#i had to open it in paint and then save it as a png again...

[nikki-handholder]

i stitched my recent landscape stylings together

[pranilozabcufashion]

Lookbook- Pages 3&4

For pages 3 and 4 of the lookbook, I had decided I wanted this double-page spread to be about the colour palette.  sticking with the theme for the background I had found this red and black image of a flower in the wind and used it as a background, I wasn't fully able to fit it properly onto the full page so I had decided to place it at an awkward angle that I thought would seem decent enough, and had selected the empty part and used the content aware fill tool to artificially fill in the rest of the image,  Photoshop was able to do this by taking parts of the image that wasn't selected and using AI was able to fill in the selected part, and the results had turned out amazingly. 

I have then found a paper rip effect PNG image online and using the blend mode, setting it to  Hard Light so that the whites would show more, erasing some of the dark parts underneath to give the page a sort of bent-over look, and I had placed it in the top right corner and filled the outer parts of the ripped image with black using the Paint Bucket tool giving the effect that part of the page had been ripped off I'd also had the idea of a hand coming out of the page as if something/someone was escaping the lookbook, and I was very happy with the results. 

Next was the challenge of finding a creative way to represent the colour palette.  we were given the task of having up to five colors for the colour palette which I had already chosen from the creative reset trend board and added one of my own, which I had chosen to be just harshly bright white, as well as replacing the black for a slightly different shade. and were given the choice to rename them which I had done; Luscious Red was Blood Red, Dark Cherry was Dark Ruby Red, Circular Grey was Gravestone Grey, I had replaced standard Black for a shade called Midnight Black, which I had renamed to Eternal Black and had added a shade of white which I had renamed to Cocaine White.

After brainstorming ideas for how I could represent the colour palette I decided to go with using Roses, as they can come in all sorts of colors and work well for this trend. I found different images of roses in different positions so im not using the same image representing each color from the pallet which would look repetitive and boring. I had also used the Color Selector tool to select each color from the palette on the WGSN website and save them onto a Swatches file so that I am able to use these colours whenever I want, as well as making it easier for me to access each color easily.  After finding each rose image and placing them in the top left-hand corner, I had used the Selection tool to select a rose, created a new layer and use the Paint Bucket tool to click over the selection which would have each respective color on top of the rose image;  I had then turned down the opacity as to not have the Rose image be taken over by the color, I then used the Blend tool and set it to 'Color' as to properly represent each color from the palette accurately and respectively.  This process had taken quite a while for me to do as Roses do come in reds and whites so to accurately show the colors from the color palette and not have the original color of the Roses image impact the color palette was difficult, but I am happy I was able to overcome this.

Next, I had decided to add a grain effect over this DPS  which I had then later decided I had wanted to be on every page of this lookbook, so I had gone back to the previous two spreads and use the same grain effect over them by simply clicking, dragging and dropping them while having them open on different tabs, I'd also add a text to this spread labeling each color respectively with the color palette name i had come up with, as well as having a small description about the colours are used in this trend. 

Finally, for this double-page spread I had added images of more models that again represent what this trend would look like in-person, I had an image that showed a model in a revealing mesh dress/long top which sort of looked like blood had been dripping down from the neck which I was a fan of, but unfortunately the image did not show their face, however, I was able to overcome this by simply placing where their head would be by the hand that was coming out from behind the page. I also went through the same process I had with the other pages where I would use the Levels Adjustment tool to change the brightness and look of each image as well as using the Vector tool to get rid of the background and also have each and every layer be put in its respective folder.  I had also found out about being able to lock layers/ folders so that once locked they are unable to be adjusted or moved this would make my work easier as once I am happy with the placement of certain images or text I can lock them so they are not interfered with If I'm wanting to change something else.

[bitchassbucky]

.eps (explicit)

Word Count: 2k

Warning/s: dark!bucky x dark!reader, MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, blood mention, gore and dismemberment/beheading, murder, toxic/abusive relationship dynamics, sedation/drugging/use of sedative, stockholm syndrome-ish, one very special character reveal

A/N: i told y'all there's more <3 the special character treat is for @sarge-barnes-sir mwah!

this is queued shdhhsh gonna fix the links in the mornin’

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HEED THE WARNINGS ABOVE, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS VERSION, GO AND CHECK OUT THE NON-EXPLICIT VERSION.

follow the CTRL series:

i - .exe

ii - .avi

iii - .raw

iv - .png

v - .zip

CTRL playlist CTRL moodboard

Safeness, comfortability, warmth are all but a false sense of reality.

When a prey takes down its walls, the predator moves in. Camouflaged in familiar colors, in words that you’re used to hearing, in praises, in lies. Most predators use the mask of the night to move in darkness—unyielding and calculated. Come morning, there will be only one left alive, tainted with victory and bloodshed.

You and Bucky have been engaging in a dance for two—a battle of who’s willing to take the leap of faith and unleash hell upon the other.

Stifled smiles and pursed lips.

The air is filled with unsaid irritants, little things that ticked away like bombs.

There was no time for pleading, no time for mercy, no rest for the wicked.

Did you still love each other?

How far are you willing to go to keep up with his… complacency?

Bucky’s mundane life already taking a toll on you. The endless nightmares of him feeling you. The swirling vision of Bucky being with you every waking—and sleeping—moment: it grates your soul to shreds.

“We’ll be together forever, right?”

“Yes, darling.”

“What about the day after forever?”

“That too, honey.”

Where was the man you loved so deeply? The man that broke his morals just to be with you?

Was he under this hull of a Yes Man? A poor little thing that says ‘yes’ to everything like a puppy.

The man you held so dearly now slipping away, chipping his humanity, shedding the once-human.

“Would you marry me tomorrow if I asked you?”

“Of course, baby, why wouldn’t I?”

“Would you kill for me?”

“I’m meant to do the same for you.”

