#fiber arts shed

[vascarl]

Day 2: Massam

38-44 microns, 150-380mm staple length.

Very pleasant to spin.

[pied-piper-pluto]

made a scarf for my aunt's birthday!

[fyresnow]

So I may have made an absolutely terrible decision…. I have been hearing the siren song of the loom and I was not strong enough to turn away 😔 I really want a floor loom, but we have no space for one. So I got a table loom instead. Unfortunately, we have no space for this table loom either… I have no idea where I’m going to put it- hence why it’s terrible decision. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It’s currently on my sewing cutting table, but it can’t stay there. (Check out the angle it's bending my table at!) I don’t want to make it my roommates’ problem, but my craft room is an oversized walk in closet. There’s barely enough space to turn around in it. I don’t know what to do /: I don’t know where I can put it to actually weave. This table is too tall for me to weave while seated. why did I do this to myself. why couldn’t I be strong and resist the call of the loom.

but I found this for a super good deal! I was really lucky to find it! It came with books and a warping board and some yarn. It’s a Leclerc Medico that was made in 1974! a 4 shaft table loom that’s 22” wide. I’m really excited :3 I can weave fabric!! I mostly want to make yardage for sewing clothes out of.

I started warping it with the yarn that came with it- which is some 3/2 cotton yarn. I’m hoping it will turn into placemats. But I’m?? confused?? I have no idea what I’m doing. The books that came with it don’t actually have enough information to be helpful to a complete beginner. Even though they’re all called some variation of “weaving for beginners”. I am so completely lost. A lot of internet resources are on more modern looms or rigid heddle or floor looms or assume you have a raddle. I can’t find much for vintage table looms. Let alone for this specific model. So I’m sure I’m fucking this up. But here we go anyway.

[starrysharks]

reassassination's resident yuri devil

[brynnamonroll]

Got two projects done in a week!!

The first one is a baby blanket for my family, and the second one is for me 😈 I saw a YouTube short from sunflower.sewing using 1913 filet crochet patterns as knit colorwork and thought it looked so cool that I should try it in crochet! And it is very cool, but I lowkey have no idea what to do with this lady now. Maybe I’ll make another piece like it and make a bag? I definitely want to change my technique because all double crochets really stretched the pattern. I’m gonna try making another pattern in Tunisian simple stitch to see if that stays square.

I’m also deeply tempted to try remaking a Gen II Pokemon sprite in this style of colorwork, but uh. All in due time. My wrists need a rest.

[suchamazingness]

the only thing stopping me from buying a spindle and fiber right this second is the physical inability to get into my bank account

[nasa]

NASA Inspires Your Crafty Creations for World Embroidery Day

It’s amazing what you can do with a little needle and thread! For #WorldEmbroideryDay, we asked what NASA imagery inspired you. You responded with a variety of embroidered creations, highlighting our different areas of study.

Here’s what we found:

Webb’s Carina Nebula

Wendy Edwards, a project coordinator with Earth Science Data Systems at NASA, created this embroidered piece inspired by Webb’s Carina Nebula image. Captured in infrared light, this image revealed for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Credit: Wendy Edwards, NASA. Pattern credit: Clare Bray, Climbing Goat Designs

Wendy Edwards, a project coordinator with Earth Science Data Systems at NASA, first learned cross stitch in middle school where she had to pick rotating electives and cross stitch/embroidery was one of the options.  “When I look up to the stars and think about how incredibly, incomprehensibly big it is out there in the universe, I’m reminded that the universe isn’t ‘out there’ at all. We’re in it,” she said. Her latest piece focused on Webb’s image release of the Carina Nebula. The image showcased the telescope’s ability to peer through cosmic dust, shedding new light on how stars form.

Ocean Color Imagery: Exploring the North Caspian Sea

Danielle Currie of Satellite Stitches created a piece inspired by the Caspian Sea, taken by NASA’s ocean color satellites. Credit: Danielle Currie/Satellite Stitches

Danielle Currie is an environmental professional who resides in New Brunswick, Canada. She began embroidering at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as a hobby to take her mind off the stress of the unknown. Danielle’s piece is titled “46.69, 50.43,” named after the coordinates of the area of the northern Caspian Sea captured by LandSat8 in 2019.

