda like quetzalcoatl". 2.5 stars

salamander: the only dragon introduced in cho-z and honestly i don't even have anything to say here just look at it. that thing's fucking awesome, 5 and a half stars

dragon: that's a dragon babe! 5/5

diabolos: this thing looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a hot sauce ad. decent design but the pattern on it's front kinda throws me off, solid 3 stars

genesis: I'VE HEARD THIS THING IS A DRAGON ENOUGH THAT I GUESS IT GOES HERE BUT LOOKING AT IT I'M NOT SO SURE ABOUT THAT. THAT'S A FUCKED UP MAN. 1.5 stars, i don't know yugioh much but this thing looks like it would probably be pretty at home there

apocalypse: it doesn't really feel like what i'd expect an apocalypse dragon to look like which holds it back, but i do prefer it over genesis. 3.5 stars

happy appreciate a dragon day, and remember to appreciate your local dragon, everyone!

i wanted to put a gif of seiryu here but since as i said i hit image limit here's a link to it instead

[cinnamingyu]

I tried something new for a new era 💫 — please do not reupload!

[parcy-anda]

I adore the idea of Ruv & Sarv together both platonically and romantically,  and that goes double for Whitty & Carol, but I’m also a piece-of-trash multi-shipper with a strong lean towards fluff.

Heads up: no ideas are my own — the inspiration came from  this. >v<; I just wanted to shake off some dust and enjoy what I thought was a sweet concept.

My silly rambles are below the cut if you’re interested, but I’m super awkward and will go hide now.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I was a bit conflicted about posting art of these two, as from what I’ve read, drama following the mods ruined these guys+ for their respective creators but I keep up on some tags out of curiosity, and seeing the post linked above made me want to try something that condensed most of their ideas. I'm a sucker for anything soft and wholesome.

While I did visual research for the characters, dinghies and an intentional + aesthetically-appropriate design for Ruv based on a few species of cold-water [comb] jellies, I had no idea/was-too-stubborn-to-further-research how to draw [jellyfish] sirens or how to handle the lighting effects for a pic like this — and it shows.

Finally: GEEBUS, I don’t know if this is even worth sharing, but as prep, I did sketch a rough concept of siren!Ruv based on visual research. I have no idea if I’ll try to polish this concept, as while Jellies are often inherently frilly, it seems painfully out-of-place for him. @v@

Update: I wrote a silly ficlet to follow up this pic. I’ll hide it here, rather than put it on display in a fresh post. =v=; Apologies for address-repetition, rambling, and the obliviousness trope but if anyone actually likes it, sweetness.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Whitty kept his eyes on the stars, of which there was no shortage out here. Beyond the light, passing swells, he'd heard the gentle splashing against the boat, and felt something slippery and mitten-like wrap around his shoe. His foot twitched, but he didn't pull away. He knew who it was; after, all, they'd agreed to meet here... in this general area. The open ocean provided few landmarks, but they'd settled on a few miles northeast of the dock Whitty always started from.

It was still really, really strange. He was getting better about trusting the siren, but jellyfish are jellyfish, and he was in no hurry to be stung, accidentally or otherwise. Without moving, he chanced a glimpse to the other end of the boat — Ruv was looking down at something. The sentient bomb heard a gravelly shift — oh... more "treasures".

Lately, the gelatinous merman had been in the odd habit of bringing stones and coral fragments with him, and this time, he'd brought a bucketful. Whitty stifled a hissing chuckle at what he could now tell was bright green plastic. Ruv must have taken some child's beach toy from somewhere. The only thing he didn't really get was why.

Ruv wasn't much of a talker, and was stone-faced as they came. All the bomb-man could tell was that the siren seemed to bring these things for him... and the slight glow of his bioluminescence flared every time Whitty looked at him or said so much as a word. And today, he was ALIGHT. Whitty tensed as he felt Ruv squeeze his shoe tighter... was this in his head, or did the siren look nervous?

Carefully, Ruv lifted the bucket out of the water completely, over the edge and placed it squarely on the floor of the dinghy by Whitty's outstretched leg... and stared. At Whitty. In the glowing, ember-y eyes. Inky drops of "sweat" seeped through the sphere of his head and dripped back down to the fuse... an anxious laugh tumbled between his teeth set in a forced smile.