It’s irritating how Bucky gave up too quickly. Too fast, moving too fast. The gazelle let the lion tear its neck as it lay there, unmoving, letting the blood seep into its hide.

When you first met Bucky, it was your own fairytale unfolding before your eyes. Kismet, reality, forgiveness from above. He was soft and shy, passionate, lively.

Far from what you expected from a man his age—you blame Steve for forcing you into his narrative before. That all men are out to get you. They will hurt you. They will use you and leave you for good. But Bucky? Bucky came in like a knight. He saved you from the carcass of your past. He saved you from the sins that you prayed and knelt for.

Bucky taught you how to love.

Bucky taught you how to live for yourself.

Bucky taught you that being alone doesn’t mean you have to be lonely.

“It was an unspoken little thing, wasn’t it?”

“What thing, baby?”

“Our love.”

“Yes, honey, it was.”

He worships you.

He worships you like a fucking God and you hate it.

Suffocating, too suffocating. You dove straight for the water and now you’re drowning.

Do you still love each other? The question hangs in the air, heavy with its weight, light as a feather.

It’s all your fault. It’s all your fault. It’s all your fault. It’s all your fault.

So you stand there with a syringe half-filled with a horse sedative. It’s a concern how easy it is to waltz into a pet store and pick up a general anesthetic. You make a mental note to look at it later.

Bucky’s body slumps forward, his forehead meeting the edge of the table with a dull thud. If the overdose doesn’t kill him, the weeping crack in his head will.

Holy fuck, humans bleed a lot. And fast. Good thing you already have that clear tarp taped down. Even with the hush money stuffed down your throat, it would take a good nick to regrout the kitchen.

“What is that for, honey?”

“I’m painting the cabinets.”

“Okay, darling.”

So you let him bleed, surprised that the liquid is redder than what you thought it would be. A soft gurgling noise came from Bucky, the last of air escaping his dead body. You stood there, syringe in hand, as you thought how to dispose of a six-foot-tall man without arousing suspicion.

Not that he’ll be missed anyway: the local news and the internet already branded him as a psycho and you as a victim. You were both victims in this fairytale. They reported his case as “skipped the town like the sicko he is.” So, no—no one’s going to look for him.

The sun was high up in the sky and there was a dead body in your kitchen.

A butcher and a surgeon walks into a bar for a drink. “What do you do for a living?” Said the butcher, “I save lives! What about you?” The doctor answers. “I save animals from dying slowly. We’re basically the same. You’re just very clean.” You see, the butcher comes into the bar covered in blood, reeking of death. The surgeon, on the other hand, wears his white coat with pride even though he’s surrounded by death every passing second.

Today was the day you learned that you have the tools of a butcher and the precision of a surgeon. Unlike before.

You carefully take Bucky’s fingers off of his left hand, leaving a skin flap on the edge of the last knuckle for you to stitch close later. Four promises. Four goddamn promises and he broke all of them.

It was his fault that he’s dead. He made you do this.

Starting with his left shoulder, you jab the knife between the bone and the soft flesh of his armpit, bringing the blade downwards. The sickening smell of blood swirled along with the image of muscle and fat being sliced made you gag.

Does the brain know that it’s seeing something it shouldn’t?

A rational part of you wanted to look away but the time is ticking, it’ll be much harder once rigor mortis sets in an hour.

You swing the knife down, cracking the bone once, and then again, and again, and again until the shoulder bone splinters and dislocates itself from the rest of Bucky’s torso. You had to switch knives and blades and a fucking bone saw to get through the rest of his limbs, leaving only his chest, head, and stomach untouched. After taping up and packing the arms and the legs, you work on putting the rest of Bucky into a nondescript suitcase.

The only problem being his head getting into the way of things.

Wanting to preserve even a shred of his dignity, you left his face untouched. Well, save from the crack in his skull.

You begrudgingly take a hefty chef’s knife and start cutting through the jugular vein, only stopping when the blade hits the spinal cord by his nape. The serrated blade of the bone saw sits on your blood-soaked gloves, scrape-scrape-scraping until it snaps into two.

The human head weighs around 10 pounds, kinda like a bowling ball.

An opaque black garbage bag containing Bucky’s head looks nothing suspicious as you put it inside a backpack—into a firepit you go.

His limbs—arms and legs alike—are going deep into the ocean, forgotten and to be used as fish food.

The limbless torso will be finding its home in a deep hole in the middle of a densely wooded area, far from the city.

But you’re not quite sure what to do with the mason jar of teeth though; the clinking noises of it remind you of the seashells you used to collect when you were a kid. Maybe you’ll stash it away with the torso.

Placing the bags into the trunk of a rental, you begin your journey to the end of your fairytale.

The drive to and from the places was tiring, to say the least. The internet connection of the diners was spotty at best. Locals were overly friendly with the city folks who came passing through their towns. The roads reek of roadkill and manure from the farm animals that were left to roam for fresh grass.

At least you get to come home in a spotless apartment, alone once again.

But not lonely.

Your space is yours again. No trace of anyone anywhere. Immaculately yours.

—

Humans are social creatures.

No one can truly be alone, especially in today’s world where we’re connected to everyone—whether we liked it or not.

Leaving your wretched job behind was an easy feat to do. No one can say no to the victim of such a vile crime. That’s all they saw you: a helpless little thing. So off you went; saying half-assed goodbyes and sending emails of courage and hope and fucking resilience.

Your resignation meant that the company’s free of any dirt from you, Bucky’s disappearance quickly becoming a joke and a rumor blending in one.

They let you leave: in your bank account a fat check ensuring that you’d shut up about the scandal for months until you can’t feed yourself no more. So you packed your bags and jet off without looking back. You never liked that apartment anyway.

Nevertheless, you found yourself looking into another dead-end job in one of the towns you stopped over before. It’s a charming place like time froze in their plaza while the rest of the world went on. You found a small studio apartment in a street tuckered away from the main avenue, you settled there as days became nights and nights turned into days.

