#dory divider

[kodaswrld]

dni divider set p.4 blue theme

divider creator - requests open - like & reblog if you use!!

જ⁀➴ credit me please & follow for more dividers!

[batexe]

Hey! May I please request a dori from genshin graphic or a tapu lele from pokemon graphic! Thanks if you end up doing them or not!

૮ ꒰ིྀ ♡‸◟꒱ིྀ ა⠀⠀⠀:⠀⠀⠀dori graphics

➷　　f2u , no creds needed　　―　　recolors allowed

　　　　𓎢　　f / o , kin , and id tags are okay　　⁠｡

𓎠𓎠　　art credits　:　all offical art | psd credit : here

[dearly-somber]

hyunga’s sleeping | l.mh

-> pairing. idol!minho x non-idol!reader (f)

-> genre. Established relationship, domestic fluff.

-> rating. 13+

-> w/c. 1101

-> warnings. None!

-> a/n. This was fueled by pure, unadulterated Minho & Soon-Doong-Dori (SDD) brainrot.

-> skz ficlets, oneshots and series m.list

-> started. Feb. 23rd, 2024 @ 16:51

-> fin. Fri., Mar. 1st, 2024 @ 19:40

-> edited. Sat. Mar. 2nd, 2024 @ 15:40

-> divider credit. @plum98

“Eomoni!”

“Y/N, darling, come in!”

Minho’s mom wraps her arms around your shoulders, pulling you inside with a big smile on her face. She waves you off as you slip out of your shoes and into a pair of bright pink Hello Kitty slippers Minho bought for you as a joke years ago, forcefully prying the bag of goodies you bought on your way here from your fingers.

“I hope I’m not intruding—?”

“Hush!” Mrs. Lee chides with a smile, “Stop worrying so much.” Her hand hovers by the small of your back, guiding you up the last step into the living room.

“Is Minho here? He said he was coming home today…”

“Yes, he’s here. He’s in his room.” Minho’s mom sets the plastic bag on the counter, and you naturally go to help her unpack what you bought, shelving things like you live here.

“I—hello, abeonim.” You bow at Mr. Lee, closing your eyes contentedly when he comes around the counter to give you a fatherly side-hug that squishes you against him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, ruffling your hair as he lets you go in favor of helping his wife unpack.

You shrug, walking around to the other side of the counter. “Thought I’d pop in to say hi. I missed the kittens very much.”

Mr. Lee laughs, shaking his head at you. “Of course, the kittens.” He wiggles his eyebrows teasingly.

You can’t help the grin tugging at your mouth, clearing your throat to speak. “Speaking of, where are the babies? I haven’t seen any of them since I got here.”

“Last time I checked they were all with Minho in his room,” his mom says, putting away the bottle of red wine you bought for dinner later tonight.

“Great! I can kill two birds with one stone.” You wiggle your eyebrows.

She snickers at you, shooing you away with a fond smile. “Go say hi and then come sit with us—we found a documentary we thought you’d like.”

“Okay, eomoni.” You smile at her and hope your pure love and adoration for her isn’t written too clearly on your face, afraid she might tease you. You walk with light steps in the direction of Minho’s room, unable to wipe the smile off your face.

“Minho-ssi,” you sing-song, rounding the corner with a light and airy step-a-step you’re pretty sure you saw somewhere in Thunderous’s choreography.

Mreow?

“Doong-Doong-ah?” Your lips jut out in a surprised pout, looking down at the talkative orange tabby with a tiny furrow in your brow. Following the lump of white sheets behind him, you finally make out Minho’s all-black clad body hidden under all the fluff.

You smile.

“Is hyunga sleeping?” you whisper, walking over on the tips of your toes before crouching in front of Doongie, scratching behind his ears with a soft smile. He mrews, his eyes fluttering closed as he leans his head into your hand. To your right, Dori hugs what you think is a bottle of lotion between his white socked-paws, his tail flicking with each nibble he delivers to the hard plastic.

You let your hand wander over Dori’s side and chide him with a half-hearted hiss when he clamps his teeth around your knuckles, shaking it off with a smile when he pauses a second before giving your hand a couple of licks.

You give his side one last pat before walking around Minho’s feet, only noticing Soonie as he’s cuddling into your boyfriend’s duveted stomach.

You can’t stop the smile tugging at your lips, crouching next to the sleeping cats to card your fingers through Soonie’s fur, feeling a familiar sense of pride swell in your chest at his appreciative purr.

And then you’re looking up at Lee Minho, your body tingling all over at the serenity on your sleeping beauty’s face, unable to help but reach out and let your hand run over his hair; a little frizzy at the ends but otherwise straight; he must not have been sleeping for very long.

You drag your hand over Minho’s head with an inexplicable softness constricting your throat, wishing you could lean down and kiss him without running the risk of waking him up.

You jump a little when Minho lets out an adorable grunt as he slowly pries his eyes open.

“Jagi?” he mumbles.

“Did I wake you?” you coo, combing your fingers through his fringe.

“Mmm.”

You chuckle, letting the pads of your fingers brush over his forehead, over his eyelids. “Ever the truthman.”

“Truthman?” he grumbles, bringing a hand up to loosely hold your wrist between his fingers.

“When did you get home?” You let your hand wander over his cheek.

“A few hours ago…”

“From practice?”

He guides the palm of your hand against his lips. “Mmm...”

He kisses your hand, turning onto his back (much to Soonie’s dismay) and throwing the duvet around his hips before tugging on your arm with surprising strength.

You yelp, practically falling on top of him. He lets out a back-of-the-throat kind of giggle that sends tingles down your arms, using his hands on your hips to shift you higher up his abdomen.

Minho lets out a satisfied hum-sigh against the top of your head, his fingers massaging the skin at your waist before hooking his fingers under the waistband of your trousers, letting the elastic keep his hands in place.

“Baby,” you say, softly—knowing his parents are waiting for you downstairs but feeling so tempted to sink into his warmth and stay there until the end of days.

“No,” he huffs, nuzzling your temple. “Lay with me for a bit.”

You can’t help but laugh, subtly shaking your head. Of course he knows. “Okay, but only for a minute. Your mom invited me downstairs to watch a—“

“Shh, jagi, I’m trying to sleep.”

———

“Y/N, sweetheart, we’re—“

Mrs. Lee stops in her tracks, right outside Minho’s room. The sight she comes across brings an immediate smile to her face, and she can’t help but take her phone out and snap a picture to give to her son later:

Minho, his arms wrapped around you as you lay on top of him, legs intertwined. And surrounding you, Soonie, Doongie and Dori; the youngest of the trio laying by his hyung’s head. Doongie lays by your feet, and Soonie sleeps just off to the side, his legs stretched out in front of him.

As she sits back down with her husband, Mrs. Lee can’t help but think: she can’t wait for the day Minho asks for her mother’s ring.

[jadenvargen]

i was so blown away by those hunky dory pages that i immediately dashed to your blog to follow you and then clicked the unfollow button because i didn't realize i already followed you so sorry about that

hahah yayyyyy

i'm honestly super happy you like it!!! ive posted art for it before but ofc outta context... it's my baby so i put a lotta stuff i love in there. its really not all cowboys, i can say it's divided into three parts all around 10-20 years from each other so, part 1 will be cowboy part 2 will be 20s high and low society, and part 3 is... well:3

bc im excited that people like it, here's some martin sketches from patreon //v\\)

[voidcat]

he better not have come to twitter until late 2018s bc us early twt ogs wouldve DESTROYED him

chronically online narumi vs stan twitter

[moonlit-stay]

Kinktober 2024 ▪ Day 20

▪ Pairing: Lee Minho x Female Reader

▪ Kink: Face Fucking

▪ Genre: Fluff and Smut

▪ Word Count: 1.5k

▪ Warnings: Soft!Dom Minho, Sub!Fem Reader, established relationship, oral (m. receiving), face fucking, reader loves her man !!

▪ Other Warnings: mentions of food

▪ Please let me know if I missed anything

Color(s) Of This Fic: Pebble Grey, Cream, and Colonial Maple <3

If you are under the age of 18, please do not interact with this fic. This fic contains inappropriate content and is strictly 18+

Everything in not only this event, but all of my work in general is consensual. Even if not stated within the work.

Enjoy :)

A quiet tune plays softly in your kitchen, carefully filling the silence as you listen to Minho hum along.

He gently sets three food bowls on the kitchen counter in a neat row, evenly dividing the best quality canned cat food he could find between the bowls before he sets them down just as gently for his three fur babies, Soonie, Doongie, and Dori to enjoy.

You watch him gaze at the three cats with nothing but unconditional love in his eyes as he watches them eat for a moment. Eventually, he turns to you with a smile that mirrors your own, stepping towards you to place his warm hands on your hips to pull you close before pressing a kiss to your lips.

Small, intimate moments like these are your favorite, and you don't think your heart will ever stop beating the way it does when Minho kisses you, and you hope it never will.

You watch him slowly pull away from you, his eyes taking a second to linger on your lips before he turns on his heels, slinging a towel over his shoulder as he reads over a recipe. He quietly reads the ingredients aloud, mumbling them to himself as he sets each ingredient on the counter. You lightly chuckle as you watch his head snap back and forth between the recipe and the counter where he has all the ingredients laid out, pots and pans soon join the lineup and he sets them aside on the stovetop.

There's something so special about seeing Minho in his natural state like this; bare face and messy hair, comfy clothes and sock-covered feet, hushed words and shared kisses, and of course, cat hair and cuddles.

Everything about living with Minho, being with Minho, feels like home, and it makes your heart race knowing you get to share every day of this life with someone as kindhearted and caring as him.

He rests his hands at the edge of the counter, leaning over the surface as he reads over the recipe again. You walk towards him, letting your arms wrap around his torso in a hug as you nuzzle against the broad expanse of his back.

"Need any help?" You softly ask, feeling one of his hands come to rest on top of yours.

"Nope, I've got it, baby." He answers, turning around in your hold to pull you against his chest. "Just be patient while I cook for us, okay?" You can only nod in response, looking up at Minho with wide eyes as he smirks.

Something about watching Minho do domestic things in the space of your shared home makes your heart clench in your chest, and your core throb between your thighs. Especially when said domestic acts consist of him taking care of you simply because he wants to. Minho always quietly cares for those around him with no expectation of anything in return, and while the lack of resiprocation doesn't bother him, you would be lying if you said it doesn't bother you.

Minho watches the color of your eyes darken and the look within them shift, and his smirk grows wider.

"What is it, pretty?" He asks you with a slight cawk of his head, watching your eyes almost glaze over as you stare at his lips. "Can't wait until dinner?"

You slowly shake your head in response, taking a small step back before you drop to your knees in front of him.

"Let me take care of you first." You softly whisper out, reaching up to palm him over the fabric of his sweatpants.

You watch his eyes flutter before he focuses on the way you're moving your hand against him, his breathing becoming more uneven as he grows harder beneath your palm.

"Please?" You ask, watching his eyes finally close when your hand moves to cup his balls.

Minho groans in response, hurriedly pushing his waistband down to his thighs. You watch his length rest hot and heavy between his parted thighs, your hands instinctively reaching for his shaft as you slowly pump him. You sit up on your knees, feeling Minho immediately gather your hair in a makeshift ponytail as you take his tip into your mouth.

You softly suck on his sensitive head, letting your tongue swipe over his slit to gather the beads of precum. Minho gently guides you further down his length, his head falling back against the cupboards as a long, soft moan leaves his lips. You let his tip hit the back of your throat before you pull off him, your hands immediately replacing your mouth as you pump his length again.