"Thanks, man." He finally managed to say, glancing briefly at the bucket before looking back at Ruv, who hadn't moved, save for the lightest lapping  against the underside of the boat, to keep his balance and place. Whitty usually didn't mind the stargazing, but then, it had never been this quiet or... intensely awkward. You're making it weird, man. Whitty thought to himself worriedly, but gave it a few seconds.

Things did not get better. Silent as before, Ruv's behaviour drastically shifted once more. The glow faded, he sank out of Whitty's view, and the grip on his shoe loosened before disappearing completely. Just slightly alarmed, Whitty planted most of his weight in the middle of the small boat, before stretching his neck to look out over the edge — the siren was still there, face half-submerged and, by the angle of the lone, now-barely luminous eye, not quite facing the boat. With just a crescent moon to light the seascape, Whitty was relieved to see anything... if the glow had wholly vanished, he would have been impossible to distinguish from the water.

"... what did I do, now?" Whitty sighed, trying not to sound too annoyed. He was certainly intrigued by the merman, he wouldn't keep coming back to visit otherwise. They could probably be really good friends if Ruv would actually communicate. But he didn't. He always kept Whitty wondering, and the bomb hated that. He hated not knowing what to expect.

When Ruv stayed silent and with his back to the dinghy, Whitty huffed quietly and turned his attention to the bucket. It was quite the assortment, this time. Some where rough, some smooth, some glossy, some blue, some... very, very round. He picked up that oddball, and his eyes widened as he realized what it was. It was a pearl, a black one, and a pretty good size.

"Okay, w-why? Why do you keep bringing me stuff like this?" He sputtered, holding up the pearl and bucket. He'd tried asking questions before, but seldom got normal or satisfactory answers. He hoped this time would be different.

He got a reaction, at least: he caught the eye angling slightly back toward him, and a flicker of light returning. He could have sworn he saw the mouth twitch, though mostly into a frown. When Ruv's hands weighed delicately on the top of the stern, Whitty sat back in an effort to keep the boat level. Taking in what body language he could, Whitty saw now, just how tired Ruv appeared to be, as if it was all he could do to keep his one eye open. With a sense of urgency, Whitty dragged himself back to reality, gesturing emphatically as he asked again: "Why? What's this for? Use your words, man."

Immediately, Ruv's eye narrowed and his slight frown deepened, prompting a small flinch from the bomb. Whitty was fully expecting to be stung, and braced himself for it, eyes closed. He nearly jumped out of his skin when instead, he heard a THUD against the dinghy's edge. Then again, and again. Opening his eyes, he saw Ruv repeatedly, quite deliberately, throwing his forehead into the side of the boat. Apparently, he was frustrated, too.

Whitty was about to tell the siren to cut it out when it suddenly stopped. Ruv's head was now set still against the stern, shoulders rising, then falling in a quiet sigh, before he rested his chin on the rim between his hands. The face Whitty took for 'tired' before now simply looked defeated. The bomb-headed young man refrained from saying anything, realizing words were only flustering the merman, but he knew Ruv could talk. They'd talked before... mostly Ruv just said he wasn't going to sting Whitty, but still, Ruv had spoken. There was no point in acting like he couldn't.

So lost was he in his thoughts, he'd hardly noticed himself nearing the boat's edge. For a moment, he thought he'd leaned in on his own, as if to listen closely for an answer, but... no. The movement had been completely subconscious. Oh, f- this isn't some legit-siren shit Ruv's pulling, right? Probably not, hopefully not. I mean, I'm definitely in control of my thoughts. He was snapped out of those thoughts by another sigh from Ruv, even though he had yet to say a word.

Silently, Ruv took the pearl and held it up between his and Whitty's faces — he should get that, right? Looking around it, Whitty's face proved puzzled still. Agitated, Ruv snatched a piece of volcanic glass he'd found from the bucket, placing it over Whitty's hand and wrapping his own over both, before expectantly looking back up to his land-dwelling friend's face. That nervous smile was back, and Whitty had to laugh off the awkwardness while he searched for the words.