You woke up one morning craving a healthy serving of coffee and pancakes, luckily the town’s local diner wasn’t far from your new home.

The coffee was too hot, the pancakes were amazing, fluffy, and just right. You’re sitting in a sunny booth, the warmth doing its wonders.

“Hi, can I get today’s paper, please?” Your voice is sweet as you call your server, giving her a quick smile.

A pair of Raybans adorn your face, unconsciously hiding behind its darkened glasses. The waitress gives you a thick stack of newspapers, refilling your cup with black coffee.

Upon opening the paper, you ignore the town’s headlines and went straight for the job postings. The door jingled open as patrons come in and go, waving to familiar faces.

Job Vacancy Announcements

Secretary to the Town Sheriff

You skimmed over the rest of the details, only noting the address of the office. The job looks quite lucrative for someone who would only take messages and organize files for the sheriff.

Looking over the job posting again, you read over the words walk-ins only. That shouldn’t be hard enough.

The diner looked deserted save from the man sitting behind your booth. Leaning over and tapping his shoulder, you put on a polite smile, “Hi, sorry, do you know how to get to the sheriff’s office from here?”

“Hello, darling.” The man croons in an accent, he looks over to you, “join me in my booth, will ‘ya?”

You’re in no position to reject his proposal, you’re the one who needed an answer.

Taking your coffee cup, you slide into his booth, “hi.”

“Just the face I wanted to see.” Clean-shaven, a hint of mint and smoke, and something woody; a worn leather jacket and white button-up shirt hugging his soft frame. “Some folks over on the apartment complex were talkin’ about a city girl wanting to rent a studio all by herself. That happen to be you?”

You look over to him, trying to understand how that small of news spread like a wildfire, “yeah. I moved in a week ago.”

He leans over, smiling sweetly as he unabashedly lets his eyes roam your features, “What’s a city girl like you doin’ in a place like this? I hope we ain’t too boring for you, gal.”

Chatty—he’s way too chatty.

“Just wanted a change of pace, really. Away from the bustle of the city.” You rustle the paper, clearing your throat to get back on the matter on hand, “so the sheriff’s office? Is it too far from here?”

“What business are ‘ya bringing into the office?”

“A job, actually. Says here that they’re looking for a secretary.” You might as well tell him everything, he seems too chatty to be dismissed over and over again.

“Well, darlin’, today’s your lucky day. No need to drive down the old road.” He reaches down to his seat, pulling up a brown hat, “Hi, I’m Sheriff Bodecker. Now, to whom do I owe the pleasure?”

You bite back a giggle, you’ve always wanted to be involved with the law.

[walking-mf-dead]

Fem! SS and Nick

SS is helping Nick with a case he is working on (Maybe a missing persons)

They are very close "friends"

𝓜𝔂 𝓑𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓛𝓪𝓭𝔂 Pairing: Fem!Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine Word Count: 1167 Warnings: Kidnapping, missing persons case, mentions of blood and yelling, hints towards physical violence, non-canon case A/N: This is my first time writing anything for the Fallout universe and I hope it's good enough :') (the divider I'm using is one with the Vault-tec symbol and I just took the png from google and duplicated it in paint lmao you're free to use if you wish)

“Y/N, how do you know this lead is any good?” Nick questions. We’ve been on a missing persons case for a week now and we hit a dead end until one of my sources from the wasteland gave me insight on what could be happening. “I told you Nick, just trust me on this and we’ll get the woman back to her family, okay?” I stop for a moment and place my hand on his shoulder, “We’ll find her Nicky.” He sighs and nods, giving me a gentle smile before we keep heading to the building that stands before us.

The building is dilapidated, falling apart even as we walk through the broken glass of the door, the stench of rotting and fresh meat and blood invades my senses. This lead may be more dangerous than I anticipated. I pull out my Plasma Rifle and start to survey the area, Nick following my lead and drawing his Western Revolver. “Now Doll, I do trust you, don’t get me wrong, but did you just lead us to a nest of Super Mutants?” pipes up my partner in a hushed voice, “Well, Nicky, I didn’t really think this is what my contact had in mind for where the girl might be.” I reply through gritted teeth, not wanting to risk being loud and being spotted.

•

We spend a good hour surveying the area, taking down about 5 of the brutes before we find the group, the boss sitting upon a meat throne, his followers around him snacking on food, and the woman. She’s up in a cage, bleeding but not so much that she’s anywhere close to dying. For now. “And what do we have here? More puny humans for me? Gutsoul deserves more blood.” Booms the loud voice of the mutant, oddly well spoken for someone of his type. No wonder he’s the leader I suppose. “We’re just here to get the woman ‘Gutsoul’. We get the girl, and we won’t kill you. Simple.” I say, standing my ground on the subject. Nick is close behind me, a hand hovering on the small of my back, still holding his revolver in the other, leaning down slightly to whisper in my ear, “Doll, it’s not smart to rile up a mutant, you know that right?”, “Nicky, honey, I know what I’m doing.” I retort, waiting for the mutant to respond. “Graag, grab the woman human. She’s annoying me.” Orders Gutsoul, the larger Mutant charges over to me and grabs my arms, locking them behind my body as I squirm and try to worm my way out of the grapple. Nick raises his revolver to shoot before I shake head “No” at him, needing to stay away from this fight. I won’t let him get hurt.

•

It’s been a day, maybe two since 2 of the mutants took me, leaving Nick Valentine, the best detective of the Commonwealth, to bargain with the brutes. It hasn’t been fun to say the least. While alone I think about him the most. He’s always been there for me, helped me, and the look in those yellow eyes two days ago when I was grabbed, the worry and desperation to get me back made me blush. He treats me well. He’s one of the closest people in my life at the moment, which is hard to come by in a post-apocalyptic world like this. “Food for human lady.” Says one of the two towards me, throwing a piece of stale bread towards me. Hey, it's better than irradiated mudcrab meat. Biting off the tough pieces of bread I look around the cage I’m in, trying to find an exit, a broken pipe I can use to attack the two before me. They look like the weakest, it’s why they’re stationed here to look after me.