An image of the Caspian Sea captured by Landsat 8 in 2019. Credit: NASA

Two Hubble Images of the Pillars of Creation, 1995 and 2015

Melissa Cole of Star Stuff Stitching created an embroidery piece based on the Hubble image Pillars of Creation released in 1995. Credit: Melissa Cole, Star Stuff Stitching

Melissa Cole is an award-winning fiber artist from Philadelphia, PA, USA, inspired by the beauty and vastness of the universe. They began creating their own cross stitch patterns at 14, while living with their grandparents in rural Michigan, using colored pencils and graph paper.  The Pillars of Creation (Eagle Nebula, M16), released by the Hubble Telescope in 1995 when Melissa was just 11 years old, captured the imagination of a young person in a rural, religious setting, with limited access to science education.

Lauren Wright Vartanian of the shop Neurons and Nebulas created this piece inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope’s 2015 25th anniversary re-capture of the Pillars of Creation. Credit:  Lauren Wright Vartanian, Neurons and Nebulas

Lauren Wright Vartanian of Guelph, Ontario Canada considers herself a huge space nerd. She’s a multidisciplinary artist who took up hand sewing after the birth of her daughter. She’s currently working on the illustrations for a science themed alphabet book, made entirely out of textile art. It is being published by Firefly Books and comes out in the fall of 2024. Lauren said she was enamored by the original Pillars image released by Hubble in 1995. When Hubble released a higher resolution capture in 2015, she fell in love even further! This is her tribute to those well-known images.

James Webb Telescope Captures Pillars of Creation

Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art, created a rectangular version of Webb’s Pillars of Creation. Credit:  Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art

Darci Lenker of Norman, Oklahoma started embroidery in college more than 20 years ago, but mainly only used it as an embellishment for her other fiber works. In 2015, she started a daily embroidery project where she planned to do one one-inch circle of embroidery every day for a year.  She did a collection of miniature thread painted galaxies and nebulas for Science Museum Oklahoma in 2019. Lenker said she had previously embroidered the Hubble Telescope’s image of Pillars of Creation and was excited to see the new Webb Telescope image of the same thing. Lenker could not wait to stitch the same piece with bolder, more vivid colors.

Milky Way

Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art was inspired by NASA’s imaging of the Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: Darci Lenker

In this piece, Lenker became inspired by the Milky Way Galaxy, which is organized into spiral arms of giant stars that illuminate interstellar gas and dust. The Sun is in a finger called the Orion Spur.

The Cosmic Microwave Background

This image shows an embroidery design based on the cosmic microwave background, created by Jessica Campbell, who runs Astrostitches. Inside a tan wooden frame, a colorful oval is stitched onto a black background in shades of blue, green, yellow, and a little bit of red. Credit: Jessica Campbell/ Astrostitches

Jessica Campbell obtained her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Toronto studying interstellar dust and magnetic fields in the Milky Way Galaxy. Jessica promptly taught herself how to cross-stitch in March 2020 and has since enjoyed turning astronomical observations into realistic cross-stitches. Her piece was inspired by the cosmic microwave background, which displays the oldest light in the universe.

The full-sky image of the temperature fluctuations (shown as color differences) in the cosmic microwave background, made from nine years of WMAP observations. These are the seeds of galaxies, from a time when the universe was under 400,000 years old. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team

GISSTEMP: NASA’s Yearly Temperature Release

Katy Mersmann, a NASA social media specialist, created this embroidered piece based on NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global annual temperature record. Earth’s average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record. Credit: Katy Mersmann, NASA

Katy Mersmann is a social media specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She started embroidering when she was in graduate school. Many of her pieces are inspired by her work as a communicator. With climate data in particular, she was inspired by the researchers who are doing the work to understand how the planet is changing. The GISTEMP piece above is based on a data visualization of 2020 global temperature anomalies, still currently tied for the warmest year on record.

In addition to embroidery, NASA continues to inspire art in all forms. Check out other creative takes with Landsat Crafts and the James Webb Space telescope public art gallery.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[weepingpussywillowtree]

for the hate of trendy fast fashion sweaters

Okay, I want to preface this that there's nothing wrong with liking the style of these types of sweaters, though I think most of these are ugly, I do like some of them, I just wanted a place to put down my frustrations with these sweaters from a sustainability and wear-ability perspective, as well as my frustration with people coming into knitting spaces asking for dupes of these sweaters and then becoming upset when experienced knitters suggest that these sweaters are not the best idea. be an aware consumer. If you really must own one of these kinds of sweaters, understand that it will probably be a short lifespan or incredibly high maintenance garment. Or realistically, both.