"Aha...ha... this stuff looks... kind of like me?" He asked more than said, glancing a few times between the contents of the bucket and Ruv — there were a number of articles reminiscent of his clothing and skin's colors, not to mention textures. Whitty's heart spasmed violently at the way Ruv's face quite literally lit up. Reluctantly, he spun his free hand in a wheeling motion, continuing, "... which means...?" The glow flickered, but remained and Whitty thought he saw Ruv's eye twitch. The bomb grimaced before trying to intuit the meaning behind this, "Yes, please! Spell it out!" It was weird as hell, but he needed to know what it meant, and it was high time Ruv just gave him a straight answer.

Mista-BIG MISTAKE. — was the only coherent thought Whitty managed, as for a moment, all his senses could register was a splash and icy water enveloping him face-first. He'd been hauled from the boat and into the dark, frigid ocean. On instinct, he struggled, panicked against the feeling of cold seeping into him, and he gasped the second he felt air on his face. He took a second to process what was happening now:

He was breathing, his head was back above water... he was... not being strangled, even though it felt terrifyingly similar. Ruv was thoroughly wrapped around him, his face pressed into the bomb's neck and... nuzzling? It made Whitty squirm at first, it really was a bit of a disturbing sensation, but then suddenly, he stiffened and warmed all over as a blush spilled across his face and the realization dawned on him. If the siren hadn't been keeping him afloat, he'd have sunk for lack of movement. He was frozen in an entirely different sense now.

[taengerinee]

a massive rant bcuz im overdramatic

continue at your own risk, warning bad grammar, probably doesnt even make sense cause i just let it all flow out, feel free to fight with me in asks i might ignore you tho

i need to vent here cause im not doing it on twt and get shot lmao. but 2 ppl i follow are genuienly throwing a day long tantrum about 1!!!! ONE!! person who tweeted about how butter teaser pics (the suit elevator ones) were so dry compared to the new season greetings and of course its twt so not a grain of critical thinking that no they didnt mean dark emo rock visuals (even tho then they throw the photobook pics in that persons face like look...quite ironic) but they meant too simple to a level of boring vs something more busy and exciting to look at. And idk these ppl have this holier than though aproach of omg u just want bts to be sexy and dark and only are a visual stan (then they proceed to shit on “kpopies” which annoys me sm like yeah there are groups that put out questionable music but omg yall starting to act like those “thats not real music” ppl) which is not what the person said in the fist place. im so annoyed cause these 2 ppl i follow keep liking these kinda condesending tweets and jesus. like why cant someone be a massive bts stan and love the music but is a visual person who wants that to be good too BCUZ thats literally part of kpop - LITERALLY YOONGI SAID ITS A PACKAGE OF ALL THIS SHIT TOGETHER im not taking away from them as artists omg and namjoon a literal art whore? yet i cant have opinioins on the concepts they do?? jesus ig im really getting too old cause the stuff these people get hung up on

also!! ppl being like the fact that we even have to talk about visual (bestie no one is making you) but if you would go through their profile its gonna be jungkook sexci muscle thread and them screaming when new stuff is dropped. Its not a fucking bad thing to care about these things youre not better than anyone if you dont! but yeah it shouldnt solely dictate wheter you like something or not 

why does this make my blood boil seeing like the 5th tweet about the op today when it happened like in the morning just made me snap

[avatarfromtheashes]

[Image ID: A header image with a low opacity painted background of the Fire Nation at sunset and text that reads “So, what is Avatar: From the Ashes?” //End ID]

Hey everyone! @yueqqi here, but I respond to anything including “dumbass (friendly).” 💙 From the Ashes has been a project I’ve been working on over the course of the last 8 months, first incepted in late May 2020 as a small Dungeons & Dragons campaign between friends. After the campaign ended with the first arc, I was inspired by the awesome fancomic work by @legendofgenji, @avatarhanami, and @niikocomic (please check them out if you haven’t already!) to realize all of mine and my friend’s (massive shout out to Magpie and Josh) worldbuilding and plot building into this project starting late fall of 2020. It might not be a fully fledged comic since we’re new with only a small team of worldbuilders/writers and 1 main writer/artist, but for now we will focus on sharing our story in the form of fic writing and concept art.