I’m still trying to find a way out before I hear yelling and gunfire. The two watching me go to see the situation. Dammit Nick. “You get out, run back to Diamond City!” I hear the Synth yell. Probably towards that woman. What the fuck did he do? “Doll! Doll!? Where are you?” A small, sad smile appears on my face. “I’m here Nicky! I’m stuck in this stupid cage, they took all my shit.” And they had, I was only in my singlet and underwear when Nick came to help me. “Fuck Doll. That’s one shiner.” He points to my face before starting to lockpick the cage open. He hugs me once the door is open. He’s warm. He puts his coat over my shoulders before we go to find my things. He’s rushing around. Frantic almost. “Hey Nicky, Nick, slow down.” I say softly, reaching my hand out towards his shoulder, his white dress shirt slightly unbuttoned down the front, his slacks have blood on them and his hat is slightly shifted on his head. “Doll, I coulda lost ya. If I weren’t fast enough I coulda…” He trails off. “Hey, hey, I survived a nuclear blast, albeit in a bunker and frozen but, if I could survive that, I’ll survive anything. I’ll always come back to you.” He hugs me again. So, so tightly. Almost too tightly, this synth is stronger than he thinks. “Don’t you ever leave again Y/N.” He looks into my eyes and I can’t help but smile. This man is too good for anyone.

•

Once we arrived back at Diamond City, the young woman was there at Nick’s detective agency, thanking him profusely for his help in saving her. I smirk watching the scene unfold and start looking at files of other cases we could take after a small break. “And I was wondering, Detective, if we could go on a date, I’ll show you a good time, for all the help you gave me.” the woman says to him, very seductively. You wouldn’t have thought she spent almost 2 weeks with super mutants. She plays with the collar of his coat before he says, very flustered, “Oh uh, that’s sweet of ya Dollface but I don’t date previous clients. Just how I do the job.” I giggle to myself, listening to him. That’s a lie, I think so myself. She tries again with her advances before I finally save him from the awkward encounter. “Hey Nicky, what about this case? Missing daughter, she’s only 12. We should get a start on it soon.” I yell towards him, still looking at the file. It’s empty, but the woman doesn’t know that. “Alright Doll, I’m coming. You’re welcome for the help kid.” He then walks towards me and the woman leaves with almost a huff. Nick places a hand on the small of my back and I rest my head back onto his shoulder. “You still got it Nicky, get any pretty lady on your case.” I smirk, looking up towards him. “I’ve already got the best lady.” He replies before placing a soft kiss on my forehead.

Hey dude! Thank you for requesting something T-T I hope I did okay and that you like it! Let me know if there are any mistakes in it at all and I'll fix it up <3 Enjoy!!

[waxesnostalgic]

Making Normal Channels in GIMP (with njob)

Hello everyone! I was explaining how to do this in the Sims of History discord server and realized how much of this process I learned through trial and error. There isn’t really a good step-by-step tutorial about how to do this in GIMP, only in Photoshop (at least no text-based tutorials). While I use both Photoshop and GIMP for various things, I prefer to make my normal channels in GIMP. This tutorial will walk you through the process and hopefully demystify normal channels in GIMP.

Normal channels (bump maps) add additional depth beyond your mesh, which is useful for things like folds, painted on pockets, and buttons.

This tutorial is particularly for how to make Create-a-Sim items, not objects, but a lot of steps should be transferable.

You will need (all free programs):

GIMP

njob

Sims4Studio and/or CAS Tools

First, open your diffuse texture in GIMP. I often try to use the light/base texture rather than one I have colored already, but if you have already colored it and didn’t save a base, don’t worry, it doesn’t make much of a difference. Don’t use an image which has a pattern applied to it, as that will create a bump on the pattern and appear like applique or something along those lines (unless that is your goal).

I recommend doing this step after you have tested your diffuse texture image and mesh (if applicable) in the game. If you have any last minute changes to either of these, you will probably need to re-do your normal from scratch.

If your image is in layers for recoloring, or not, choose to flatten the image.  Transparency isn’t helpful in making normal channels, so get rid of it so you won’t have to worry about it later.

Once you have flattened it, the background usually turns either black or white. It doesn’t really matter which one, it won’t make much of a difference in njob.

Now, select the crop tool. You can see the current dimensions of the image in the “aspect ratio” box. For a CAS items, the original will be 1024:2048, which is 1 x 2. We will need to crop the image into a 1 x 1, or perfect square.

To have your normal channel as high quality as possible, you should use 1024:1024. This will work for clothing items like full body outfits, tops, bottoms, gloves, socks, and tights (basically anything mapped in this bottom portion of the UV map). For all of these items, you must use a square and cannot crop it to be smaller. For shoes, this means a very large blank area.

For accessory items like jewelry and hats, the cropping is different. For instance, a hat would be 512:256. If you are unsure of the dimensions to use, export the normal channel on the maxis item and copy its dimensions. The following instructions will assume you are making a clothing item and not an accessory item.

Click anywhere on the image while you have the crop tool active, then adjust your dimensions in the box to the left. You can manually type it in or drag the box and follow the size in the box as you drag.

The box should be perfectly aligned with the bottom and have no space below. If you have space below, just drag it as far to the bottom as you can. GIMP will stop you from dragging it outside of your current dimensions. If a little is sticking out at the top, that is okay. Nothing can be mapped outside of the 1024:1024 dimensions, so it is probably just bleed over or space filler that you are cropping off.

Press “Enter” on your keyboard to complete the crop.