"You always take such good care of me, Min." You softly explain, batting your eyelashes up at him as he watches you fist his cock. "Don't you think you deserve something in return?"

He shakes his head, his hands desperately gripping at the edge of the counter as a weak attempt to ground himself.

"You don't have to, baby," he breathes out, his knuckles turning white as he fights the urge to stuff your mouth full of his cock. "I take care of you because I want to."

"I don't have to...but I know you want me to." You whisper out, watching his eyes darken as you speak. "Let me give you what you need, baby."

Minho feels like he's going insane, his hands darting to your hair as you take him down your throat again. He grips your hair in a messy handful, guiding you down his length until he feels you gag around him. He shallowly thrusts into your mouth, feeling you lay your tongue flat against the underside of his cock as he slowly pulls you almost completely off his cock.

He sets a steady pace, his thrusts still soft and cautious, careful not to hurt you, but every time you take all of him, your throat tightening around him as you gag, he loses more of his composure.

His hips speed up on their own accord as he gets lost in the pleasure, his mind almost completely blank as his hands dart to your cheeks. He cups your jaw, holding you in place as he thrusts into your mouth.

"You're so good to me, baby." He moans out, one of his hands flying to fist your hair. "You gonna let me fuck your pretty little face?"

You look up at him with teary eyes and nod as best as you can, and Minho swears he feels himself grow harder as you feel his cock twitch in your throat. You relax your jaw, letting your hands grip at Minho's thighs for support as his thrusts grow harsher the closer he gets to his orgasm.

He can feel your nails digging into the muscles of his thighs and it makes his head spin. The feeling parts the clouds in his mind long enough to remind him that even though this feels slightly selfish, he's still technically giving you what you want, and if your choked, muffled moans are anything to go by, you're enjoying this just as much as he is.

"Fuck, baby, feels so good." He moans out, tightening his grip on your jaw.

The sting from the grip he has on your hair pulls moans from your lips, and the vibrations of your moans go straight to Minho's length as he harshly bucks his hips into your mouth. You gag around him, your saliva pooling at the corners of your mouth before they glide down your chin.

You love watching him give in to something he wants; something he craves, and when you feel him twitch inside your mouth again, you take all of him until your nose is resting against his pelvis. You hear sharp gasps tear from Minho's throat as his hips stutter, you quickly wrap your hands around the back of his thighs, holding him against your mouth as he cums down your throat.

He feels you swallow every drop of him, and he shudders at both the feeling, and the sensitivity that has now settled into each nerve in his body. You can feel his thighs shaking from the intensity of his orgasm beneath your palms, and you feel your chest swell with pride knowing he feels that good because of you.

You pull off his length, finally letting air flood back into your lungs as you gasp, and Minho pulls you off the floor and into his arms. You're a mess of tears, drool, and his cum, and in that moment, he thinks you're the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Without hesitation, he leans in to kiss you, groaning at the taste of his cum on your tongue as you moan into the kiss.

You reluctantly break the kiss, looking up at him as he wipes at your damp cheeks.

"You're crazy, you know that?" He chuckles, watching as you grin up at him with a slight nod.

"Only for you, Lee Minho," you reply, feeling his hands grip at your waist, "only for you."

Minho is used to caring for others, quietly doing what needs to be done without drawing attention to himself, and even though he never expects anything in return, neither of you would mind if that changed.

Main Masterlist

Kinktober 2024 Masterlist

▪ Author's Note

This is essentially an appreciation post for this beautiful man who deserves to be loved, appreciated, and cared for the same way he does for others !!

He's literally the sweetest, most tender hearted man :(

Lowkey an early birthday post for him, too👀

▪ Taglist

@kpophubb @whatudowhennooneseesyou @skzgallll @ka0ila

Send me a DM or ask to be added to the taglist

▪ Extras

©All rights are reserved to Moonlit-Stay. Stealing, reposting, copying, translating, plagiarizing, and modifying any and all of my work is strictly prohibited.

Released: October 20th, 2024

Reblogs are greatly appreciated !

[shirefantasies]

was thinking about thorins company again and was thinking about a request and my mind jumped to "I wonder how they'd react if reader called them petty." so that's my request. how thorins company would react if the reader told them they were pretty.

Posting back to back because I got asked the same prompt for both stories almost simultaneously hehe! Ok now THIS? This can go one of two ways either so fluffy or so funny 😆 I think it would be divided so:

"OMG you think I'm pretty?": Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Ori, Fili, Kili, Bilbo

"How DARE you I am NOT pretty what do I look like some sort of elf lassie FDGSHVDGSH": Dwalin, Gloin, Nori

*Deadpan voice* What.: Balin, Thorin, Oin, Bifur

Bofur, frankly, is just a bit shell-shocked, but not unpleasantly so; in fact his smile says otherwise. “Well, no one’s ever called me something like that’ before!” Bombur would blush bright red at your words and smile widely. “Me? Really? Coming from someone as pretty as you?” Dori puffs up a bit despite the incredulity upon his face. “I try my best. But really, it- it’s working? Well, I…I…” Ori’s all smiles, sheepishly glancing away from you. “Me? No, I quite think that’s you, actually. Why, if you saw yourself the way I do, you’d know exactly what I mean.” Fili winks at you and flips his hair off his shoulder. “Oh, you think so, do you? Because I’ve thought the same and then some. …huh? About me or you? Maybe both! Just kidding. You’re the only one who’s ever caught my eye.” Kili acts quite similar, throwing you a wink as well. “You’re not so bad yourself, you know that? Ever have I desired an excuse to tell you.” Bright red- that is the only way to describe Bilbo as well, adorable in his stammering. “Me? Well, I try to take my best care of myself, but I don’t know about…. You insist? All right, then I’ll take the compliment so long as I can pay you back with a few. No, no, too late, please listen, because I am quite certain the only pretty one here is you.”

Dwalin’s arms are crossed the moment the word leaves your lips. “You think I’ve gone to war, bloodied my axes and dirtied my nails, just for some young thing to call me pretty?” He scoffs, but you make out the flush upon his cheeks and simply smile, shaking your head with amusement. Gloin is indignant, all but shouting that he hasn’t grown pointy ears or lost his beard, so don’t go acting like he’s one of those elves you can’t even tell maids from lords. “Oh, all right,” you tease, “what do you prefer then? Strapping? Handsome?” That shuts him right up. “What are you on about,” Nori asks you, “eh? Trying to charm something from me? I’ll have you know I’m not some tittering elf maid. You’ll have to try harder than that.” By harder than that, he evidently means the way you grab him by the collar, causing him to cave to your wishes immediately.

Balin freezes at your compliment, tilts his head. His brown eyes search yours. “I beg your pardon?” “You heard me.” Chuckling, he shakes his head. “Haven’t heard anything like that in a long time.” Deadpan describes both Thorin’s voice and expression as he seeks repetition of your statement. “Surely you have been told you cut a majestic figure before?” “Why are you telling me this?” The king responds. “Why do you think?” You shoot back, shaking your head. When the compliment leaves your lips, you can tell Oin is unsure if he heard you correctly; stepping closer, you repeat it breathily, a smile on your lips. “You mean I did- We-he-ell then!” He grins at you. Bifur peers blankly at you. “Yes, you,” you repeat, “need I describe the lovely pattern of your hair, your smile, your little creations you share with me or the way you…” Shaking his head, Bifur smiles and takes your hand.

Rest of the Taglist 😉: @lokilover476 @fuckyoumakeart @mossthebogwitch @ibabblealot @joonies-word @stormchaser819 | Reply/Ask/Message to join!

[secretpostsposts]

A few things that came to mind about possessive Brozone (I should make a specific # for this, because I think it will become something recurring, and the beloved little brother one is for the fanfic thing)

Schedules

Branch is a habit troll and likes to stick to a routine (that's cannon and no one will tell me no), so when his brothers start to realize this, Clay is the first to start a schedule, marking what Branch does in the day, what days he does what thing and how long it takes him to do it; With that done, the 4 brothers divide that schedule, they have it divided by colors and they fight a lot about it because Floyd is usually the one who has the most time with Branch, and they spend time with Branch.

Branch doesn't think much of it because his older brothers aren't dumb and every week they make changes to the schedule to prevent anyone from suspecting that they're trying to hog Branch's time; Another reason why they detest Kismet and Snack Pack (and any other friends of Branch's still watch the show I don't know what other friends he has) is because they get into Branch's habits and destroy their entire systems by luring Branch into their activities outside of the brothers' secret hours, frustrating them.

Personal Space\Physical Limitations

Another thing that they do and this is more of a new mania or thing that John Dory and Floyd do, is ignore Branch's personal space and a lot, if they don't touch his shoulder, give him a side hug or a full hug or just keep a hand on Branch at all times, something that Branch has already complained about but they always ignore him and "make him see or come sense" about him. They don't touch him that often, the most embarrassing thing for Branch is when they hold his hand, this is something more about JD, Bruce and Floyd, He holds Branch's hand a lot, and this drives him crazy, but he still can't do much to stop it, he can't say no to Floyd for 2 reasons, 1. It makes faces that Branch can't ignore, and 2. He uses the feeling weak card (from his previous kidnapping and torture), although it doesn't affect him as much as it used to, he appeals to Branch's protective side; with Bruce is more because no matter how many times he lets go, Bruce always holds his hand again, Branch got used to the idea since it is a habit for his brother's many children so he doesn't try anymore, although he appreciates when Bruce lets go when he sees that Branch needs to use both hands for something; And then there's John Dory, Branch doesn't know what to do anymore, he can't say no, he can't let go and no matter what he does John Dory never lets go, he tried to force himself loose a couple of times in the first few times, only for JD to squeeze his hand tighter and give him a slightly creepy smile with honeyed words and, in Branch's opinion because it seems that no one notices more than him, chilling, it is not a phrase in itself that only speaks to him as if he were a baby, Again, and for some reason because of the tone John Dory uses, he feels small and a little scared, so I stop trying to let go of his hand after that.

There are also the boundaries or barriers that the brothers make whenever there is another troll around, if there is only one of the brothers he gets as attached as he can to Branch and gives him a side hug or stands between Branch and the others or another troll, if they are one or all four, They make a barrier unnoticed enough to avoid suspicion between Branch and the others, usually touching Branch but are tense touches and arm or man squeezes that make Branch feel confused.

[steaming-system-takes]

Welcome to Steaming System Takes!

This blog was inspired by @/pipinghot-systemtakes. However, we are not associated with that blog in any way. We made this blog to combat the lack of proper structure pipinghot-systemtakes has in terms of sorting through harmful submissions, and offer this community a place to share their hot takes without having to worry about coming across harmful messages and/or misinformation.

What do we consider to be harmful?

To us, harmful submissions include submissions that promote non-traumagenic systems, have paranoia inducing messages and wording, and anything that contains any form of misinformation. This definition of the word "harmful" is rather broad, and we will be paying close attention to what each submission says to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. If need be, we have people outside of our system we can reach out to for second opinions.

Will we be accepting other mods in the future?

Yes, we will! If this blog gets to a point where we're receiving more asks than we can handle, we will open up mod applications to make sure we don't slip up and let something through that should not be posted.

Will we be posting submissions that we don't agree with?

For the most part, yes. The only exception to this is, once again, anything that's genuinely harmful or contains misinformation. We will not be sharing any of our personal opinions of any syscourse topic on this blog, only pin-boarding other people's opinions anonymously. This blog is meant for others to have a safe space to share their thoughts, not for us to share our own. In addition to that, we believe that most syscourse topics should have all sides shared to ensure that anyone looking into the issue can make a properly informed opinion on it. Above all else, that is our goal.