This is a fun project done on our own time, first and foremost. It is also an important project, for me anyways, to build on what Avatar could be, written by POC for POC, written by LGBT for LGBT, and to be shared with people who want to learn more about our communities and support us. The story’s narrative is supposed to expand on Chinese and other Eastern cultures and address serious topics that mirror our real world problems. As a Chinese diaspora author from a family who immigrated from post-war Vietnam, those topics are what I hold with importance and I hope to be able to share it with you. I love interacting, so the askbox is officially open! ☺️

What is your story?

From the Ashes, also titled Tian Hui Yuan (天灰園, meaning “garden that grows from the sky’s ashes”), is set during the time of the second earthbending Avatar of Korra’s cycle in a world ravaged by the Great War—which, wasn’t as “great” as it says on the tin until the end of the 36 years of battles with long intermittent periods of silence, when it devolved into an all-out nuclear war between the democratic Earth Republic and the Fire Nation. Who instigated the war? If you live in the modern Earth Federation, history lessons at mandatory school left it pretty fuzzy until recent years but everywhere else, including the remaining Southern Air Temple and the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, agree that it was President Qin Namyao of the Earth Republic who first developed nuclear technology for non-peaceful purposes and his successors that dropped the first bomb, the effects rippling even today in 539 AG, the rough equivalent to the 1980s era.

The three-month-long catastrophe led to tragic losses not only in the initial blast and ensuing fallout, but the generations of famine it triggered after the decade-long nuclear winter. With the first airbending Avatar’s help, society managed to rebuild itself within a century, though still long ways away from returning to how things used to be in peace times in between turf wars and fighting over resources. With the rise of Avatar Niraq, the second waterbender, the period of warring factions was put to an end—at the great cost of destroying autonomy and bringing down the working middle class in the act of rebellion against the upper class with the creation of the (now Old) Order to unite all the nations and their factions under a single banner.

After Avatar Niraq’s assassination and the New Order taking over and returning control to world leaders, 18 years later the new Avatar is (still) missing and the original plan to take the Avatar young to prevent another tragedy becomes more loose as tensions rise and the New Order has to reconsider their game plan on how to handle the Avatar—including arrest at best, or making them “disappear” at worst.

As for our new Avatar? He has no idea what’s coming, nor that he’s even the Avatar.

FtA focuses on Leaf’s story years after all hell broke loose, where things seem better, but the picturesque peaceful times keep unraveling to reveal a very ugly truth where what seems to be the right path is one in darkness and the seemingly amoral one is the only one that can make a change.

Who is the Avatar?

[Image ID: A young man in motion appearing to be in mid brake while running, earthbending shards of grey rock and kicking up a dust cloud. He is lightly tanned with slight pink undertones to his skin, with hazel eyes that lean more deep green, and he wears his brown curly hair in mullet, sadly missing the hair spray and mousse, with a slight chin scruff and a ratty mustache. The man wears a red shirt with its sleeves ripped an a v-neck ripped to expose his collarbones and a part of his chest, paired with a silver dog tag on a chain necklace, light wash skinny jeans with a brown and brass belt, and green canvas high tops with drooping flaps that look suspiciously like Converse. //End ID]

The Avatar is this idiot right here and his name is Leaf (Ye in Chinese, but to emphasize strangeness of his name, it stays in English except for nicknames) because he never knew his birth name. He hasn’t even mastered his birth element yet, smh. (Backstory? Well, that will be revealed. :) All you need to know is that he has a stack of crimes hiding there.)

Team Avatar??

The team is called the Vine by the writers (ha, get it? Leaves from the... *crying*). You’ll see them around as I post their finished sheets! They aren’t the only main characters, though. :)

Who are the villains?

For now, all you need to know is that the Order acts as antagonists (obviously), but it gets heavily into some grey areas on who’s right and wrong here. There are bigger sharks in the sea, eventually.

Okay, so we know the rough backstory of the story. What about the plot?

Now, that would be spoilers. :) But if you want something to start guessing with, many game changing events can be described with Bon Jovi, Metallica, and Bonnie Tyler top hits. Here’s a Jon Bon Jovi pic from the 80s who may or may not have been the inspiration for Leaf’s aesthetic. 💙

[angelixskz]

↳ pairing; seo changbin x reader

↳ genre; suggestive, fluff if you squint, soulmate!au 

↳ summary; your leg is killing you, but that doesn’t stop you from getting a new tattoo. 