Optional Step: If you desire, you may want to decrease the brightness and increase the contrast on your image so there will be more for njob to pick up. If you already have a lot of contrast, you may not need to do this.

Next, export your image as a PNG or BMP. Be sure to not overwrite your original diffuse texture.

You can now close GIMP, though you will need to open it again later.

Open njob, then your saved, cropped image.

Maximize your screen so you can see what you’re doing.

Go to Filter > Diffusemap > Heightmap and select that option.

The screen will pause to load for a bit before opening up a new box.

Your image will convert to black and white and may look a bit strange. The first step is to change your “Course Detail” setting to the lowest (or close to the lowest) setting and your “Fine Detail” to the highest setting. I generally play around with the “Mid Detail” and “Scale” until I get what I want. Try to have what you want to be visible stand out, while folds should be soft and fuzzy but still somewhat distinguishable.

Once you have what you need, click OK and go to Filter > Heightmap > Normalmap

There are two settings, “Scale” and “Blur Radius.” Neither of them have “ideal” settings, so you will need to adjust as you need. “Scale” controls the depth of the contrast and “Blur Radius” impacts the softness of the image. If your edges are too harsh, your normal map may look odd in game.

You will probably also have lines in areas in no texture. This is normal, and I will go over how to remove those later.

Once you are satisfied with how things look, save the image as a bitmap.

Now, open your bitmap image in GIMP. It is time to clean up the image and get rid of the artifacts. Unfortunately, unlike a specular, a normal map doesn’t have a mask to prevent bleed over onto skin or other textures. The unused areas need to be a midrange, solid grey. It is easier to edit at this step before you create your transparency.

Select a midrange blue color from one of the blank areas with your color selector and make it your background color by using the arrow button between the foreground and background colors.

Select the areas that should be blank and delete them, which will replace the lines with a solid blue color. This would be areas around the neck, wrists and ankles, and also places like the filler beneath skirts and tops that doesn’t need texturing. Be sure to select the odd lines around the image, which are usually a bright teal or hot pink color. Those can be very visible.

Sometimes, you may need to take your paintbrush and clean up the artifacts if they are in curved or very small areas. If anything looks too sharp, you can also use the smudge brush to smooth it out (very lightly). But don’t move anything around too much.

Once you have cleaned up your image, export it again as a bitmap. This is just so you can go back to it if you make a mistake later or need to modify it. Usually I save it as a new image, but you can overwrite the old one if you are feeling confident.

I have to point out that sometimes you can get away with not cleaning the artifacts from your image. But I have had too many issues with it in the past to skip this step.

Now it is time to make the normal map. Finally!

In the layers area, right click on your single layer and add an alpha channel to it. There is also a small button at the bottom you can use to add an alpha channel. You will need this transparency for the next step.

Next, go to Colors > Components > Decompose.

A small box will open up. Change your color model from RGB to RGBA to enable the alpha channel as a separate channel (layer).

Now, a new image will open that is your bitmap but greyscale. You will see four layers on the side called red, green, blue and alpha.

Select the red layer and click CTRL + A on your keyboard to select the entire layer. Then, click CTRL + C to copy the layer. (If you don’t have a keyboard, you can do “Select all” and “Copy” but this takes longer).

Now, go to your layer named alpha and press CTRL + V (paste) and CTRL + H (to anchor the layer). Now, you have replaced the alpha channel with the red channel.

Next, go to the green layer and select and copy it. Paste and anchor it into the red and blue layers, just as you did before with the red layer and alpha layer.

Your image won’t look too much different right now, it will just look like the green alpha channel rather than the visible red alpha channel when you opened it. Go back to the top bar and choose Colors > Components > Recompose. This will alter your original image, so the one you have open in layers will stay open. Go back up to the top and select the original image to go back to it, or close your layered image.

Now, your image should have changed from mostly blue to a transparent, mid-range gray with only a few elements visible. This is how it is supposed to look. If you don’t have transparency or it looks very different, then you probably messed up somewhere. Generally, I find it easier to go back to the original cleaned up bitmap (that you saved for future use) and start from scratch rather than trying to figure out where I messed up. That is usually faster.

Next, export your single-layer image as a PNG or DDS file (your preference). You will need a DDS plugin to save DDS files.

Open your item in Sims4Studio and import your new image file in the normal texture category. You will see a small preview in the box, which will probably show more details than you were able to see in GIMP. If it looks correct, save it and go to check it in game or in CASTools (which has a feature for previewing bumpmaps that can help you check for alignment problems). CASTools can be particularly useful if your computer doesn’t open the Sims quickly and you want to preview multiple bumpmaps. The only issue with CASTools is that it doesn’t really look much like it will look in game.

In CASTools. You have to select to see the bumpmap in the Previewer tab.

In game.

As I have only been making normal channels for a few months now, it’s possible I have missed some things, so if you know an easier or better way let me know and I can update the tutorial. I hope this is useful to you!

[indic0lite]

Fun fact! I once painted something that had so many layers that I after I saved it as a png and closed the sai file, I could never open that file again, I could only post the png JSNSJNSKSN

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

Witcher of the Night (Chapter 20.1)

THIS IS MODERN ERA READER WHO WOKE UP IN THE DIMENSION OF THE WITCHER.

DOUBLE UPDATE FOR A WEEK Y’ALL! MWAH MWAH! PLEASE DO LEAVE A FEEDBACK BEFORE YOU GO---OR MAYBE A REBLOG WILL BE NICE FOR MY EFFORT. Hehehe. Thank y’all!

CHAPTER 20

WOTN MASTERLIST

Characters: Geralt of Rivia x small!Naive!Reader

Summary: Sometimes other people's stories were actually not just a tale of fantasies when the protagonist in the story can't even give you an answer to soothe your insecurity, curiosity and fear over being alone in a dimension you didn't belong in.