Something to note: If a submission is worded in a way that we can't understand, we won't post it just to be safe. If you notice that your hot take isn't being posted after a little while, feel free to submit it again with different wording!

Who can interact with our blog?

Despite us not sharing our opinions on this blog, we do have a DNI list. This includes endogenics/willowgenics/tulpas and their supporters, transID and radqueers, and anyone who claims RAMCOA isn't real.

We accept anyone with any disorder here. This blog is NPD, BPD, schizophrenic, psychosis, and mood disorder friendly. Anyone who villainizes these disorders is NOT welcome here.

Meet our current mods!

Since this blog is currently only being run by one system, our mod team consists of a few of our current/frequent fronters.

Mod Z - Also known as: Zack

Zack Foster introject, He/It pronouns, tag signoff: "mod z"

Zack will likely be the most active mod.

Mod Green - Also known as: Lloyd

Lloyd Garmadon introject, He/Leaf pronouns, tag signoff: "mod green"

Mod Dori - Also known as: Yuji

Yuji Itadori introject, He/Him + neopronouns, tag signoff: "mod dori"

Anon tags: 🥩 anon, 🐇🐇 anon, 🖥️ 💥 anon

Interested in getting to know us? Our main blog is @jabberwock-islanders!

(Divider used was made by @/bxd-decisions)

[authortobenamedlater]

Does anyone want to help me construct a playlist for my S1 novelization which I have officially titled "Halo: Awakening"?

I don't use Spotify or anything but I'd like to have a rotation of songs to get me in the writing mood.

Here are some I've found myself listening to:

Battle Symphony by Linkin Park

Castle of Glass by Linkin Park (I almost named the project after this song but it's also the title I would use for my Babylon 5/Earth Alliance Civil War ripoff starring Captain Lasky. I am 99% sure I'll never write it, but I don't want to part with the title.)

Bring Me to Life by Evanescence (If this doesn't give you John + Cortana chills what's wrong with you.)

Immortals by Fall Out Boy (This is my Silver Team song. I like to imagine Cortana would play it before an orbital drop.)

Holding Out For a Hero by Bonnie Tyler (Tell me the UNSC would not use this for propaganda.)

Numb by Linkin Park (My Miranda & Halsey song. I also have a Linkin Park thing for fanfic inspo, it seems.)

What I've Done by Linkin Park (my Jacob Keyes song.)

I Enjoy Being a Girl by Doris Day/Rogers and Hammerstein (Just a fun one for Kai.)

New Divide by Linkin Park (my Jacob & Miranda song...I. REALLY. Have a Linkin Park problem.)

Human by Rag'n'Bone Man

Unbreakable by Bon Jovi (a good Master Chief song)

That's a decent list but I am in this project for the long haul and I need MOAR. Specifically looking for Kwan and Makee songs, and songs for the Arbiter/Sangheili and Covenant generally. I'm not picky about artist or genre for this.

My musically driven friends, come to my aid! @ageless-aislynn @sarnakhwritesthings @morganas-pendragons? Also @rainintheevening and @novelmonger, I know you two aren't in the fandom but Star Wars/MCU fic inspo songs could work well for Halo too.

[minhosimthings]

His Universe: A Minho smut drabble

Synopsis: Raw sex with Minho before movie night. That's it.

Warnings: smut, fluff, unprotected sex (Don't do it kids), Oral; receiving, Dom!Minho, FemSub!Reader, Slight Dom reader, mentions of food. MINORS DNI.

A/N: oh wow look at that I accidentally wrote a drabble haha so funny. Real tho guys I'm trying to complete my Jake fic but this idea came into my lizard brain so I HAD to write it. Enjoy it everyone and as always Feel free to give feedback!

Divider by @cafekitsune thank you for this!

"My kitten what in hell are you doing?" You were currently trying to ice a chocolate cream cake with vanilla icing (sue me I love choco vanilla).

Things were going haywire however as the icing melted, because your dumbass decided to ice the cake when it came fresh out of the oven.

"Minho?" A plan had formed in your wicked mind. "My darling, beautiful, hot, rich, pussy wrecking husband?" Minho looked up from licking the melted cream to your doe eyes, amusement clouding his face. "Husband? Girl I don't see no ring on your finger." He held out his hand to you and moved his fingers, flipping his imaginary hair. "Yes husband." You told him, as he snaked his arm around your waist. "How about you and I doordash some cake and we stay in today? All day. Just the both of us in comfy pajamas and that cringy anime you wanted to watch." Minho thought for a second about that suggestion. Yes that would be the most amazing thing in this entire fucking world, just getting on a couch, all warm in the middle of November, with you looking adorable in those sailor moon pajamas you owned. It would be so.. domestic. Something that he had wanted with you ever since... well forever.

"Alright fine we can stay in today. What time is it?" He checked the cat clock on the wall, which read six pm and smiled down at you, before kissing your forehead and letting go of your waist. "I'll get the pillows ready then?" He winked at you in a cringy way, to which you fake gagged and took up your phone to order doordash, while he went upstairs to get pillows and all the necessary equipment for a perfect night.

"Kitten come out I'm dying right now." You were currently in the bathroom, putting on the last bits of your moisturizer, while making a mental note to buy another bottle the next day. You knew your ass would definitely fall asleep the moment you hopped onto the couch, and Minho would fall asleep next to you, so you had to do your skincare in advance. Minho, on the other hand, was standing outside the bathroom, whining and stroking Soonie's head, while Doongie and Dori played outside (correction: Dori annoyed Doongie). "Alright I'm going to break this handle right now." Minho got up from his position on the floor, setting Soonie down, and getting prepared to break down the Pokemon decorated door.

"Oh my god Minho could you be more dramatic? You're turning into Hyunjin slowly but surely." Oh fuck Minho was so fucked right now. He was glad the boys weren't here right now, otherwise they would have a lifetime's worth of material to tease him. You looked so gorgeous, like a magnolia in May and a dainty dandelion at the start of December. It was just loose hair, floppy pajamas and Bunny slippers, but the way they all draped on you was so stunning to Minho.

"Fuck kitten." He grabbed you by your waist and pulled you closer. "You look so fucking pretty." He slammed his lips against yours, eyes closed, drowning in ecstasy. "Min- Minnie" "Nuh uh baby." He slammed you against the purple wardrobe, which he had built for you on a cold November's night. "Fuck the movie. Fuck the food. All I want right now is you and whatever is inside those pretty little pajamas." You let out an involuntary moan as you looked at Minho with wide eyes. He was all sweaty, with his hair slightly falling in his eyes, and his arms decorated with veins. He still wore his promise ring on his finger, the one with fake diamonds you got for him as a joke. Dizzy, that's all you felt as you looked at Minho's gaze over you, admiring every tiny feature of yours. "Minho~" you moaned at him as leant closer to you kissing your neck. "What is it kitten? Need your master to touch your sweet cunt?" "Y-yes Sir." Sir. That's all it took for Minho's mind to enter limbo and let his dick take over.

Pushing his tongue into your mouth, he dragged your body over to your shared bed, pushing you to the soft mattress, the one with the dark green pillows, embroidered with both of your names.

"Tch tch" Minho clicked his tongue, as he slowly pulled away your clothing, to reveal the turquoise bra you had on underneath. "Oh baby. You're wearing my favourite one are you? Such a good girl you are." Praise. Praise was what got you to fold easily. Just one mention of the word 'good' and you're gone. "Minho please." You said, feeling the bulge in Minho's pants rubbing against the smooth fabric of your underwear. "Please what Jagiya?" "Please go inside me. Please oh f-!" Without warning, Minho had ripped away your underwear with ease, and stuck his tongue inside of it. Pleasure so much pleasure. If this was seventh heaven, you wondered what eighth heaven would feel like. Minho tongue rubbed around your walls, trying to find your cunt, as you moaned his name in the unholiest way possible. You tried everything not to swear out loud while Minho moved his tongue like that. He hated when such dirty words came out of your pretty mouth, but when he was literally giving you the greatest pleasure of your life, how could you not?

"Oh Minho Minho fuck don't stop please! Fuck!" He raised his head slightly to you, immediately giving you the greatest displeasure ever. You were right there! Right there and then he had to stop. Wiping his mouth, he rose up slightly and came over to your face, dick dangling ever so slightly above your pussy. "Oh baby didn't anyone tell you good girls shouldn't speak big girl words like that? Are you a big girl now baby? Or do I have to teach you what happens to big girls?" You slightly gulped at his deep voice, laced with delicious venom. "N-no daddy. Im sorry." He looked down at you and bent to your ear, whispering in a sultry tone. "You don't want daddy to fuck you into tomorrow kitten? that's too bad." Your cum controlled brain panicked ever so slightly as he moved his legs to get off the bed. In a moment of impulse, you grabbed his arm tightly. "No daddy! That's not what I meant!" Slightly smirking at your innocent behaviour, Minho made himself back on top of you. "Aww such a slut for me aren't you, you pretty thing? Alright I'll fuck you but on one condition. You don't cum until I tell you to got it?" You nodded fervently, desperate for his dick to get into the wet walls of your V.

One thrust then another, all the while you asked for Minho to go deeper, give you more pleasure. This was the first time he had ever fucked you raw, and God did it feel so good. Sweat dripped from your brow, but all that was on your mind was trying not to cum while Minho rubbed his cock all over you wet pussy. Oh god this was hard. How the fuck could he ask you not to cum, while fucking your brains out like that? Unfair, and rude.

"Minho. Minnie let me cum." You whined to him, making sure your pout was extra large. He looked up at you, stopping his routine of adding love bites to your already swollen collarbone. "Aww my kitten wants to cum? She's so brave is she? To ask her master to let her cum? How about I pull out baby? Would you like that?" Honestly at this point, you were fed up. Today was supposed to be movies, food and then you were supposed to dom his little cocky ass, with that cute bra you secretly bought. And then he HAD to ruin it didn't he. And he didn't even allow you to cum. That was the last straw.

"Sure babe. Pull out. I'd like to see your dumb dick go out of this pretty pussy." You said to him, voice laced with pure poison. You weren't being his Harley Quinn tonight. Tonight you were Poison Ivy. Minho, on the other hand, looked at you with surprise. When did his little kitten get so brave? It turned his dick hard, to see you be so... courageous. Asking him to let you cum and telling him to pull out? Oh was this the start of heaven or what?

Gently caressing your hips, cock still inside, he kissed your lips softly, instead of crashing them with violence like he usually did. A spark of electric light travelled through your body when you saw him smirking at you through the passionate kiss. What was your boyfriend planning now? What was going on in that attractive brain of his?

Minho's grip on your hair tightened slightly as his left hand moved down to your pussy. A high pitched whine left your mouth as he stuck them in your cunt, playing around with whatever was inside. Edge after edge after edge. That's what was your punishment. You dared disobey your master. Oh baby you're in for it now.

"Can you take this baby? Want me to cum inside of you? I'll allow you to cum don't worry pretty baby." He told you as pulled his fingers out and looked at your glistening figure, hair all messed up and nipples all hardened. "Yes daddy. Please cum inside of me." That was all your robotic, brain washed self could say. You were drunk on his siren eyes tonight, even if you weren't just trying to dom him like five minutes before.

"you are doing so good" Minho praised, his swollen lips leaving your core, his dick pleasuring your cunt "but a good slut like you can take more, right?" he asked as his body climbed into the bed, his lips desperately looking for yours to give you a glimpse of your own taste.

"fuck, it hurts" you moaned with broken words, feeling minho's breath close to your ear "it hurts so much" another strangled cry was heard and this one was accompanied by a growl. the pain felt good when you remembered who was the one inflicting it and that only made you eager to take it even more."it feels good" you whispered against his lips, feeling how minho's digits rubbed your clit in slow, circular motions "god it feel so fucking good"

"god minho" you moaned, letting out whimpers every time his dick touched your sweet spot "please don't stop Minho!"