Have you seen the newest sweater? everyone is talking about it. It looks like this

Or this

Or this

Yes. They are very unique looking. they're striking and sometimes even cool (in a photoshoot at least), but lets take a look at some of the problems with these types of sweaters, and how I feel that they exemplify fast fashion culture, and that culture invading fiber arts spaces as well.

Ethics, Pricing, and plastic waste

Let's take a look at this sweater as a case study for some of the ethical, sustainability, and pricing issues.

I think it exemplifies a lot of the issues with this wave of trendy sweaters.

first, lets take a look at the website. 260 dollars + shipping, 94% plastic, and from a cursory research, there seems to be no evidence that any of that price is going towards a living wage for its factory workers. So, not to be rude, but what exactly am I paying for? I have seen similar pricing and ethical issues almost across the board with these trendy sweaters.

There's nothing wrong with acrylic yarn on an individual level, it is cheap, easy to care for, and easily available, but for 260 dollars on an item that already it dry clean or gentle hand wash only due to its construction? I would expect higher quality materials. also, not this sweater in particular, but in many of these types of sweaters/brands it really bothers me that they have been able to market themselves as 'vegan' as a form of greenwashing when all of their clothes are plastic or mostly plastic. So yes, while its technically true that they are vegan, are vegan clothes really better for the environment when most of the time vegan clothes means more microfiber shedding pollution and eternal piles of plastic clothes waste?

okay, so now lets get to some common issues with the actual wear-ability and construction of these types of sweaters.

Roving Woes

I think everyone remembers these massive, chunky sweaters or even the roving blankets (roving is wool that has been processed but not yet spun). I'm not sure if the tops/sweaters of very chunky yarn are in peak trend anymore but I do see them around.

Here's the issue. If you want a garment that will fall apart in one wash, these are for you. If you want to have a garment be a lasting part of your wardrobe, move on.

A good example is above. These kinds of sweaters sell like hotcakes on Etsy and go upwards of 300 dollars a pop, but see that fuzziness around the edges? the lack of any twisting look that you'd typically see in yarn? this is roving and will pull, snag, pill, and straight up fall apart at the slightest provocation because the thing that gives spun fibers their strength, is well... the spinning part. The woolery has a great video about this where you can see the roving fall apart over time, and also collect, dirt, dust and other grossness over time with no good way to clean it. Making that 300 dollars you spent a disposable purchase, not an investment. Like buying a 300 dollar disposable rain poncho, but with even less use.

Finicky detailing

Things like ribbons, charms, and other items make an item hard to wash. If they are not properly secured, or sometimes even if they are, they will come off and either need to be thrown away or somehow reattached. These items can also tug, snag at, or warp the main fabric of the garment.

Neglecting Weaving in Ends

Another trend I've been seeing is not weaving in the ends of a garment, as you can see in that flower sweater above. This may give a cool sort of ripped jeans effect for some, but it will ultimately lead to the garment coming unraveled, and you will have wasted, in this case, like 600 dollars on nothing.

...

Overall, all of these trends lead to more plastic waste, disposable clothing, difficult or impossible to wash items, or clothing that you'll spend a lot of money on only to have it fall apart.

Its frustrating to see this clamoring for dupes or this rush for similar styles take over some fiber arts spaces and lead to wasteful consumption of yarn, and trend cycles where these sweaters quickly get created and then discarded.

thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[hyperfixationstation128]

I'm sure this has been said before, but I'm of the opinion that Gale didn't love Mystra. Not really, anyway.

"But, Hyper!" You cry, "He tells the player flat out that he was in love with her! What are you talking about?"

Well, allow me to shed a little light on what it is I mean.

It's pretty much unanimously agreed within the fandom that Gale is Autistic, which I find awesome. He's such a great source of representation for those of us who've been through similar experiences and relate to his personality. Those of us with Autism know the frustration of being portrayed as "the weird kid", "the manic pixie dream girl" or even as non-verbal people with a propensity towards violence with our meltdowns. Fun fact: not every person with Autism has "violent meltdowns", some of us go through what's called a shutdown, where we become non-verbal, secluded and kinda "stop working".

"Okay, okay, that's cool and all, but what do you mean by Gale didn't love Mystra?"