Warnings: Soft, touchy and caring Geralt. Insecure and anxious reader. Brooding witcher. Baths with the witcher? Mention of Yennefer. Nudity. Angst. Geralt being too blunt and saying...things. Heh. Don't hate him later please? 😥😘 Mention of Parallel Universe. Doppelganger. Ingrith is just a character I made up, alright? she ain't a part of Yennefer's story in the games, books or show. 

Words: 7.6k

A/N: So, Yeap. I wanted to leave ya with all these angst. Hehehe. COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED! MWAH! *waits for comments about people cursing Geralt lmao 😂😂* @casualfansoul​​ You’ve been such a sweetheart! BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE! I hope you’ll love this chapter dedicated to you! Mwah! 

TAGLIST IS STILL OPEN FOR THIS ONE! Heehee! Don’t forget to REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE FEEDBACK IF YOU DID LOVE THIS CHAPTER! IT’LL MAKE ME SMILE! Sorry for the grammatical errors and such because English isn’t my mother tongue! PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK AFTER READING, BB! This is kinda a rough draft. I apologize for many errors.

Disclaimer: PNG’s and pictures used in edits are not mine even the GIF’s too. However, the edits and this fanfic is definitely from moi. Character development and personalities are based from my understanding and how I want them to be.(Credits to those who made the GIF’s. Some don’t have their watermarks included. I don’t remember where I’ve saved the others from)

MY WORKS ARE NOT NOT NOT NOT NOOOOOOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have for writing aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!

"Will you tell me why you are utterly cranky all of a sudden?"

Face to face with the rim of the wooden bath, you've had your knotted brows in a twist. Pout oh-so-long that Geralt knew as he sat behind you, seeking answers for your upset state. He'd gotten you out of your clothes; forcefully must you say. Earning a glare from him as he was peeling your clothes away like he was caring for his sick, pouty child.

No complaints were accepted as he'd given you the idea to care for your wounds in the tub. Downright secretive about wanting to feel the comfort of your nudity grazing against his without any monkey business going on.

The witcher has received constant grumbles and whines of protests as he poured the potent medicine that evaporated through the fresh wounds; painful enough for you to shriek while his arm surrounding your waist tightened with every whimper of your sobbing self; shushing your cries with a soft coo of his endearment on your ear and the feathery nuzzle of his nose against that tiny spot behind your ear while he soothes your pains.

They've fully had injured your back with more than just wallops. He'd knew by the looks of the lesions, the people in the castle has even burnt your skin with metal; scorching metal that has given you scars that would forever haunt oneself. The mere thought tormenting him by their brutal punishments; keeping him all in wonder when he has never received any violent retorts and schemes from you as they did everything in their willpower to strike a hand. Your submission making the witcher glower behind as Geralt caught sight of such deep wounds whilst taking off the gauze; seeing blood seeping out of the healing skin as it was a sign that he really and badly needed to treat your body.

Sobs were emitted while he watched your wounds dry from the potion he'd mix, receiving kisses on the cold, sweating nape of yours every now and then. A gesture that Geralt started doing when you were shrieking in the midst of being poured by such elixir while you felt his breath on your skin. Sweetly kissing through your pain and lowly humming that you were going to be okay and you've been good.

It felt like all the energy downed on you after he'd stop and was done pouring the elixir everywhere around your body. The warm water lining on your chest turned colder when you've slowly leaned your back on Geralt, hissing from the soreness but actually ending up loving the warmth that he could only give while he kept his burly arm around you, your lips still in a pout while staring at the bed from the far corner of the room; basking in the witcher's silence before he asked.

His question gotten you unready for an honest answer as he bluntly shot the query out, planning to resolve the problem with you in the best way that he thought. Being forthright.

"Hmm." you hummed back in displeasure, sounding exactly the same like how he does.

The corner of his lips lifted in a small smirk, his voice vibrating at the back of your head and against his chest. The buzz keeping you calm and at ease rather than being alone in the castle when he haven't arrived yet. Your anxiety giving you such trauma that made you want to sob again.

But, Geralt's distraction to stifle your cries has technically been useful when he felt you sigh again, watching your face from above and behind to see a frown etching to grow. He heedlessly fetched a cup of water with the palm of his hand, delicately pouring your cheek with water as he gruffly quipped.

"That's my line. Not yours, Midget."

Geralt repeated his gestures with you, lightly damping your hair with water as he gently brushed your tousled wet hair with the spaces of his fingers, keeping them light and comforting which made you lean back a lot more, accepting his gentleness after being physically whacked in harsh moments prior before he came around---your purpose of being upset has now been forgotten by his unfamiliar gestures that was tickling your spine with ants racing on your skin because of how his actions was giving you cavity. A sweet tooth.

Just being held so softly felt good in real life---you didn't know how comforting it feels even back in earth, but right now was just the right time to feel how you would yearn for it when Geralt wouldn't be around.

"I told you, before I even realized that you were important to me was after you've made a wish to the Djinn."

Your swollen cheek fell on the skin of his biceps; sighing while you stared out of nowhere and finally held onto his arm surrounding your waist, keeping you still and steady in his arms. His nudity becoming not much of a problem for you now because it was an experience that you could never forget; eventually having the privilege in familiarizing his body just like how a lover does while he did the same to you.

Though, his imperfect beauty could still get you blushing nevertheless as he liked seeing yours no matter how insecure you get---but he seemed to admire your nakedness a lot which he received with a 'men versus boobs' explanation that his kind of gender would always love the idea of breasts no matter how big or small as the same goes for a vagina.

You'd received a pleased hum after that and also some horny witcher begging and trying his best to get your clothes off in his sneaky techniques.

"I know. I'm sorry I was cranky, Geralt."

The white wet-haired witcher pursed his lips, looking down at your face as you've felt his gaze heavy while he calmly spoke.

"It's...alright. But, must it be for Eanraig to see and hear?"