"Yes princess cum over my cock there you go good girl. Such a good girl aren't you Y/N?" You felt warm liquid fill your small hole and as you let out low moans of his name, Minho couldn't help but think of marrying you, to get this everyday. "Wanna make you a mommy. Wanna get your tummy swollen. Fuck baby. Have my fucking babies. Oh god you feel so good."

"God that felt so fucking good." Minho gasped as he flopped onto the bed next to you, gently stroking your hair and bringing your tired head upto his chest. Listening to his heartbeat always calmed you down and at this moment, it felt like all time had stopped and his heartbeat was the only thing that mattered. Feeling tired from all that you had done, combined with the warm feeling of Minho's body, your eyes drooped and your mind drifted off into pleasured sleep. "So wanna watch that mov-" Minho stopped his sentence as soon as he saw you lightly snoring. You looked so pretty at that moment, eyelids gently dropped over the prettiest eyes and brows furrowed, to make that cute face you made whenever you fell asleep. Minho's heart and soul was so full right now. He couldn't help but imagine your wedding day, when you would look like Heaven's incarnate in your dress, carrying flowers and looking at him with doe eyes.

And when you told him two days later, that you were pregnant, courtesy to your raw sex session, he knew that he would burn down the entire world for you, just for you.

The universe could be on fire, but the only thing that mattered to him was his universe. His universe and nothing else.

[the-really-lonely-mountain]

To Erebor - Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5

Summary: Transported to Middle Earth, you must Join Thorin Oakenshield's Company as they travel to reclaim Erebor! OR: My take on the classic 'modern girl in Middle Earth' troupe. This is the second installment, so we are following the second movie of The Hobbit trilogy, and falling deeper in love with Kili on the way! This is the first part for the second movie.

Tags: Kili / Reader, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, Modern Character in Middle Earth, During The Hobbit, How Do I Tag, Canon-Typical Violence, Kíli Is a Little Shit (Tolkien), implied soulmates, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Freeform, light smut, it's really just a brief description nothing too detailed, Holding Hands, Cuddling & Snuggling, Sleepy Cuddles, Protective Thorin Oakenshield Company Members, Dwalin & Thorin Oakenshield Friendship, Fluff and Humor, Domestic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Where In Middle-Earth Is Gandalf?, Hair Braiding, Dwarf Courting, My First Tumblr Fic, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fíli & Kíli & Thorin Live, Thorin Oakenshield Lives, Fíli Lives (Tolkien), Kíli Lives (Tolkien), this chapter is domestic as hell, sword fight training, kili is a big ole softy and i love him so much for it

Word Count: 4,977

A/N: Hey y'all!! It's been a crazy couple of months let me tell ya! good god! I've decided to finally post the next part of the story to tumblr despite it not having been beta read. I'll use you guys as my guinea pigs lol so if you see anything that doesn't make sense or is spelled wrong, I'm begging you to please tell me. I can't wait to hear what you think about my pride and joy! <3

Image credit: @iamjaynaemarie

Divider credit: @cafekitsune

The company climbed down the tall rock into the forest below. Having rested on the long flight over, everyone was prepared for a day of walking. Nothing notable happened except innocent conversation to pass the time and the forging of grapes with Bilbo for a snack.

The sun dipped closer to the horizon, casting long shadows through the trees. Thorin found a small river to make camp nearby. Gloin made the fire then Bombur started cooking the food. While the stew was being made, Fili and Kili practiced their swordsmanship under the watchful eyes of Thorin and Dwalin to provide guidance. The dwarves had found a log and brought it over beside the fire. You knelt in the grass on the fire’s side parallel to the log. The others were leaning against it on the opposite side, smoking pipes and making jokes and commentary about the training. You pulled out your thread spools and measured out the first color. You realized you didn’t have scissors and asked the merry gathering in front of you if they did.

“Nah lass,” Dori said, “Our weapons aren’t sharp enough to cut thread, they’ll only fray it” He kicked Nori to quiet him when he started to protest the quality of his weapons, “You’ll want to ask Thorin to borrow his sword.”

You swallowed thickly and looked over at the man in question where he stood with his arms crossed next to Dwalin. He always intimated you but approaching him alone to ask a favor made anxiety spike straight through you.

They were several feet away, but the clanging of metal was still quite loud. The brothers had removed their shirts, as men often did, to escape the insulated heat it provided. Not that you were complaining, eye candy is always welcome in a world of forests and furs.

You timidly approached the taller man as he instructed the brothers. You waited till they started fighting again to say in a shy voice: “Um Thorin?”

He glanced at you to acknowledge your inquisition, “Yes, what is it?” He sounded impatient.

“May I please borrow your sword?” You pointed to the weapon strapped to his side, “I need it to cut some thread” You tried not to sound as scared and skittish as you felt. He looked at you blankly for a moment, surprised by your question.

Kili threw his brother back several feet, allowing him a few seconds to turn to you with a confident smile.

“Hey Y/N,” Kili said, making you and Thorin look at him. You couldn’t help but smile and sheepishly blush as you tried not to ogle his ripped upper body dripping in sweat.

“Hi Kili” you swayed back and forth a little without realizing it. Thorin took note of your fond reaction to his nephew.

Fili let out a mighty roar as he jumped on the back of his brother, taking advantage of his distraction. The dwarves on the log laughed and you giggled at them as they goaded each other on.

“I’ve got you now brother!” Fili triumphantly exclaimed.

“I think not!” Kili replied with a strong thrusting attack.

Thorin sighed, “Very well” He untied his sheathed sword from his belt and handed it to you. You thanked him and began walking back to your previous spot. He looked at the line of dwarves who were still chuckling lightly against the log, “Make sure she doesn’t kill herself” he said to them. They all nodded, including Balin who found this ironic remembering their conversation about leaving you in Rivendell. It would seem the dwarf king was taking a liking to you.

You kneeled, unsheathed the great Goblin Cleaver a few inches, and positioned the hilt between your knees, so it stayed standing on its spine. You measured 7 lengths of thread at about three feet and rubbed them against the fine elfin blade which cut them in one pass to make makeshift embroidery thread. You repeated that 5 times to end up with two groups of pink, two groups of blue, and one group of black thread. You did your best to keep them separated as you bunched them together to fold them in half and tie a loop at the end that you could hook onto a button of your coat. You sheathed the sword and returned it to Thorin knowing he wouldn’t like being without his weapon. You sat on the side of the log with everyone else and secured your coat in your lap so you could pull taught against the threads. You separated the threads and began knotting them over and across each other like how you learned to make friendship bracelets at summer camp. It gave your hands something to do as you sat idly watching the boys trash talk then turn serious and start fighting again.

“What are ya makin’ Y/N?” Ori asked as he watched you.

“I’m making a bracelet” You replied, pleased to see the others taking an interest in your crafting.

“Why’s that lass?” Bifur leaned over to see what you were doing exactly.

“So I can eventually make one for everyone else” You explained how it’s a tradition of sorts in your world to make bracelets for those you care about as a show of kinship and the enduring strength of your friendship and bond. “Since I can’t fight beside you all on the battlefield yet, I thought this could be another way I show my commitment to the company” You smiled at the group. You’d grown very fond of them during your travels and hoped they enjoyed your company as much as you did theirs.

“That’s a very sweet tradition, Y/N,” Balin said, “We look forward to receiving your gifts” The rest of the dwarves confirmed it with ‘Aye’s and a strong nod of the head.

“Supper!” Bombur called while stirring the pot. Everyone got in line except the training group who was going one last round. You all sat down in your previous spots along the log to see the finale of the night’s training.

You finished your dinner quickly so you could take advantage of the distracted troublemakers as well as the river on the other side of the hill. You grabbed your bag and told Gandalf you were going to the river to wash up. You knew he’d keep an eye on the dwarf who often followed you like a puppy and missed you when you weren’t by his side.

You see, Kili had to share most of his things with his brother; toys, motherly attention, food, and this included the women he was interested in. They usually fell for Fili because he was more mature, older, and looked more dwarfish than Kili who had very fine features for a dwarf and was five years younger than his brother. He initially assumed it would happen again with you, so when you didn’t show any interest in his brother, only in him, he couldn’t put into words how happy it made him.

At the river’s edge, you placed your bag and makeshift towel (your shirt from your old world) on a rock and took off your clothes. The water was chilly but nothing a sit by the fire couldn’t fix. You washed your hair and body with the elfish soap you got in Rivendell. As you rinsed in the steady current of the water your thoughts began to wander to what Gandalf said about your predicament.

You felt pulled to Kili, he brought comfort and calmness to a feeling you didn’t even know was in need. His smile and his laugh, every memory and moment you made and shared with the handsome prince of Erebor begged you to stay in Middle Earth.

It was decided then.

When you stood to squeeze the water from your hair you noticed the sun was beginning to set. The others would want to bathe too, or at the very least wash their hands. You dried off and dressed and took a deep breath to enjoy the welcomed privacy one last time.

You reappeared beside the wizard, “Thank you, Gandalf, that was very much needed” You sat next to him on the ground in front of the fire to warm up. “I may be traveling with brutes, but I needn’t smell like one” You joked. He chuckled over his pipe at this.

“I’ve decided to stay here Gandalf.” You informed him. “Something about this place is calling me to stay.” You needn’t tell him about the intense pull to Kili, right?

“Splendid my dear,” He smiled fondly at your decision. “I’m sure you’ll find Middle earth rather agreeable.”

You smiled up at him, happy to have his support.

The boys were still going at it. Kili was making a great effort, but Fili got the upper hand, making Kili’s sword fly out of his hand and sail through the air to stick in the ground. Kili kept fighting though, trying to get Fili’s sword from him. Fili had to force him to the ground with his arms pinned before Kili surrendered.

“Good job lads, good work,” Thorin said as he helped them up. Coins were exchanged against the log from the bets the company members made. The boys started walking towards their bags, but Kili swerved at the last moment to approach you. Your hair was still slightly damp from the river, so it was obvious you’d just bathed. Being the mischievous sweaty dirt-covered mess he was, Kili held his arms out to you for a hug. You watched him in horror as he continued to walk towards you.

“Ew, no Kili stop!” You held your hand up to stop him but to no avail.

“Awe Y/N, just one hug?” Kili pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

You quickly stood and laugh a little at his persistence, “Don’t you fucking dare!” you said and dashed away.

“Come on Y/N, no need to play hard to get!” Kili strained as he chased you around the log and back toward your bags.

“Aaahh!” You made a sharp turn to narrowly avoid a grimy Fili, who stepped in your path, the little shit. This closed the gap so Kili could grab your arm and pull you toward him.

“Nonononononono!” you pleaded as he wrapped his beefy arms around your shoulders, making sure to rub his sweaty dirty face against your hair and pet the side of your face with his equally dirty hand. “Kili!” you drew out the last syllable in complaint.

“You smell so good” He had the nerve to say.

“You smell like Ori’s unwashed socks!” You pushed at his chest still trying to get away. Everyone chuckled at this. “Get off me, ya big olaf” you managed to wriggle out of his grasp, “I’m not coming anywhere near you till you bathe,” you said dead serious, and pointed to the river.

“As you wish” Kili bowed with a smirk, he grabbed his bag on his way to the river to join his brother. You sat in your by the fire with a small smile that seemed permanent whenever you were around him.

You were working on your bracelet when the brothers returned. The sun had dipped below the horizon making darkness seep into the crevasses of the world. Kili sat behind you on the same long stone Gandalf was perched on and touched the ends of your miraculously dry hair (the elvish soap is magic idk). You stiffened at the unexpected but not necessarily unwelcome contact.