↳ word count; 2,448

HAPPY BELATED CHANGBIN DAY! I hope he had an amazing day and that he smiled till his cheeks hurt. I hope that he ate well, stayed safe and overall go all the happiness that he deserves. 

↳ a/n; I got a little carried away with this fic, just a tiny bit. thank you to @haechaaaaaaanssi​ for beta reading and helping me make this header because my brain does not understand the concept of headers. hugs for janna. anyways, I hope that you enjoy this angels <3

↳ inspo; these pics and touchy feely by ro james (can y’all believe that someone gave that to me as a song rec lol)

↳ warning(s); making out

It was getting harder and harder to walk towards the parlor.

You weren’t sure if it was because of the nerves partying in your stomach or the increasing pressure around your right calf, or maybe, it was both. Turning back briefly, you saw your friend give you a thumbs up. The tiny encouragement sparked an ounce of determination, and with that, you tightened your grip on the warm cup of coffee in your hand and pushed open the door to the dimly lit tattoo parlor with a blinking neon ‘open sign’.

Presented in front of you was a small waiting room, the lighting as dark as the tinted windows showed. Covering the wall behind the wooden front counter were various pictures of previous customers’ designs. Decorated on the other black-painted walls were simply just framed sketches. 

You were alone in the parlor.

Light shone behind the black curtains leading to, what you presumed, were the work stations for the employees. You could faintly hear the buzz of machinery and the hum of a fan. The pain in your leg thumped your hand into action. Hesitantly, you pressed on the bell resting on the counter.

As you waited, you turned your attention back to the framed papers hanging on the walls. They were all very pretty, but they didn’t compare to the one that you had in mind. Remembering the piece of paper, you reached into your back pocket. It was odd how you came about it; simply waking up at the crack of dawn with a pencil in hand and a beautiful sketch of vines and flowers on a white sheet of paper in front of you. At that moment, you were heavily thinking about pursuing your career as an artist. Instead, your friend convinced you to get it tattooed on your body. 

The first tattoo parlor that came to mind was the one across the street, conveniently, right across the cafe you worked at. 

“That regular who never talks works there, right?” 

Of course Felix would remind you of Changbin, the seemingly never smiling tattoo artist who would only utter his order before leaving to his table. You looked at the sketches hanging under his name. While they were all very pretty, one specific design caught your interest. 

Stepping away from the oddly short counter and past the worn out leather seats sitting next to the entrance door, you shot one hand out towards the one paper hanging loosely by a transparent blue tac pin. The ache started to increase, almost as if the vines imprinted on the skin of your leg were tightening. 

Before you could fully compare your own design to his, a hand shot past your ear. 

“Can I help you?” came out the gruff voice. 

You turned around with a grimace. With each second that ticked, the ache in your calf didn’t seem to falter. For a moment, you held your breath, for you were met with the dark gaze of the Changbin. He always looked peaceful while drawing in his sketchbook as he occasionally glanced outside the window to observe the people passing by, yet here, he didn’t look too happy with his furrowed brows and irritated dip of his lips. 

Glancing down at the harsh grip he held on the paper with his right hand, you explained that you were here to get a tattoo. Your gaze lingered on the ink peeping through the crumpled lines. “This… is a tattoo place, right?” you questioned, finding the courage to look back up at him.

Perhaps your words confused him because his once irritated expression morphed into one that you could only describe as a constipated scrunch. His eyes squinted slightly, brows accompanied by line etched in between and a slightly gapped mouth.

“Did you read the sign that says Stray Tattoos?”

You smiled brightly at the boy, “Of course not, I just randomly decided to visit this mysterious looking store across my cafe.”

He clicked his tongue before turning around and walking behind the counter. You followed along, hoping that your limp wasn’t showing as you struggled to deal with the horrid throbbing in your leg. 

“You have a design in mind?” he asked, bringing out his sketchbook. 

“That one,” you told him.

He raised a brow at your pointed finger. The paper he previously tore from the wall was still clutched in his hand. “No.”

You blinked, “What?”

“It’s not a design.”

“Then why was it on the wall?”