You've given him another sincere, sweet and soft apology. Caressing your thumb over the top of his scarred hand which was under the waters and he'd let you graze over the tiniest marks on his fingers and palms, swaying under the bath water. Breathing calm and collected while he stayed in bath with you; cherishing such moment again that could get his chest feeling the lightest out of all the times he lived in the continent; more freeing to than the one he had with a particular sorceress whom he had also been connected with; via Djinn.

His free hand lifted away from leaning onto the edge of the tub, reaching down to sweep your hair to the side. Clearing the space on your neck and such wounds from the shoulder blades, others being a scar from his potent medicine that he has poured.

"I remembered your skin clearly in the back of my head. Thoroughly silk like a bairn's bum,"

He paused, prolonging the silence as he gently danced his fingers on the skin of your shoulders; too tender that it began to lick your spine, igniting the tiniest shiver when you've felt the soft, warm feathery feeling of his lips giving your painted shoulder a peck of his specific comfort that he only gives to people who have turned his world a much better place than how much of a hell it has been.

"Now, you are scarred." Geralt grumbled against your skin, giving one last kiss and making everything all worth while as he was still around. Continuously denouncing what they've done to his family---even beating Jaskier to pulp.

"---They've...turned you like me,"

You've slightly turned your head to see his amber eyes withdrawn from reality. Thoughts probably plaguing his mind while he scowled. A simple purse of your lips, suggesting to receive a small, quick buss has Geralt dipping his head down to sweetly smack your lips to his, letting him feel that you were there; finally there with him physically and he didn't need to worry.

Thus, it was just like that. Geralt and his presence, including such soft gestures that you rarely receive nor see that he does for anyone and a soundly kiss has let the upset feelings go away, simply just like that.

Even though, he has never confessed any love yet---this was forging you both to understand what connection you have for each other. Though, clearly unspecific and undistinguished. Or was this his type of love? a love never needed to be told for it can be felt?

The question here, does he even love you? was this love?

Partially turning around in his arms to see him gazing back at you, Geralt seemed to be nonplussed and introverted with his thoughts. Keeping words to himself while he was giving you a solemn frown of his face, examining your swollen eye that you tried pulling him out of his regret and blames with a quirky tone of your voice; sounding like nothing has happened to you nor have you been battered to bruising limbs.

"When are you going to leave?"

"After I take care of you, midget." he deeply murmured, watching you like a hawk with golden eyes as the candle light was making his eyes glow prettier than usual. You grabbed a handful amount of water with your palms, arms sore as you reached up to pour water on his face that surely gotten a deep, complain of his humming when it made him close his eyes from the uninvited rainfalls of liquid.

The fading colored grime has been softly scrubbed off by the pad of your damp thumbs over the apples of his cheeks. His gaze was utmost heavy, shooting you a warm, loving sensation on your chest; surrounding the fading Cicatrix that somehow turned insipid after the nights before with the witcher.

You couldn't help but notice his grouching and grumpy self as he scanned your face with an affectionate flicker in his amber that made you tut. The gentleness you were giving was a thorough unfamiliar feeling he always received from you despite of your negative characteristics---though, he doesn't mind it at all---sometimes, he does but that was beyond the point when he felt comfort from you and aspire to give it back despite of not knowing what and how comfort is to a witcher.

"Stop being such a wild cat---Let me guess, you haven't gotten to have your nap again?"

Geralt huffed out a breath of complaint. A short, low growl that made you giggle quickly when you wiped his face with your fingers; playfully glaring at how you were bathing him.

"When did I ever?"

"It seems like you haven't had it last night again---Stop scowling like you want to strangle me," you lightly poked the dimples of his nose that got him deeply growling his protests. His expressions completely emotionless as he turned his face to avoid your play-time; considering on biting your fingers off to stop annoying the heck out of him.

Howbeit, Geralt went on in silently letting you touch his face. Mesmerized by how his scars really never affected his beauty and probably added perfection over his gorgeousness. The witcher mutely let you trace the bridge of his nose and the scars on his face whilst intently staring at your face in return.

"---Until you came along," he surprisingly continued the topic, never breaking his gaze as he'd seen you lean closer to his face. The tangy scent he was familiar in recognizing from you, mixing with the medicine on your skin. Yet, it didn't stop him to wait for what you had in mind. Your bruised, healing lips brushing against his that made both of your chests tingly for over such sweet intimacy that you've both eventually become accustomed with.

Geralt pursed his lips for your thirsts to calm down; such desperate feeling that both parties yearned for. A twee, syrupy connection of your lips on his---a kiss that made warmth spread through you like an angel's halo trying to make you holy and worth for his affections.

Men in your world will certainly not impress you anymore. Geralt of Rivia has raised the bars of what men should be---he'd ruined the normality of what you expected from such gender because you believed that they may not reach the level of what you've felt for him.

Love as you may see now.

But, it can be quite blurry of a picture for a future that you do not hold or knew how it'll be for the both of you because you've teleported as a miracle that nobody expected to receive.

"If I---If I die---" your pessimist self started to run your mouth over Geralt. Yet, he was quick to cut you off with a sullen chide and an avoidance of your gaze with a grumpy sigh.

"Stop. Don't." he groused with the mouth ends pulled down, "---You're not going to die,"

"What if I do?"

His eyes turned penetrating as if he wanted to tell how much you are wrong about that argument. Those cat-eyes of his; sharp and making a stand for the idea he didn't want to accept.

"I will never let that happen. They can have me hunt down whatever they want, even slice a throat of a nobleman or a monster but I will never let anything happen to you,"

The witcher gently scooped water with a palm of his hand, pouring them over your face. Coming forth with a scrub of it as he shoved his large palm that made you shriek against his hold while he lightly scoured your face as a gesture to clean you more inside the bath; avoiding your healing bruises.