“Can I braid your hair Y/N?” he asked innocently as pink dusted his cheeks. You whipped around aggressively, pulling your hair out of his hand in the process.

“No cause you’re just going to get it all tangled and I’m going to have to spend all night brushing it out!” You weren’t looking forward to that, you thought he was just trying to prank you. Kili’s pout was as cute as ever.

“My dear,” Gandalf budded in before Kili could sulk away, ���Braiding hair in dwarfish culture is similar to your tradition of making bracelets for friends, but they take it much more seriously.”

“How much more seriously?” You asked, intrigued about the nature of Kili proposition.

“It’s like…” The wizard took a draw from his pipe while he thought of the words to properly explain it to you, “asking someone to dance, it’s special and a more intimate way of getting to know someone.”

“So, like a date?” You tilted your head in question. You understood his analogy; braiding allows both people to show their level of craftsmanship and commitment, with the added benefit of practicality and looking very nice in the end when done with love and care.

“A bit” Gandalf smiled at your naiveite, “Just know our dear Kili is not trying to prank you when he asks to braid your hair, quite the opposite” He took another draw from his pipe and looked back at the fire.

“In that case, you may braid my hair Kee” You flipped your hair back over your shoulder. You couldn’t see the beaming smile that grew on his handsome face. You dug through your bag to find the hairbrush and other trinkets from Rivendell which you handed to Kili. He kept them in his lap while he brushed your hair. If he came across a knot, he was sure to be incredibly gentle. You enjoyed the physical contact and attention very much.

“Any requests?” He asked sounding confident in his abilities.

“Whatever you think would look best” You couldn’t help but smile a little.

He used your brush to part your hair down the middle. He started braiding at your nape closest to the part. After that you didn’t pay very much attention to what he was doing, instead just relished the experience.

He finished one side and secured it with a bead from your stash, “How’s that feel, too tight?”, he asked and adjusted pieces here and there to make it lay perfectly.

“It feels great!” You chirped happily. You reached a hand to feel what he’d done so far but he shooed it away.

“Not yet, you’ll ruin the surprise!” He started working on the other side.

By the time he was done, you were so relaxed you’d almost fallen asleep on his leg.

“Done!” he said, you could tell he was very pleased with his work, “How do you like it?” He sounded a bit nervous.

You ran your fingers over the braids, feeling how they turned and curved at certain points and went straight in others.

“Kili this is amazing!” You said, very happy with the state of your hair. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Thank you!” You looked back at him with a smile that was as big as his.

“I’m afraid I can't properly reciprocate though, I don’t know how to braid hair like this, I can only do normal braids.” You regretted never having learned how to French braid now more than ever. “If that’s how this works” You quickly corrected in a slight panic.

He was elated you wanted to return his deed at all, “That’s fine!” He tried not to sound too excited and be cool about it, “I can teach you if you want” he offered.

“I’d appreciate that!” You smiled.

You switched places, so he was sitting between your legs facing the fire. The position was innocent, but his thoughts were anything but. Images of your face beautifully contorted in pleasure from his tongue exploring your most private and intimate parts were most welcomed.

“May I take this out?” you lightly touched the silver clip that held his hair out of his face.

“Sure” He happily shrugged. You dug through his brown hair where the clasp was supposed to be, but your trembling hands couldn’t find it in all his hair.

After he heard you huffing and puffing and hadn’t felt his hair fall from the clip he asked in a soft voice, “Do you need help?”

“Yes,” you sighed, embarrassed you couldn’t even get a damn clip undone. He reached back, and struggled for a few seconds but undid the clasp, and handed it to you.

While you brushed his hair you thought of what you should do to it, or more what you could do with his hair given your limited abilities. You brushed through a few knots if any.

“I think I know what I want to try to do,” You touched the sides of his head just above his temple, “I want to do two small braids on the sides of your head, but I want the topmost part of your hair not to be braided.”

“Let’s try it!” He explained how you needed to part the hair and how to get started. You had his head lying against your thigh in an admittedly awkward and uncomfortable position, but he was quite the trooper. You had to restart the first braid three times but, in the end, he talked you through it and you tied it off with a bead.

“How did you learn to braid so well” you asked, struggling to grip all the pieces of the second braid properly and not pull the strands out of his head.

“My mother was insistent I learned. She knew my brother would have no trouble learning this facet of courting, but she feared I would spend all my time shooting arrows and never learn how to properly court girls.” He talked fondly of the memories, “So one summer when I was about to come of age, I came home from running amuck every day and she’d sit me down at her tapestry’s and make me braid the tassels that ran around the border.”

“Were you any good?” You asked curiously.

“Oh yes, I was very good! For a while, I was even better than Fili!” He was very proud of that.

“Why did he get better than you? Lean forward please,” you politely asked.

“He’s quite the lady’s man, so he had plenty of girls to practice on,” Kili sounded like that brought up memories that weren’t very pleasant. You finished the second braid with a bead like the first.

“Lay your head down for me again” You softly asked, gingerly guiding his head to lay against your other thigh, “Awe, baby Kili didn’t get any coochie did he” You fake pouted to tease him, gently scratching his scalp absentmindedly while you rested your neck for a moment. He liked it, more than he’d care to admit. “I’m in the same boat I’m afraid” You parted the other side of his hair.

“Oh? How so?” He was very surprised by this, “I’d have thought men were practically throwing themselves at you.” This made you laugh and blush.

“I’m awfully flattered you think that highly of me…” You took a moment to focus on a particularly difficult part, “But men from my world didn’t talk to me.”

“I find that completely unbelievable.” He was floored by this.

“I’m serious! I was never asked out on a date and the few times I asked for someone’s number they turned out to be self-centered losers with a ton of issues” You hated how much time you’d wasted on them. He couldn’t wrap his head around that and had to hold his tongue from proclaiming his thoughts of your perfection.

He turned to look at you despite your protests, “Then they are truly blind,” He couldn’t have been more sincere. His eyes blazed in the firelight with a mix of ferocity and sadness on your behalf.

“Thank you, Kee,” You smiled at him. He assumed his previous position so you could end the braid with a bead like the two before and then started on the last one, “And those silly girls are truly blind as well.” You wanted to kiss his slightly flushed cheek.

You were both in your own little world, where the troubles of the outside couldn’t get to you…or the onlookers and peanut gallery for that matter. Gandalf had moved to sit with the company who had been watching from across the fire on the other side of the log since Kili finished your first braid. They couldn’t quite hear your conversation, but they knew their beloved Kili was having the time of his life.

Fili was very proud of his brother. He talked about you all the time, was looking at you all the time; the man was whipped. Fili had to hear about you the entire time he was bathing, poor thing, and he finally got fed up with his brother not making a move.

“Kili, just ask to braid her hair for god’s sake” Fili huffed while he waited for his brother to finish in the river. Kili’s eyes lit up like a forge with the breath from bellows, and his face flushed like he did when he hammered out a new blade.

“I think I will,” Kili nodded, distracted by thoughts of engaging in such an informal and somewhat intimate act.

Thorin was very pleased you were trying to repay his nephew’s advances in equal measure. He’d seen the poor boy flounder with crushes in the past as he tended to be immature, and girls mistook that for uncaring and unable to provide. Something about you brought out the best in his nephew though, he’d never seen him act so mature, for this Thorin was willing to stay some of his distrust and pessimistic opinions about outsiders, at the very least about you.

By the time you finished the last braid, Kili had made himself very comfortable against your leg, with his arm wrapped around your calf, fidgeting with the laces of your boot. He looked so tranquil you hesitated to tell him you’d finished, not ready to leave the sanctuary you were in. You leaned back against your hand while you stared into the fire and gently scratched the nape of his neck.

He hummed half asleep, “Mmm that feels good,” His words were a little slurred, but it made him all the cuter.

You stayed like that till your bottom began to protest the hard rock beneath you. He was right on the cusp of sleep when you shook your leg beneath him, gentle with guilt.

“Kili, I gotta get up,” You softly tried to rouse him. He hummed in protest. “Besides, don’t you want to know how the braids turned out?” You admired your work with pride.

He sat up and stretched to wake his muscles then ran a hand over his new braids, “Wow Y/N! These are so good!” He looked back at you impressed, “You picked up on that fast!”

“Thanks, Kee!” You blushed as you ran a hand over the intricate lines in your hair, “They aren’t half as good as yours, but I think I did great for my first time” You smiled, pleased with yourself.

“Come show us!” someone from the log called, followed by various iterations of the same thing from others. Ever supportive, they were eager to see what you’d both made.

Kili stood and you followed him to the log. You turned so he could show off his creation. The dwarves were very impressed, a few coming up to inspect closer. When Kili turned to show your work, the company was even more impressed given it was your first time.

“Next time you’ll have to make beads for her, Kee” Fili teased making him and Bofur laugh at how Kili blushed.

“Make beads? What does that mean?” You asked the group in confusion.

“You’ll understand when the time comes,” Thorin said in an uncharacteristically happy tone. “For now, we shall rest” With that everyone began prepping their bedding for the night.

You laid your bed roll beside Kili’s like usual, but Bombur reminded you to clean the dishes before they were put away. Gandalf accompanied you so you could see with the light of his staff. Everyone was asleep when you returned to camp, except Thorin who was on watch.

When you sat on your bedroll, which was naturally next to Kili’s, he looked up at you, barely awake with a dopey smile.

“You look so pretty,” he said quietly, drawing out the last syllable of pretty. Red bloomed over your cheeks and down your neck. He loved your hair like that, he loved it even more that he was the one who did it.

“Go to sleep, Kee,” You whispered so you didn’t wake the others, but couldn’t help but smile as you lay on your bedroll next to him.

“But then I can’t look at you” He pouted, quite distraught about this revelation in his sleepy daze.

“Well, no, I suppose you can’t…” You nibbled your bottom lip as you thought of a solution, “Would holding hands appease you, sleepy prince?” you asked and held out the hand that wasn’t cuddling your coat to your chest. He was too out of it to catch your nickname for him. He nodded and held your hand in his, making both your hearts beat just a little faster.

You closed your eyes and rubbed your face against your coat to find a comfortable position. You could feel his eyes on you.

You opened your eyes to see him staring directly at you, “Good night, Kili” you said in a strong nonnegotiable tone.