Changbin stared at you with an unreadable expression, “It’s not now, so go choose a different design.”

You frowned, “Why can’t I get that one?”

“I told you, it’s not a design for sale,” he pursed, “and you most definitely did not have this in mind. It’s not posted on our website or any of our social media accounts.” His frown deepened, confusion written in his eyes, “Even if it was, no one should be able to see the design.”

He mumbled the last part, but you managed to catch onto his small words. You smiled cheekily in response, “Well maybe I’m special since I’m able to see it.” 

Wholeheartedly, you meant it as a joke. Changbin’s dead serious face didn’t seem to take it as a joke. He wanted to say, ‘you must be’ but he knew better–soulmates don’t exist.  

He rolled his eyes, “Whatever. The point is, you can’t get this tattoo.”

You pursed your lips, “Fine, then I want this one.” You pulled out the folded piece of paper from your back pocket and slapped it onto the counter. Changbin’s eyes widened as he stared at the identical design you gave him.

Before he had a chance to speak, he was interrupted by the voice of a blond boy with a dimpled grin. “Are you giving our customer a hard time?” he chastised.

“Hello there! I’m Chan.” He placed a hand on the shoulder of his fellow grumpy co-worker. “Don’t mind Changbin here, he woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”

Changbin slapped away the hand of his friend.

“See,” Chan whispered, a hand covering his mouth from Changbin’s view, “he’s a bit sensitive today.”

You chuckled, “It’s okay, I just gave him my design.” 

Chan followed your gesture towards the folded paper that Changbin was holding against another crumpled paper. Confusion flashed in Chan’s eyes for a brief moment before he hid it with a gleam of playfulness. “I see, you guys are exchanging secret sketches.”

“Secret sketches?” you echoed.

“Yeah, did you guys use invisible ink or something–” he vaguely gestured towards the papers–”because there’s nothing on there.”

You would’ve laughed at him if it weren’t for the pinch of pain that pulsed through your leg. 

“What do you mean? There’s designs on both of those papers,” you frowned.

Something sparked in Chan’s eyes and he gave a knowing look to Changbin. 

There was a silent battle of glances between the two, one that you witnessed without much focus. You were too busy remembering the bothersome prickling in your leg. Frown deepening, you focused on the warmth of the coffee cup you held in your hand, hoping that the warmth could transfer to your leg. You cleared your throat. “Well if today isn’t a good time, I can just leave. Oh, and uh,” you placed the now cooling cup down on the counter, “this is for you, Changbin, since you didn’t come to the cafe today.”

You bit the inside of your lip, hating how the pain increased tenfold when Changbin made eye-contact with you. You gave a slight nod and let out a silent wince when you turned around–conveniently missing how he expressed a small grimace. 

“Wait,” he called out, “You can get the tattoo.”

-

You anxiously wiggled in the black leather chair when Changbin entered the room. 

Wordlessly, he sat down on a chair next to you. He didn’t seem to be concerned that you didn't have any pants on, but then again, he hasn’t glanced once at you since he arrived. He was quite content on his needles, jaw clenched. Your leg throbbed, unbearingly so–you let out a whimper.

He casted his eyes on yours, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you weakly replied, “just nervous.”

“First time?”

You nodded. Slowly, he trailed his gaze down your neck, past your chest and down to your bare legs. He stayed focused on the vines wrapped around your calf–a new wave of pain washed over you. 

“But it looks like you already got one? Unless it’s fake,” he observed, your wince unnoticed by the fact that he tried to ignore the insufferable sting in his right shoulder. “These vines match the ones on your calf,” he added. 

“Would you believe me if I said that it was marked there when I was born?” you managed to gasp out, sweat starting to form against your hairline despite the wind blowing towards you.

Pain clear in your voice, he quickly turned to you with concern, “Are you sure you’re okay? We can do this another day.”

“I’m-” before you could utter ‘fine’, you let out a yelp, your hand moving to your calf to rub away the pain. Changbin dropped the needle on the floor and instinctively reached for your extended hand. 

Suddenly, it stopped. 

Everything stopped, it seemed. The needle stopped midway to the ground, the fan blowing in the corner froze, the clock’s hand paused, the rapid acceleration of your heart slowed, but most importantly, the ache in your leg dissipated. 