I applaud your enthusiasm and am going to explain now. As someone with Autism, someone who's been researching the topic for years, and someone with immediate family members who are on vastly different sides of the spectrum, I can say with about 95% confidence that Gale did not love Mystra... not for real, anyway. He had what is called "Limerence".

Well, why don't we turn to the internet to look up the definition of the word. "Limerence is a psychological state characterized by an intense, all-consuming romantic infatuation. It is an involuntary cognitive and emotional state in which an individual feels an overwhelming desire for another person, known as the “limerent object.” This state was first defined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov in the 1970s."

Now, the act of limerence is completely involuntary and could happen to anyone, neurodivergent or neurotypical! However, based on anecdotal evidence, it appears to affect women with Autism more than anyone else. When you experience limerence with someone, they become everything to you. You are completely obsessed with them, they can do no wrong in your eyes, they are everything to you.

Sound familiar? The way Gale describes how he viewed Mystra is unmistakably Limerence, at least in my opinion. And if you aren't convinced, allow me to be vulnerable for a minute and share a personal story on my experience with Limerence.

I was about 12 or 13 when I first met my friend, let's call her Tina. Now, Tina was that one girl in school who loved anime, played the violin, and made incredible art. From the first moment I met her, I was smitten. And this went far beyond a normal teenage crush. I was obsessed with her, her opinion, her tastes, her likes and dislikes. I was so in love (I thought) that once stole my late grandmother's wedding ring and gifted it to her. I devoted every breath in my body to her, every fiber of my being. We were friends for years and even dated for a while. In my mind, we were meant to be. We got along great, she was funny, silly, and so incredibly talented. What I didn't know - or maybe didn't want to believe - was she didn't feel the same way.

"But, Hyper! Isn't that just unrequited love?" No, dear reader... 'tis not. Limerence is not love, no matter how much you may want it to be; no matter how deep your feelings feel like they are. Limerence is an unhealthy obsession and there is typically very little one can do to sway oneself from their "object of desire". In the mind of the person with Limerence, there's nothing else in the world except the person they're obsessing over.

Now, there are three stages to Limerence: Infatuation, crystallization, and deterioration, which all seem pretty self-explanatory, but I'll explain further for those of you who don't know.

Infatuation: The first time you notice the other person's positive qualities. Their eyes, their smile, their abilities/talents.

Crystallization: The "obsessive" part of the act. Where you feel a heightened sense of anxiety, walking on eggshells to avoid any "turn-offs" around the other person. You may find yourself thinking about them to the point where it's affecting your normal, daily life.

Deterioration: When the intensity of your feelings begin to wane, and you no longer find yourself attracted to or wanting the attention of the person you were pursuing. In my experience, this is the worst part of Limerence as it usually blew up in my face.

Now, you may be thinking something along the lines of "Okay, but how does this relate to Gale?" or "Are you trying to imply that Gale was abusive towards Mystra? That's ridiculous and you suck!!!" and you're right. I do suck. But I'm not implying that Gale was abusive towards Mystra. Given the fact that she's a literal goddess, it's impossible for that to have happened. What I'm implying is that how Gale viewed Mystra for the time that he was with her was not genuine, true love like how he has with Tav.

This post got way longer than I originally anticipated and I'd love to write a full-length essay on this someday, but I feel I've assaulted y'all's brains with enough jargon for now. If you guy wanna hear more of my thoughts on this particular subject, I'd be more than happy to oblige.

Please feel free to keep the discussion going in the comments or your own post! I adore Gale and discussing things like these regarding his character and personality is my bread and damn butter.

[jamiemccanless]

County Fair Fiber Arts

One last post of fiber arts entries on display in the wool shed of the 2024 San Juan County Fair. It had to end eventually.

[maureen-corpse]

Imagine scrolling through Twitter and you stumble upon a retweet of what appears to be some manner of fetish video in which a man is pulling fluff off of a bound, mostly naked woman who is half-heartedly screaming while the sounds of goat bleating plays in the background.

If you’re like me, you try to figure out how this wound up in front of your salad, because you sure haven’t told Twitter to send you their finest underdressed and untalented actors, and it turns out it’s a nonprofit that does these sorts of ridiculous sexualized stunts, claiming that cashmere goats are tormented for their fiber. As proof, the activists offer a brief, unsourced, poor-quality video.

(It takes time, but you realize that Twitter is showing you this not because of any perceived interest in bad acting in unusual fetishes but because you have, it seems, looked at fashion-related Tweets in the past and this is in the Fashion topic. For some reason.)