He hummed and smiled and closed his eyes, “Good night, Y/N.”

~~~

Kili felt your hand grow tighter around his, drawing him from sleep. Then he felt you pulling against it like you were trying to alert him to danger in the camp without making a sound. He opened his eyes ready for war and saw no danger. He looked at you confused but realized you weren’t awake. You were whimpering and mumbling as your head thrashed from side to side.

‘She’s having a nightmare’ he quickly thought. He squeezed your hand and gently shook it.

“Y/N” He tried not to let his worry raise the volume of his voice, “Wake up.”

You didn’t respond, your mumbles turned into clear pleas for help, making him fret even more.

“Y/N!” He shook your shoulder vehemently, “You need to wake up” He had an urgency in his voice. You feebly fought against his hold on your shoulder.

“Please!” you gasped, still breaking from the nightmare when you opened your eyes, “No, please let go!” You begged and continued to push against his hand with tears in your eyes, not knowing who he was while sleep still clouded your vision and mind.

“Y/N, Y/N look at me” he moved his hand from your shoulder to the side of your neck and cheek to call your attention to him, “It was just a dream, you’re safe now.” When you met his eyes, he recognized just how rattled you were.

You were breathing rapidly, and tears were making your eyelashes sparkle in the firelight. He could feel your rapid heartbeat where his hand laid over your pulse point. He could tell you were beginning to wake up because you softly uttered his name and the hand that was fighting his on your neck gently wrapped around his wrist.

“You’re safe, I promise,” His eyebrows were pinched together in worry. You nodded and took a deep breath to try to keep the tears away. It’d been a very long time since you’d had a nightmare that bad.

Kili pulled your bedroll closer to his, “Come here,” He gave you a hug to comfort you, “Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked when you pulled back from the hug too look at him. You laid your head on his upper arm and kept your cuddle coat close to your chest.

“I-I was in a forest at night and there were goblins and orcs and Wargs coming to attack me and-” You were talking quickly, the bad dream still too real, “and I was all alone and I couldn’t defend myself…” You trailed off, the waver in your voice making it hard to talk. “I was so scared, Kili,” You tried to curl into yourself.

“Hey hey hey, look at me” He held the side of your face again, “You’re safe,” he said. You took a deep breath and nodded. “I’d never let anything happen to you, aye?” He promoted you to get you out of your head. You took another deep breath and nodded.

“I’m ok” you repeated “I’m ok.”

“Yes, there ya go!” He nodded, relieved you were coming around. His thumb swept over your cheek to wipe a tear. You took a few minutes to calm down. Kili was falling asleep, but he needed to know you were going to be ok.

“Thank you, Kee,” you said, your whispered voice no longer shaking with fear, he gave a hearty nod in reply before he yawned. His arm was going numb where your head was lying on it, but it was worth it when you rubbed your face against it to get comfortable as you did in that way, which he found utterly adorable. You appreciated the physical comfort you would have never had in your world.

“I’ll teach you how to fight tomorrow” he whispered over a yawn, his eyelids getting heavy again. He moved his hand from your neck to hang over your waist. He wanted to pull you into him, so you’d feel protected on all sides, not for any other selfish deeply personal reasons of course, but he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.

“I’d like that very much,” you smiled and watched as he fell back asleep, not snoring but breathing heavily in that way which you found so adorable. You felt safe with his hand on your waist and fell asleep not long after him with thoughts of training together dancing behind your eyes.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5

Taglist: @letmelickyoureyeballs

[oh-shes-lit]

I've been firmly anti-citadel in my thoughts (their long-war strategy of slowly gathering information and weaponising it in every way possible, taking human lives and turning them into machines, taking human behaviour and weaponising that in every way they can)

Which also inevitably means being anti wizard because the citadel and wizardry are Very difficult to separate. Every time suvi has aligned herself with the citadel it sets alarm bells off, the way the suvi seems to disappear and the sky salutes and marches to the drum of their standing orders, it feels wrong and is frightening to see it happen.

When suvi gets mad at ame and eursulon it's because they've taken upon the graces of her house and proceeded to throw paint on the walls and set fire to the kitchen. But they also tend not to recognise that the kitchen wanted to eat eursulon and if the walls got the chance they might be the ones staining ame's clothes with citadel paint. The citadel is an institution with motives and (to us the audience) pretty clear goals.

(control it's control they want to control everything all of the time which is why it lines up with wizardry because that Requires bringing control to the chaos of umora's magic)

That being said.

I am starting to recognise how this doesn't go one way only. Suvi is justified in feeling how she feels and, more importantly, ame is also the child and product of an institution.

The institution of The Coven of Witches seems to wield unfathomable power that is divided in far, far greater pieces to its members. One (one!!!) slight from suvi and ame can ruin her life 100 years from now??? Ame (semi-unwittingly) committed some casual terrorist acts and gets off with a social reprimanding from suvi because suvi went out of her way to Make That Happen

The rules of witchery are esoteric and complex, to suvi and us the audience - much in the same way the rules of the citadel are esoteric and complex to ame and eursulon. There's certainly some commentary here about how i can recognise and call out most of the political mistakes ame makes in the citadel and yet would be lost entering the domain of a witch

I'm so glad we're getting to see more of all of the witches because it's actually highlighting how much power they wield. Seeing indri ask if ame knows the names of suvi's entourage is just as terrifying as watching the suvi be questioned at the gallothopter (ornithopter? Heli-boat.)

We The Audience know that the coven seems to have access to the power to End Wizardry which is frankly, rather insane to think about. Imagine if 7 people had the power to just turn off the internet and 6 of them were random strangers that live at the most intense extremes of nature and the 7th was Doris who makes cool clockwork watches at the summer fair - oh but she died so her adoptive granddaughter (no living relatives) that she trained for a decade gets to do it instead. 20-ish is old enough for a key to a nuclear button, right?

...maybe that was too much metaphor but you can see how insane it feels when you actually give it some context. It's heartbreaking to watch it tear them apart but if they're able to start recognising where their lines are drawn then they might actually be able to use their rocket powered institutions to fly instead of just staying afloat in the ocean.

Anyway, I think I'm getting on the -goes both ways- train for how suvi has been treated. I still think she fails to recognise why her institution causes her true friends to act the way they do but i now also think that ame fails to see the same for her own institution. In the end, they're both victims atop their own Situations which are themselves 16 situations deep, this is either gonna be a beautiful story or a beautiful tragedy and it's going to take a hell of a lot of finesse if they want to survive.

[fibula-rasa]

How’d They Do That?

Special Effects & Stunts of Silent Cinema - Part 1

This is the first installment of an open-ended series where I try to highlight and illustrate the work of special effects and stunt artists of silent filmdom. Using articles from contemporary fan and trade magazines, I’ll make gifs or dig up images and/or video clips to accompany the descriptions of how the sequences were executed.

My notations will be bracketed and highlighted in a different color. Hope you all enjoy! Fair warning: this is a long read.

How They Do It! 

[from Photoplay, April 1926]

by Cal York

Millions are asking how the motion pictures are accomplishing the marvelous new effects which have been developed in the past few years. It took months of investigation to give you the answer

DO you remember how you thrilled when the Red Sea parted to let Moses and the children of Israel pass through, only to close again and swallow up Pharaoh and his pursuing warriors in C.B. De Mille's stupendous "Ten Commandments" ?

How you gasped as T. Roy Barnes fled from the burning tenement with Claire Windsor in his arms as flames and smoke spurted about them and debris crashed on all sides in "Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model"?

The destruction of Pontius Pilate's palace with the crushing of hundreds underneath the ruins in "Ben Hur"? 

The rescue of Doris Kenyon by Ronald Colman in Fitzmaurice's great picture, "A Thief in Paradise," as Miss Kenyon's runaway horse reared and stood poised on his hind legs on the very brink of a precipice? 

Conway Tearle's hair-breadth escape from the mountain of rushing water in "The Great Divide"? 

The stirring battle scenes in "The Big Parade" in which giant shells burst all around, tearing huge craters and spreading death as our boys marched on and on and on through No Man's Land. 

How Blanche Sweet carried Ronald Colman to safety as the blazing roof fell and seemed certain to bury them. This in "His Supreme Moment." 

I could go on and remind you of train wrecks which have brought you from your seats, of battles against storm and shipwrecks at sea—of thrills and hairbreadth escapes and terrific disasters.

How many times have you gone home from your motion picture theater and wondered how these things were accomplished, discussed with your family and friends what possible method could have been used to achieve the seemingly impossible?

AFTER months of investigation, I am able to give you an explanation of the thrills in the pictures I have mentioned and to explain to you the general method used in most other similar scenes. 

First, I will tell you how they parted the Red Sea. This was done by a process of double printing, worked out by Roy Pomeroy, technical director at Lasky's. But that, marvelous as it seemed, was but a simple thing compared with the miracles now being wrought on celluloid by Frank Williams, the wizard of Hollywood, who has dreamed out and perfected the moving or traveling mat process of printing, which has made possible most of the recent marvels of the screen.

[Roy Pomeroy was head technical wizard for Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount (that is to say, he was their head special-effects engineer). We only know for certain about a handful of films that Pomeroy made specific contributions to, like The Ten Commandments (1923) and Wings (1927). As with many journeymen of the silent/studio era of Hollywood, the amount of films Pomeroy worked on was likely substantial, but many technical roles went uncredited at the time.]

To part the Red Sea, Pomeroy first built, on the Lasky lot, two wooden walls about the height of the ordinary room and backed them at one end with a scenic drop to represent the Red Sea country. These walls he covered with a jelly-like substance made from silicate of soda and sulphuric acid, which shimmered and shook and photographed like water. The floor space between these two walls was made to look like sand. He then photographed this set. 

Then, with two cameras set up at the open end, he emptied thousands of gallons of water between the walls from huge water tanks behind them. One of the cameras was cranked backwards, and this showed the parting of the Red Sea. The other camera was cranked forward, and showed the waters joining together. Both were done in slow motion, which will be explained later.

The next step was taken out on the desert. 

Wire fences were built a few inches further apart than were the jelly walls built on the stage. First Moses and his followers, with their live stock, were marched between these wire fences, which were just outside the camera lines, and therefore did not show in the picture. What the fences did do, however, was to keep the goats and donkeys from poking their noses outside the camera lines, which would never have done for in the double printing process the camera lines would become the walls of water. And it would never do for a donkey to shove his head through the Red Sea. 

After Moses and his Children of Israel had passed through satisfactorily, under the grinding camera, they then photographed Pharaoh and his Egyptians madly pursuing in their chariots through the same fenced lane. And if the horses and chariots smashed out through the light wire fence, it was fine. for you will remember they were seen madly milling about before the walls of water finally obliterated them. 

THEN when they put all together, by double printing, here is what they got: 

First, a wall of water parted and left a lane of dry land in the Red Sea. (You remember the camera cranking backwards gave them the negative for this.) 

Then Moses and his band were printed in passing along the space between the walls of water. After them, came Pharaoh and his warriors in full pursuit. 

Right over these they printed the original negative of the waters rushing together, and this completely engulfed The Egyptians.

The only person to get wet in the closing of the Red Sea was Charles de Roche, who played Pharaoh. The blotting out of the King and his war chariot was not done by double printing but by trick photography, as it seemed necessary to the story of give this incident more personal drama.

The method used was this: DeRoche and his horses and chariot were placed on a treadmill. The camera was on a platform facing them. Over DeRoche's head and out of sight of the camera was a huge water tank, with a water chute projecting from it. This chute gave into a tank between DeRoche and the camera, but below the level of the camera line. While DeRoche whipped his horses like a madman on the treadmill and did all the acting necessary to being engulfed by water, the water in the tank was released and poured down in a torrent between him and the grinding camera, giving a perfect illusion. The only reason DeRoche got wet was because the water chute running above his head leaked badly. 

Does this seem wonderful to you? It should. It is. And yet I tell you that it is simplicity itself compared with the moving mat. 

Remember that in the "Ten Commandments" the double printing put the moving people into a vacancy on the film—the blank space left in the miniature between the walls of water. Also, that the double printing of the moving water over the Egyptians simply obliterated them.

READ ON BELOW the JUMP!

---

Photo caption: This great outdoor scene is made up of three parts and was made right in the studios of the Paramount Company at Astoria, L.I. It is composed of three parts: a miniature four feet high, six feet in front of the camera; the top part of the cliff, fifteen feet high, eighty feet in front of the camera; and a painted back drop, a few feet further away. In the long shots, or distant views, you see the whole in convincing reality. The close-up shots are shown in the white frame, the bottom of which indicates where the miniature ends and the larger set begins. This scene is from Gloria Swanson's new picture, "The Untamed Lady" 

[The Untamed Lady (1926) is presumed lost, but luckily, a few images of this cliff-top sequence have survived.

from Exhibitors Herald, 20 March 1926]

An amazing revelation of the latest discoveries of pictures which produce miracles before your eyes

---

But Frank Williams can put moving actors photographed in Hollywood into a moving background photographed anywhere in the world—put actual life and dramatic action into miniatures, which, during the previous years when they had worked with miniatures, seemed absolutely impossible. 

[As you can gather from this article Frank Williams was a pioneer cinematographer and special effects artist. Williams was able to patent his moving matte process (and named it the Williams process) and it was an important effects technique used in film as as varied as Ben-Hur (1925), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1926), The Lost World (1925), and The Invisible Man (1933). All of which are extant and easily accessible! 

While it wasn’t in regular use for very long, the process was the basis for significant later developments in special effects photography, like green screening!]

Williams has made possible scenes that could never otherwise have been shot in motion pictures. It is not only that he has reduced the cost so that often he can give the producer scenes that would otherwise have been prohibitive because of building sets, etc. But he can give them scenes that couldn't be physically shot in any other way—such as a huge building crumbling and toppling in an earthquake and actually burying hundreds of people. It isn't only that he can make hairbreadth escapes without endangering the lives of actors and animals, as was sometimes done to get effects in the old days. He can make thrills that only the actual killing of animals and men would render possible—and this without the actor or animal being anywhere near the scene. 

He can build a miniature town, put real, living people into it, and have them go through any necessary dramatic action, and then he can make a miniature torrent somewhere else altogether and have it sweep away the town with its laughing, singing, dancing population and make you believe when you see it on the screen that it actually happened. 

THESE things he does by the patented process of the moving or traveling mat. It is a matter of printing, remember, more than of photography. Williams himself photographs nothing. The negatives from which he works are all shot for him, under his direction, and the miracles are performed in his laboratory. 

It hasn't been easy for Williams to attain his title of the miracle man of films. He has given to the motion picture art one of its greatest discoveries. Like all great inventors, he has been scorned, laughed at, at times almost starved, forced to work under unspeakably difficult circumstances. But, none of these things moved him. 

A big, quiet, simple fellow, only thirty-two years old. Shy, rather diffident of speech, he makes everything he does look easy. When he comes on a set, his quiet presence is scarcely noticed, and cameramen and technical experts go on spluttering and arguing, and when he is finally appealed to, he settles the problem so simply that everyone wonders why he didn't think of it himself.

WILLIAMS started as a cameraman at the old Essanay lot the year he was out of high school. He was fifteen years old and knew just enough about a camera to turn a crank. He has spent seventeen years at his work, and it was as far back as 1912 that he started work on the moving mat process.

He had no money and few would listen. He was laughed at—Ford, Edison, Marconi, Fulton, all went through the same experiences.

At one time, not so many years ago, John Considine, who is Joe Schenck's chief lieutenant, could have bought a half interest in Williams' big idea for a couple of thousand dollars. Today it is rumored in Hollywood that Williams has refused a cool half million for the same half interest. 