Your breath hitched when the vines around your leg started to unravel. You felt breathless as they grew. You followed as the vine slowly trailed up your leg, the slow beat of your heart suddenly loud in your ears when you saw another vine out of the corner of your eye. 

There were no words you could speak when you realized that the other vine was trailing down Changbin’s arm. You spared a quick glance up at his eyes. They sparkled with the same awe as yours. Letting out a breath of disbelief, you looked back down at the two vines moving towards each other. Your vine moved up to Changbin’s knuckles that were touching the skin of your thigh and connected to his vine that curled around his wrist. 

When the two vines interlocked, pure serenity fell over the two of you. Flower buds blossomed in the trails of the vines. Slowly, Changbin let go of your hand. Once the two of you were no longer touching, time resumed; the needle started falling again, the fan resumed cooling the room, the clock started to tick, your heart never actually stopped beating but it sure felt like it, and the ache in your leg throbbed faintly. The vines started to retract, budding flowers starting to disappear.

As light as a feather, Changbin touched one of the flower buds. The two of you were sucked back into a frozen universe within a split second. His thumb smoothened over the bud as it started to blossom, vines extending and curling towards his touch. You could only watch with a held in breath as he leaned closer towards the flower. As if in a trance, he pressed his lips softly against your skin. The pillowly touch of his lips was light, yet it still managed to make your heart flutter and it elicited a gasp from your mouth. 

Too in awe at the colors inking your skin and flooding the outlined flower, you failed to notice how Changbin regretted his action. It wasn’t until he pulled away did you realize that he was spouting out countless apologies–he thought that he overstepped his boundaries.

Before he could fully dismiss his touch, you cupped his face. You tried not to get distracted by the vines creeping up his neck and growing to where you hand lie. 

“Hey,” you murmured, “it’s okay.”

His brown eyes were blown wide, a haze swirling in the galaxy of his iris. “Are you sure-”

You chuckled and nuzzled your nose against his, “Did you know how many times I thought that this vine on my leg was some useless birthmark? Never did I ever think that it was my soulmate mark.”

“I thought soulmates didn’t exist anymore,” he admitted, eyes glancing down at your lips for a moment.

“I didn’t either, although, I did feel a certain pull towards you whenever you visited the shop,” you confessed, “but then again, that could’ve been because I thought you were cute.”

He raised a brow, “Cute?”

You smiled, “Yes, cute with your beanie and sketchbook, just drawing away while admiring the pedestrians passing by.”

Something about you calling him cute didn’t sit well in his stomach. “Cute,” he repeated, almost scoffing out. Your heart started to speed up as he slightly pushed you into the chair. He hovered over you, breath mixing with yours. He pecked kisses from the corner of your lips all the way down to your collarbone. Flowers bloomed and colors exploded on the flesh of the two of you.

Together you painted a beautiful picture. 

Your breaths became shallow as you felt his tongue swipe against your skin. He colored your skin as he moved back up. His kisses trailed along your jaw and aimed at the corner of your mouth, never quite planting his lips on yours.

“Kiss me,” you whispered.

With a small smirk, he slowly connected his lips with yours. There was no hurry in his actions, afterall, the clock was no longer ticking. He never stayed more than a second before pulling away. His eyes glimmered with amusement as you chased after his lips each time. 

“Changbin,” you whined when he disconnected his mouth from yours for the nth time.

The way you breathed out his name made him break. 

He pushed his mouth against yours, teeth clashing and temperature rising. His tongue swiped along your bottom lip. Saliva mixed together just as the vines around you twirled within each other. The leather beneath you started to stick to you as you wiggled around. 

You tugged at the hem of his shirt which prompted him to quickly remove the material. With hot pants leaving your mouth, you marveled over the numerous vines penned from his neck, connected to his shoulder blades and curling down to his torso. You trailed your hands along the path of vines, flowers blooming with each touch. When he exhaled a shaky breath, you chuckled.

“Cute,” you teased, pressing a kiss to a flower on his jaw. 

The color pouring into the petals of the flower contrasted the darkness that engulfed his eyes. 

He mocked your chuckle, “Oh, baby, I’ll show you cute.”