Then, if you like, you go on YouTube and look up how cashmere is collected, and find farmers telling you their full names and the location of their farms and the names of their goats and their goats’ family trees and demonstrating how they use a particular type of brush to remove the soft shedding undercoat from their entirely unperturbed animals.

Well! I feel like maybe there’s a broad spectrum of ways animals are treated in this world and we should buy our cashmere from the farms where the goats are happy! Also we should ignore the groups that are doing bad fetish performance art. That’s just a general rule for life I think.

[vascarl]

Day 3: Icelandic black

34-36 microns, 90-100mm

The first three days of wool were quite similar, today felt more like spinning "wool" the others did.

My challenge to myself for today was to spin thicker than my usual, and remain consistent. I was somewhat successful. As always, needs more practice.

26g, 20m.

[shrikeseams]

Thinking about fiber arts within the scholomance. Iirc the only time we see it within the school is El doing crochet, but like. I cannot buy that everyone is primarily mending their clothes with magic. Fiber crafting is such an incredibly old and incredibly basic and pretty universal activity for humans. And those kids all have extremely limited access to new clothing, which makes all kinds of mending a very useful basic skill, especially considering kids could learn it early. Teaching your kids to mend by hand is one more bulwark parent can give them against the various hazards of the scholomance. And we know that spells can be woven into fabric, so there's also potential applications there, above and beyond 1) basic safety and quality of life from well-tended clothing and 2) potential to build mana via hand work that you're going to have to do one way or another no matter what.

But apparently nobody is darning socks to build mana? They have access to shit like platinum, but not wool? C'mon. A drop spindle is straightforward enough to cobble together. Wool *should* be an accessible material, either as artificer workshop materials or supply room stuff. There should be at least a handful of kids in each year spinning fiber (and building mana), and then doing darning/mending on commission (and also building mana again). And that goes tripply when it's established that magical mending doesn't actually replace the shed/worn away fibers!

Plus, fiber craft is ancient. No way there aren't a dozen traditional embroidery /weaving / knitting designs that act as spells. Protection against harm, but also things like preventing damage in the first place. Magic may provide an expedient quick fix, but there should be plenty of space in the scholomance economy for more traditional options.

I know El's whole deal is supposed to be non-representative re: mana budgeting and use, but also. If people are already weaving magical cloth outside the school, I cannot conceive of a situation where mending-for-hire or, idk, tablet weaving or knitting/crocheting to spec isn't considered a normal and desirable supplemental 'income ' source.

[quinnyundertow]

Ahhhhh the commission I ordered for “When I catch you Gege” Chapter 6 was just completed! So excited! Yuta and Junpei ❤️❤️ Art done by the amazing @elsartzz

Excerpt from Chapter 6

It took every fiber of your being to not follow him the last twenty feet to the shed. You doubled over gasping heavily trying to catch your breath from the long sprint. You could hear the sounds of Junpei being beaten as the door to the shed was ripped from the sliding track it was on. Your eyes were wide in shock as the metal doorway was thrown through the air like a scrap of paper in the wind. The weight of it only showed when it crashed to the ground and impaled itself into the mud of the grass field.

Various yells of surprise were heard at the dramatic opening of the supply building before the sheer chaos of hell itself devolved in front of you. Hellish screams escaped through the now gaping maw of the open entry. Pure unbridled fear escaped the men who had beat Junpei as Rika laughed hysterically. You heard the crunch of bones and the squelch of flesh being pounded into the ground. One of the men tried to make a break for it. He appeared from the shed in an attempt to escape retribution. He had almost made it into the light of the outside world when a massive white hand reached out of the dark and clasped itself around the man's leg. Black nails punctured into the fat of the bully’s calves as the special grade curse Rika dragged him back into the interior darkness screaming. His face twisted in terror as his hands scrabbled against the dirt uselessly before he disappeared back into the shed.

A moment later, from the darkness emerged another form. Junpei came flying out of the pitch black, his outfit damaged and his face bloodied from the beat down the bullies had given him before Rika and Yuta emerged into the dark. Upon seeing him you started crying, calling out his name. His eyes met yours as he startled at you being here. You rushed into him throwing your arms around his neck before burying your face into his shoulder. He looked down at you. The fear he felt mixing with new concern and confusion, “Y/n? What are you doing here?! We need to get out of here!”