THE way he finally made it was this—he'd work a while as a cameraman and save a few hundred dollars, and then go back to work in his laboratory—usually the bathroom in the place he was living—until his savings were exhausted. Then back to the camera for another stake, and so on.

In 1912 he was cameraman for Mack Sennett when they had the back end of a little grocery store for a studio. During this time Williams made his first attempt to use the moving mat process. It failed, however, due to the inaccuracies of the cameras and printing machines of the time and the crude film in use.

But Williams wouldn’t let go of the idea. He kept right at it, and finally, in 1917, he again tried to perfect his process. working in a laboratory furnished by Adolph Zukor, of Paramount. But again he faced defeat, and for the same reasons—mechanical inaccuracies and improper film.

---

Photo caption: A rolling stage at studios of the Education Film Co. in Hollywood. Upside-down scenes and rolling ship scenes are easy with its use. It is possible to show ship interiors on the stage inside the cylinder which duplicates exactly the movement of a ship in a storm

[The rolling stage was used for lots of imaginative and comedic sequences in shorts and features. In the Lupino Lane short Movieland (1926), there’s a bit that shows the stage in action. Here’s a link to that specific scene, but the whole short is a lot of wacky fun and I recommend watching the full film!

Another illustration of how the rolling stage can be put to use is in When the Clouds Roll By (1919):

---

FINALLY, six years ago, his efforts were crowned with success. The Williams moving mat process was used in a Universal picture, "Wild Honey," and acknowledged commercially. Williams received a great deal of help and gives much credit for this to Elmer Sheeley, then a Universal art director, especially in the building of the miniatures. 

Through the better grade of film, a motor-cranked camera set on a solid tripod, and through his own printing machine, built according to Williams' own drawings at a cost of $18,000, one whose accuracy is to within one ten-thousandth of an inch, all the obstacles which had frustrated him so long were overcome and Williams' moving mat process came to life, as perhaps the greatest single invention in motion pictures since that of the camera itself. 

Once having demonstrated what he could do in "Wild Honey," in which he made a miniature stream appear a rushing torrent over a hundred feet high which pursued Priscilla Dean down a dry stream bed and finally engulfed her, Williams did not have much trouble getting producers to listen. This "Wild Honey" thrill was the forerunner of all big water spectacles, and when shown to C.B. DeMille gave him the idea for the parting of the Red Sea. DeMille admitted that this flood was the greatest spectacle he had ever seen up to that time.

[Unfortunately, Wild Honey (1922) is currently presumed lost and I was unable to find any depiction of Priscilla Dean fleeing from a torrent of water. As noted above however, there are quite a few extant films that also used Williams’ moving matte process.

In case you were wondering, I put $18,000 through an inflation calculator and it is equivalent to more than $315,000 in 2023 money!]

In trick photography miniatures have always been a very important part. It would hardly do to burn a huge building to have a woman carried from the blazing structure, and this the Williams process makes unnecessary. 

TAKE the thrilling rescue front the burning tenement in "Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model." A replica of a New York tenement was built in miniature at the studio where the picture was made. We will say for illustration that the scale used in erecting the miniature was one and one-half inches to a foot, or one-ninth the actual size. 

In working with miniatures there are two very important things to be considered, and these must be worked out with mathematical precision, if Williams is to be given a perfect negative on which to transpose living actors through his traveling mat. One is to make the miniature look the proper height. This is done by placing the camera the proper distance from the miniature (of course much closer than if it were a real building), and shooting from a lower level. The other is called timing. For example, if a miniature tree is to fall and the camera set-up is close enough and low enough to give the miniature the proper height when it is seen on the screen, then you must be careful of the speed with which it falls.

A little tree falls rapidly—a big tree slowly. And here is where the timing enters. Ultra speed cameras are used. The faster you crank the more pictures you get per second, and the slower the thing seems to move when you see it on the screen. You have all seen slow-motion pictures. These were made with slow-motion cameras, or what are more commonly termed ultra-speed cameras. And it is through this slow motion photography that the little tree is made to fall at the proper speed to be the big tree it represents, or the miniature stream is made to run at the proper speed for a giant river. 

And so to get back to the fire which is still threatening "Our Nell." A torch is applied to the miniature tenement. At the proper count little invisible wires tied to window sashes are pulled and burning brands crash to the street below. And all the time the cameras, driven by motors at the proper speed, placed at the right distance from the conflagration and almost flat on the floor, are grinding away and recording this great fire.

[Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model (1924) is extant, with a print located at Gosfilmofond, but the film is not readily accessible. However, a depiction of the burning building sequence appears on an advertisement for the film:

from Film Daily, 28 February 1924]

OVER on some other part of the lot, and at any time which suits the director's convenience, T. Roy Barnes, with Miss Windsor in his arms, dashes through a black velvet door and down a street backed with more black velvet. 

Two things must be remembered, however. The actors must come out of the velvet door at the right spot and at the right time or "count." This is necessary so that Williams can match up the fire negative, which is the background with action in it, with the negative of Miss Windsor and Barnes, which becomes the moving mat. 

The remainder is simple, and is done by Williams and his printing process over at his laboratory. 

On the screen you see Barnes dashing from a burning tenement with Miss Windsor in his arms while, in reality, neither of the actors has been close enough to a fire to singe a single eyelash. 

Blanche Sweet's rescue of Colman in "The Supreme Moment" was worked out in the same manner as this, as have been most other burning building thrills in pictures made in the last few years.

[His Supreme Moment (1925) is presumed lost and unfortunately I was unable to locate a depiction of the burning building rescue mentioned here.]

Now for the destruction of Pontius Pilate's palace with the struggling mass crushed beneath, in "Ben Hur." Of course the palace was done in miniature, while the people did their acting out on the lot, where the street was built with a dead white backing. Again the timing had to correspond with that in the falling of the palace. 

The throng of people was lined up and rehearsed. Two lines were drawn in the street a fixed distance apart—which represented the space where the ruins of the palace would fall, and the throng was sent dashing wildly down the street. At a fixed signal, all caught between the two marks fell flat on the ground. Those who had not reached the first line halted and registered terror. Those who had passed the second mark fled on, looking back and also registering terror. You see, those caught between the two marks were the people buried under the debris of Pilate's palace—those on either side had escaped.

Then came the trick printing with the two negatives, with considerable painting out of those who had fallen flat between the two lines, and you have the palace falling on the panic-stricken throng in the street. The accompanying drawings will help you to visualize this. 

Never Before Told 

This set of illustrations graphically explains for the first time the marvelous traveling mat process invented by Mr. Williams, which makes it possible for one cameraman to take a background in Europe, another to take the action of moving persons in Hollywood, and to combine them in one motion picture so that when it appears on the screen the action seems to take place against the background so perfectly that it cannot be detected by the human eye. 

Follow this explanation carefully, and the method will be clearly demonstrated to you. 

No. 1. This is the negative of the moving figure taken in front of a white background. In the negative, white appears black and black appears white. It is from this negative that the Williams traveling mat, which has revolutionized motion pictures, is made. 

No. 2. This is a print made from the No. 1 negative and is printed on film of extreme contrast. In this the white and black values are given their true tones. 

No. 3. This is the No. 2 film intensified in a silver nitrate solution so that it becomes a dead black silhouette, while the rest of the film is transparent. 

No. 4. This is the background negative which can be taken any place in the world or made from still photographs or from miniatures. This background negative can have put in it any motion required. 

No. 5. This shows the most important step in the Williams' moving mat process. In front you see the moving mat or drawing No. 3. In the middle is the background negative, drawing No. 4, and at the back is the unexposed film on which they are to be printed concurrently. By this double printing, you get a print of the background negative, which leaves an unexposed portion in each frame, corresponding exactly to the figure you see in drawing No. 1. 

No. 6. The result of the double printing being made in No. 5, which leaves a silhouette blank space of the moving figure, is again double printed and into the blank space is printed the real photographic action taken in the original negative. 

Thus you see that one double printing has left a blank silhouette space into which the real action is double printed in every detail.

---

The rescue of Doris Kenyon, which is also illustrated by the artist, was accomplished in this manner. One negative was shot of a very real and very steep precipice, the cameramen suspended on a platform far out over the edge to get the proper angle. Another negative was shot of Miss Kenyon's horse racing madly along what looked like a fence—but what was the inevitable white drop. Doris and the horse had to reach a certain mark at a certain count—for over at the precipice there had been rocks and dirt released at a certain count—the horse bad to rear, and Colman had to reach the frenzied beast, starting from outside the camera line, and he, too, must arrive on the right count. There could be no waiting for man or horse. They took it perhaps forty times before everything was exactly right, and then the two negatives (the precipice background and the moving mat) were ready for the printing wizard, and audiences got a great thrill.

[A Thief in Paradise (1925) is almost entirely lost. I profiled the film in my series Lost, but Not Forgotten in 2023.]

Photo caption: These two drawings explain how the runaway horse thrill in George Fitzmaurice's "A Thief in Paradise" was made. The upper drawing shows the cameraman getting his shots of a very steep and very real precipice. It also has the horse with its rider and the rescuer sketched in on the edge of the precipice where it actually appears in the picture. 

The lower drawing shows the run that was made before the dead white background, with the horse rearing and Ronald Colman coming to Doris Kenyon's rescue. 

The upper drawing was the background negative and the lower drawing the moving mat negative, and by the Williams' process the rearing horse, rider and Colman seemed to be actually placed on the brink of the precipice

---

You remember the mountain of water pursuing Conway Tearle in "The Great Divide." Of course they shot the torrent in miniature. Conway and his horse made their hairbreadth dash on a dark night and in an artificial rainstorm with nothing but a director threatening —then, although they did have quite a time making the steed climb a slippery and sloping wooden bridge, which was out on the back lot. Then up in Mr. Williams' laboratory, they finished one of the greatest thrills ever witnessed. 

[While The Great Divide (1925) is thankfully extant at Cinemateket-Svenska Filminstitutet, it’s not easily accessible and I was unable to find a depiction of the effect.]

And the marvelous battle scenes in "The Big Parade." There were the big guns tearing huge craters in No Man's Land made on one negative, and the boys marched on and on and on in the other negative, and Mr. Williams brought them together in his printing laboratory. However, it was by no means as easy as it sounds, for this was one of the hardest pieces of moving mat printing ever accomplished.

SO critical is the public that the building, photographing and printing of these miniatures must be of the very highest type of workmanship obtainable. It might be interesting to know that this work in "The Big Parade" alone cost approximately $70,000 for the background negative and the moving mat negative. The miniature battlefield was about one hundred thirty-five feet long and more than seven thousand miniature shells were fired in a period of forty seconds.

On another picture—"The Barrier"—which shows a fierce storm at sea, icebergs, and a ship caught and crushed in an ice floe, more than $85,000 have been spent to create these illusions. 

[The Barrier (1926) is unfortunately presumed lost and I wasn’t able to find a depiction of this effect.]

Mr. Waller, technical camera expert of the Famous Players Long Island Studio, had never seen a cyclone; yet he was instructed to produce one for D. W. Griffith's picture, "That Royle Girl." Mr. Waller did extensive research work on the subject, and then made one to experiment with. A scientific knowledge of the working of the law of gravity, by the way, is necessary to create this phenomenon of nature. 

[That Royle Girl (1925) is also presumed lost, and without film footage of this sequence there’s not really a way to know how the cyclone looked in the film. However, I do think the image highlighted in the advertisement below is likely from the cyclone sequence.

from Motion Picture News, 21 November 1925]

In the basement of the studio Mr. Waller connected up three vacuum cleaners. With three suctions of air and some dust, he made a tiny cyclone. This was photographed in slow motion so that the camera and technical crew might study the formation and activity of the cone. 

From his observations of the film, Mr. Waller was able to prepare the series of wash drawings which, photographed in animated cartoon fashion, represented the action of the cyclone's cone in this sequence of the picture. 

Several hundred drawings had to be made, each one depicting gradually the advance of the cone toward the Inn, which it finally demolishes. These were photographed in rotation on motion picture negative, and this negative double exposed on the 180-foot miniature scene containing the houses and trees. Thus we got a very good illusion of the cone of a cyclone advancing over a village and sweeping houses and trees out of its path. 

[I wonder if/hope that some of these drawings have survived!]

The animated cartoon idea was also used in "A Kiss for Cinderella," when the pumpkin and mice change into the coach and four. The first few feet of the sequence showed real mice and pumpkin; from then on 256 wash drawings of the gradual transformation were photographed in rotation and gave the impression of being animated.

Double exposures of one actor playing two parts is the oldest and most familiar camera trick to the fans. 

Just recently, however, has it been perfected to the point where the actor's two screen shadows can light each other's cigarettes and shake hands. 

Tom Meighan, you recall, did this in Irish Luck." 

AN invisible line from top to bottom divides each frame of the negative in half. One half at a time is exposed, photographing one half of the set. 

Tom appears as Lord Fitzhugh on the left half, and as Tom Donohue on the right half. If you remember. Tom's two shadows are sitting side by side on a divan in the instance of the cigarette lighting. Fitzhugh leans over and gets a light from Donahue's cigarette. The illusion is perfect. But the cigarette from which his lordship really got the light was tacked onto a chair just outside the line, on the half of the set not being photographed at that moment. Only the lighted end of the cigarette projects into Fitzhugh's half of the picture.

[Irish Luck (1925) is extant at Eastman House, but it’s not currently easily accessible. I wasn’t able to find a depiction of this split-screen effect.]

Then when Donahue's half of the scene was being filmed, Tom leans forward and holds his cigarette in exactly the spot where the chair had been, the lighted end being outside his half of the picture. Think of the perfect matching this requires! 

It is done this way. As Lord Fitzhugh performs on one side of the set, the director times his actions, counting the seconds out loud. He knows just where his lordship's right arm is, for instance, at the sixteenth second. When Donahue begins to perform on the other side of the set, his arm must be in a corresponding position at the sixteenth second. Tricky. 

A thrilling moment in "Aloma of the South Seas," Gilda Grey's new picture, occurs when a shark eats a sailor. If you want this thrill, you naturally have to take it synthetic. 

The shark cost $3,000. It was made of flexible rubber, and its insides consisted of a maze of electric wiring. Outside the body were several buttons which the actor could operate in his fight with the shark. It swims, wiggles its tail and bites electrically.

[Aloma of the South Seas (1926) is presumed lost and I wasn’t able to find images of the shark described here. However, as consolation, here is a photo from American Cinematographer of the film’s cinematographer Harry Fishbeck shooting on location in Puerto Rico:

from American Cinematographer, February 1926]

I guess most of the suffering for art is done by the actors who tie themselves into knots to create the illusion of paralysis, amputated legs and so on. John Gilbert is shown in the last reels of "The Big Parade" with an amputated leg. Jack Barrymore in "The Sea Beast," also does it. It is merely a painful process of strapping the foreleg back. In "The Street of Forgotten Men," with Percy Marmont, a very lucid expose of cripple fakes is shown. Marmont had his arm strapped to his back for hours at a stretch during the filming of this picture. It hurts the first fifteen minutes, Percy said. After that the arm becomes numb. 

A vigorous massage is necessary to bring it back to life, but it doesn't feel normal for weeks, Percy says. 

Lon Chaney has his tricks of deformity down so pat that they are almost painless to him now.

[schrijverr]

Wake Me Up Before You Go 3

Chapter 3 out of 6

5 times Buck falls asleep on someone + 1 time he wakes up by himself

On AO3.

Ships: Can be read as pre-slash Buddie, but Ana mentioned

Warnings: none