Junpei’s arms wrapped tight around you as you sobbed into him, “It’s okay Junpei, that’s my friend Yuta. I’m so sorry we were late, I almost failed you again.” Junpei froze his face in an expression of awe as he looked back towards the small shack.

Only silence was heard from the shed now. It was broken by Yuta in a cold and remorseless tone, “If you or anyone else so much as looks at Junpei the wrong way again you won’t escape with your lives.” There were some noises of understanding in the form of moans before Yuta emerged from the shed back into the light. A smattering of blood was on his white school shirt and on his cheek, his clothing only slightly ruffled.

Junpei stared wide eyed at the newcomer as you turned your crying face from where it hid in Junpei’s shoulder to look where Yuta stood. “That’s…your friend?” Junpei asked speechlessly.

You nodded into his chest, your arms letting go from around his neck to wrap around Junpei’s middle tightly. “Junpei, are you okay? I was so scared, did they hurt you badly?”

You and Junpei had your eyes on Yuta who stood somewhat awkwardly in the background. Yuta tried to make his expression disarming with a small smile, his eyes closed. It didn’t really work considering the blood covering him and Rika’s ominous presence; but Yuta couldn’t look more beautiful to you than he did in this moment.

Junpei returned his gaze to your tear stained face. He flushed hard at the concern for him he saw there. A heat went through him as your body pressed tightly up against his own. “Y/n, listen, don’t cry, I'm okay. They’ve done way worse before. Besides, your friend made sure that won’t happen again…”

You nodded, sniffling, letting Junpei go reluctantly before you moved towards where Yuta stood. Rika lurked behind him a wide grin on her face as she examined her claws sprayed with blood. You looked at Rika first knowing she had done the brute force of the job, “Thank you Rika.” You bowed to her in gratitude. You turned to Yuta now, fresh tears starting to fall at his kind expression, “Thank you Yuta.”

He smiled down at you before putting a hand on the top of your head, “Hey, everything is okay now. Please don’t cry.” He lifted his other hand to your cheek to use his thumb to wipe the remaining tears off your face. “You did a great job Y/n we made it just in time.” the hand on your head stroked your hair lightly in reassurance.

You nodded, turning slightly to include Junpei, “Junpei this is Yuta, the friend I wanted you to meet.”

Junpei nodded behind you before bowing in gratitude as well, “Thanks..”, the fear from earlier was no longer in his expression, just a deep curiosity. This shouldn’t surprise you given Junpei had a similar reaction to Mahito killing his bullies in the theater in a much more violent way. Junpei looked down at his feet before continuing, “Can you teach me how to do that?”

Yuta blinked in surprise, shocked that the new boy wasn’t terrified of him. He barked out a laugh in response before saying, “No clue, but I guess we can find out together.”

[thebibliosphere]

Combining information from two earlier asks: You said that Ursula is big into the fiber arts and also that Nathan sheds his undercoat in the spring. Has or would Ursula ever try spinning with Nathan's shed undercoat?

Oh for sure. Chiengora is nothing new in our world, and it's certainly nothing new in the Phangs world.

I'd like to think it comes about one spring because Vlad is complaining that yet again, despite Nathan swearing he's being nowhere near his wardrobe, his clothes are somehow still covered in wolf hair.

"So brush him," Ursula says, off-handed, like it's obvious.

"One does not simply brush a werewolf," comes the vampire's frustrated reply.

"You can if you're married to him."

And after a little back and forth Nathan agrees, yeah, all right. If it'll speed up the process. Vlad complains the whole time that his arm is about to drop off, but dutifully brushes out Nathan's undercoat.

The resulting mound of fur is enough to make a whole other wolf out of. Several wolves, in fact, when you consider just how large Nathan is.

Later, when he's human-shaped again and fresh out the bath, feeling more pampered than he's ever done in his entire life, he finds Ursula has placed his fur into baskets, and is dutifully picking out the guard hairs. "What are you doing?"

"Picking out your guard hairs," she replies, like it's obvious.

"But why?"

"Because I'm going to spin your undercoat."

Nathan opens, then closes his mouth. Sure, it seems a little weird. But in comparison to the things Vlad's got growing in some jars, really not the weirdest thing he has to worry about.

"All right."