~~~

3. Christopher

Buck is worried, Chris knows that. He can see how Buck doesn’t laugh like he usually does and he spaces out sometimes, always looking tired even though Chris can hear him snore. It’s weird and Chris doesn’t like it.

He wants to enjoy spending time with his Buck. Normally he’d be overjoyed that Buck is there permanently, but his dad isn’t here and Chris isn’t allowed to see him and Buck is worried about him, because he’s been hurt.

Chris worries about his dad, because his dad is the person he can always count on. Dad came back, dad stayed. He isn’t allowed to leave Chris now. Buck says that people leave, but they can come back, dad has to come back.

Buck says be believes dad will come back to them, Ana calls him about how dad is doing and he always looks a little bit like he ate something sour, but he keeps assuring Chris every day that dad is alive and getting better, just still asleep.

He is happy Buck is with him though, instead of Ana. He likes his dad’s girlfriend, his former teacher, he knows her and she spends time with him, but she isn’t Buck. Buck has been a constant since they got here and he has never once left Chris, not like Ana when the year was over. She came back, sure, but she still left. Carla left too when the lockdown first happened, but Buck never did, he only had a short time where they couldn’t talk.

So, Buck is still there and while he is worried, he is here with Chris and that makes Chris feels loads better, even if Buck is still worried.

They’re trying to keep it as normal as always, but movie night isn’t entirely the same without dad there too.

The popcorn they share is perfect since dad had no hand in it, but Chris wouldn't have minded burnt popcorn if that meant he could share it with his dad. However, Buck lets him pick the movie, so they’re watching Finding Dory and cuddling on the couch, maybe both holding on to the other a little tighter than they usually do.

Chris doesn’t know exactly when Buck falls asleep, but halfway through he starts snoring, disturbing the movie.

Usually Chris would be annoyed, but it’s not usual. Dad isn’t here and Buck can’t make it through the movie even though he usually argues with dad to let him stay up later while dad nods off. It’s all wrong and Chris misses how it usually is.

In his sleep Buck hugs him closer and Chris lets that be a comfort, burrowing closer to Buck as he watches the movie by himself. He hopes he’ll never have another movie night like this.

Before the end of the movie Buck startles himself awake, looking around with big frantic eyes, before they fall on Chris. Then they soften and he asks: “Hey, buddy, did I miss much?”

“Practically everything,” Chris informs him, resting his head back against Buck’s chest.

Buck squeezes him. “I’m sorry, Superman.”

“It’s okay, we’ll watch it again when dad gets home,” Chris answers.

Next to him Buck lets out a breath, before he clears his throat. “I’m sure he’d love that,” Buck agrees. He doesn’t let go for the entirety of the movie nor the next one.

Chris stays up way too late and the two sleep on the couch. Buck has a crick in the neck the next morning and Chris feels it during his PT exercises that they do together, but neither of them would change it. It’s nice to lean on each other until dad gets back so they can lean on him, divide the load more evenly.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Shuham at HuffPost:

When Jesselyn Cook wrote about the children of QAnon believers as a HuffPost reporter in 2021, she didn’t expect the reaction she would receive ― hundreds upon hundreds of emails from readers, all of who had lived some version of the same story, and all of who seemed to have some version of the same question for Cook: What happened to the person I love? In her new book, “The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family,” released Tuesday, Cook sought to answer that question, profiling five real-life people who fell into the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, and documenting the devastating impacts their departures from reality had on their loved ones. These days, “QAnon” represents an umbrella of countless conspiracy theory beliefs. But it started with bogus claims on an internet forum by an anonymous account ― “Q” ― who claimed during the Trump administration to have high-level access throughout the American government, and who painted an unimaginably wide picture of corruption, sex abuse and revenge for their followers.

According to Q, financial elites and the “deep state” are in fact members of a vast child abuse ring, and they dictate global politics from the shadows. Donald Trump, in this universe, is secretly fighting against them with the help of QAnon believers, or devoted “digital soldiers,” and working toward the eventual “Storm” when QAnon’s villains will be either executed or imprisoned en masse. Over the years, Q’s predictions have been widely debunked. And the “Q” behind QAnon has urged followers to stop using references to “Q” or “QAnon” at all, and instead to try and influence politics from inside the mainstream. These days, QAnon believers have largely fused with existing far-right movements, such as the anti-vaccine movement, or Republicans’ moral panic over transgender rights. Cook’s five subjects ― she uses the pseudonyms Emily, Matt, Doris, Alice and Kendra for them ― come from a wide variety of backgrounds. They’re Black, white, rich, poor, and range politically from hardcore conservatives to a former Bernie Sanders supporter who became disillusioned with politics after his 2020 presidential primary loss.

Jesselyn Cook wrote in her new book The Quiet Damage: QAnon and The Destruction Of The American Family that came out Tuesday detailing how QAnon divided families and friend groups.

These stories serve as a major fulcrum of Reddit’s r/QAnonCasualties subreddit.