It takes her quite a while--after all there's a lot to spin and spinning wolf hair isn't as easy as sheep wool. It's too short and prone to slubs if you don't spin it tight enough. But Ursula is nothing if not patient. After that she begins planning. At Halloween she presents Vlad with of black fingerless gloves that are so soft and warm he almost cries. It doesn't even smell like wolf anymore. It's a strange mix of Nathan and Ursula's perfume blended into one.

Nathan gets a scarf for his birthday, just in time for the first snow to fall. He's more than a little amused to be presented with a scarf made of his own fur, but wears it anyway. "What about you?" he asks, when he realizes Ursula hasn't made anything for herself.

Ursula waves him off, and mutters something about saving the rest. Next spring the repeat the process, and Ursula continues to set aside wolf-yarn in her stash. He doesn't think anything of it until several years later when she presents him with an entire jumper made out of it.

[corner-stories]

this time of night

Annie Leonhardt. Armin Arlert. Pieck Finger. Silk Bedding. Games of Chess. Teasing. Post-Canon. 1607 words. (ao3.)

Almost everything in Historia’s palace has been crafted with luxury and enjoyment in mind, yet the texture of the silk bedding and the ornate trim above the doors feels foreign to her. It’s hard to tell where her discomfort stems from — her upbringing and the scratchy blankets of her childhood home, or the fact that she’s been traveling for diplomatic reasons for the past three years and that the accommodations for people in her position tend to be rudimentary at best. Even the borrowed robe feels unfamiliar on her skin, the smoothness of the fibers are meant to keep her at ease, yet the longer she wears them she gets filled with a sinking feeling that something’s not right. 

But there aren’t many places on the island for ambassadors to stay, that is if they want to avoid the anger that can be roused by seeing those who betrayed Paradis. The bright side is that Annie cannot imagine what Yeagerist would be so blinded by revenge that they attacked the heavily guarded home of their Queen, so at least their safety is guaranteed. Hopefully. Only the next two weeks of peace talks could tell. 

At least Pieck’s presence makes parts of the palace more palatable. Annie sits across from her comrade, her elbow propped on the table as her chin rests in her hand. At this time of night she’s so fatigued from the endless stream of meetings that she lacks the energy for anything else. Her eyes end up affixed to a nearby window, where Historia’s royal garden is cloaked in nothing but darkness. 

In contrast Pieck is focused on the chess board between them, putting a lot more thought into her moves than Annie can bother. After a minute of thinking she grabs her rook and moves it to the other side of the board, placing it in the perfect position to take out Annie’s king. 

“Check.” 

Annie sighs in both defeat and exhaustion. “Alright, you win.” She pulls her eyes from the window and looks back to Pieck, who’s usually relaxed disposition is beginning to look rather annoyed. 

“No, I don’t win,” Pieck reminds in a fairly low tone of voice. It seems that if she is to completely dominate Annie in the art of chess, then she will only do so by following the rules. “I win when I get a checkmate, not a check. Make your move.”

Annie rolls her eyes before grabbing her king and purposely moving it in front of Pieck’s rook, making sure it’s in a position where it has been doomed to a grizzly fate with no hope of survival. 

“Checkmate. I lose.”

Pieck rolls her eyes. “You’re boring when you’re tired.” 

Annie huffs as Pieck begins resetting the board, though at this ungodly hour she’s contemplating the consequences of kicking her comrade out of the room. Literally. 

But before the night can take an amusingly violent turn, the door opens.

Armin enters the space still clad in his day clothes, though his necktie has been loosened and his jacket has been shed, the garment remaining clutched in his hand. On a similar note he looks exhausted, though slightly less so than the brooding blonde near the window. 

“Hey, Annie,” Armin greets in his usual friendly tone, though said tone is tinged with the slightest bits of fatigue. He musters up enough energy to eye the other lady in the room. “Pieck.” 

“Evening,” Pieck says just as she finishes resetting the chess board. “I should probably get going before tonight gets…” She eyes Annie knowingly. “... too crazy.” 

Annie glares as Pieck smirks. 

“You probably should,” the blonde agrees. She even stands up and doesn’t even need to gesture before Pieck follows. 

Armin nods along and walks past the two, slowly pulling off his tie and tossing it onto the nearby dresser. He doesn’t catch the playful look in Pieck’s eyes and the annoyed glare in Annie’s, though perhaps that’s a blessing in disguise. He slips into the bathroom connected to the bedroom just as the ladies approach the exit. 

“I’ll see you lovebirds in the morning,” Pieck teases, and to that Annie rolls her eyes as she opens the door. 

Pieck steps out of the room, but not without stopping and turning around to say one more thing. 

“Oh, and make sure you use protec-”

Annie slams the door in Pieck’s face, which is certainly not the first time she had done so and will certainly not be the last. She turns around to see Armin emerging from the bathroom, thankfully ignorant to Pieck’s very peculiar form of teasing. 

Annie goes to the bed and slips off the silken robe off her shoulders — her linen nightgown might be the only thing in this palace that makes her feel comfortable. As she lies down on the intricately embroidered bedspread she watches Armin going to the dresser, looking very respectfully as he changes into his sleepwear. 

“How is she?” Annie asks. She figures that she might as well bring up the question, as there may never be a world where Armin doesn’t care about Mikasa. 

With her also staying in the palace as a similar safety precaution, it’s only natural that Armin takes the opportunity to catch up with his cherished friend. And it’s certainly much easier to have a chat with a loved one without wondering if an enraged Yeagerist planted a bomb underneath his chair. 

“She’s… she’s hanging in there,” Armin soon answers. He pulls his nightshirt onto his slender torso as he walks to the bed. “I think she’s just glad to see us again.” 

“Don’t you mean you?” Annie brings up. “And Jean? And Connie?”

She can’t help but be blunt, to speak what she perceives as the truth. It’s been barely a day since Mikasa showed the ambassadors the grave by the tree, and during that time she held herself with a distinct air of melancholy. It was difficult to deny her familiarity with the comrades she spent years fighting alongside, and not the ones that formed an alliance just before the final dance. Even their days as trainees feels like an echo from the distant past. 

And to think that Mikasa’s spent the last three years living in some cottage just outside of Shiganshina — residing near a place that changes every day, all while the concept of peace begins to feel more foreign as time goes by. Annie can relate to the need to distance oneself from the chaos, but to do it all alone feels like another beast entirely. 

Even her idea of living quietly involves some sort of person, a companion by her side to make the days feel more bearable. 

“No, I do mean all of us,” Armin soon says, breaking Annie out of her inner musings. “But I don’t blame you for inferring… that.” 

He joins her on the bed and they move like clockwork. Armin barely buttons up his nightshirt before lying on his back, then Annie does what she always does and rests her head on his chest, her preferred place to be. 

It’s their usual position during the night, though for once they have room to spare. For all the complaints she has about the excessive opulence of the palace, Annie does appreciate the spaciousness of the bed. After months of traveling by train or ship, vessels that have very good reasons to be constrictive and tight, the extra expanse feels like a blessing. 

No wonder Pieck teased her and Armin when they arrived at the place, suggestively insinuating that the lovebirds make use of all the space they now have. 

On most nights Armin will read a book as Annie sleeps in his arms, but for now he seems content by just holding her, his hand soon finding the small of her back.

“You know, funny story…” he begins. “After we all chatted, Jean offered to walk Mikasa to her room and she accepted. I… I don’t know why I think she wouldn’t have.”

Annie hums to show that she’s listening, though only partially so. His voice — a vessel that can often be so intense, so passionate — only ever soothes her at this time of night. There’s a softness to it, a sweetness, something that helps lull Annie to sleep whether they are on a ship during a storm, a moving train, or on a mattress with smooth silk bedding.  

“Don’t tell me you’re gossiping, Armin,” Annie manages to say. 

It’s certainly a bold thing coming from him, especially since he very urgently asked Pieck to not spill a word regarding their current sleeping arrangements. To even approach the horizon of a potential rumor mill strikes Annie as some flavor of hypocritical.

“I’m not, I just…” Armin insists. “...I noticed the way he was smiling at her.” 

Annie manages a scoff. “Jean doesn’t smile, he smirks. Like a cocky bastard.” 

Armin lets out a chuckle as he begins playing with her hair, feeling the strands between his fingers. “You’re not wrong there.”

From that point on Armin keeps talking as Annie gets closer to the realm of sleep — feeling more and more at ease as she remains in his embrace. The last thing she hears is Armin telling her to rest well, as they have a long day of meetings tomorrow and for the next two weeks, and the last sensation she feels is him pressing his lips to the crown of her head. 

Perhaps there’s something sweet about the fact that in such a decadent, lucious space the most comfort that Annie will ever find in the entire palace will be in her lover’s arms.