"---I don't want to hear that again while I give you a bath,"

Darkness suddenly turned into seeing Geralt's stony stare after being suffocated by his hand that was suddenly shoved on your face, "I'm sorry," you immediately tried to woo over his vexation, your face wet from the bath water he tried to rinse you in, an involuntary response of your arms slipping around his bare waist shocked your consciousness because of how touchy-feely you've become around him.

The latter welcomed your apology and touches, humming in appeasement for your quick sorry; knowing your way with him and reading that he could not tolerate such physical-contact from you without liking the feel of your skin, you've leaned your body more to him---your naked chests flushed together that got him curling his lips in a small smile whilst feeling your forehead fall on the side of his neck, nuzzling with an apology.

"I-I didn't mean to upset you,"

Quietude embraced you both. Sitting in a tub. Entirely bare for each other to see but it was so wholesome for the betterment of your relationship with him; nurturing what understanding you both have for each other, not entirely specific nor knowing what it is. As a matter of fact, you do know what you felt for him, but not the other way around.

"She..She isn't a queen in my world,"

Bamboozle screamed inside his eyes for your statement, his fingers gliding along the small of your back under the waters as he hummed in curiosity.

"Hmm?"

You've remember the time that the queen has visited your cell. Retched between the hatch of the door came in view was your kind boss who wore the finest set of golden, silk, long gown with rich trimmings. She stopped by to check on your victimized state with a glaze of ignorance in her eyes. She didn't care for your condition because if so, she wouldn't have left the slammer with a quiet scoff.

Out of all the people who could turn out evil was a queen in Geralt's world and a boss you've highly given respect to.

Nonetheless, in this world; it seemed to be like the opposite personalities of how people had been in your world.

"Your queen. Queen Makeda. She's named Angela Cincinnati. The boss of mine who also works in the pizza parlor that I'm in,"

Geralt has leaned back on the edge of the tub in a relaxed posture, lifting his other hand every now and then to pour water on your hair that tickled your insides because of how cold the water has been already. His warmth being your therapy while thinking such hypothetical answers for what mysteries that the continent has been giving you. Jotting down possibilities that a typical earthling could try to guess like they were watching a very interesting movie.

"Does this mean I have someone who looks like me in this world too?" pause. "---Does she have a better life than me?"

Your witcher cocked his head to the side as he was in deep thought over the woman who looked like you. His mouth opening and closing for whatever shit he wanted to say because Savia has been the person who ruined your future by creating such crimes being pointed at you because you looked like her twin.

"Worse. I can say that you had a better life than her and also complicated yours at the same time," he gravely informed.

"My doppelganger then? have you already seen her?"

"Will you try to find her if I say yes?"

"No. I...don't wanna scare her with this drama movie I'm in."

You've leaned away from Geralt and his consoling cuddles, trying hard to rip your body away from him when all you wanted was to bask in his own embrace. Splashing your face with more bath water, he'd given you a curious glint of his eyes. Fixating his gaze on your bare form, subtly sliding his focus on the depths of your neck and wanting nothing more than to give more sweet busses of care. Geralt ignored the modern reference you've muttered about being in a movie and found it more interesting to appreciate the nudity you've freely have been giving him.

It's not like you were naked all the time. The witcher snickered to himself; appreciating the best view of you that he can ever get.

"The water's cold now. Are we done?" you softly whispered, the thought of your doppelganger out there; like a twin from another mother and dimension that you didn't expect to have. It was interesting to know, but frightening to actually see the real her because people like your doppelganger who lived in the medieval era might not be a great sight for the woman.

Geralt grabbed onto the end of the tub, whisking a thin, Ivory robe that was made of silk as he deeply grumbled, "Stand."

You've stood on your feet, hopping off the tub entirely dripping wet from the bath water; feeling eyes heavy on your body and raking over your nudity from behind. The heat started to rise up your face again, making you clear your throat when you've turned your body to grab onto the robe that Geralt has reached out for you. His keen peepers grabbing the chance to shamelessly rake your body in silence.

He'd received no refusal or a loud scolding after thinking it through that he had the liberty of doing so; also, the idea being a gift after trying to protect you from any harm and sacrificing over an endless hunt just for the Kaedwenians to cease their punishments.

"Hmm. A movie. I missed watching one. Though, It's not like if I ask you to go on a date with me again, Geralt---A movie date this time---watching a movie with you will never happen," you turned your head at your front, slipping your arms inside the short sleeves while tightening the knot around your waist; frowning when the witcher couldn't see your face. The truth beginning to bother you when problems began to rise and for such abrupt topic that lingered along your consciousness.

"---Because you and I both live in different worlds, it's like they collide."

Geralt kept his mouth hushed. The loud splash of water echoing around the room when he left the wooden tub; strolling behind to promenade past you. His stark-naked self never bothering him after the night you both had each other. Basking in more of his nudity especially when he slept; knowing that he was mentally complaining over how reserved he needed to be while you slept beside him, his clothes very uncomfortable because of the heat he was feeling.

Basically, he did not know the meaning of clothes after the night of ravish; constantly taking his slumbers in the nude as he covertly tried to wrench them off you as well with his witcher needs.

His bare back and derriere was displayed before you, the distinct foramen of his brawny back giving you a loud greeting as he grabbed onto his trousers on the end of the bed, lending his ear and slipping on his leather pants that was bursting through the seams because of his thick thunder thighs and curvacious derriere.

"My world and yours, they sound like a parallel universe that I completely don't understand even back in earth, it's too complicated to know---too scientific for my thriving brain,"

Quick panic-stricken questions were sent to the witcher; the motion of the words hasty and apprehensive because of such negative ideas forming inside your head; skyrocketing like a plague in your mind while Geralt wore his breeches, not trying to take cover in front of you.

You couldn't help but shift your eyes constantly at Geralt and the queen sized bed, his gigantic biceps straining along his movements while buttoning his pants; lowly grunting from each pull of the hem to fit his curvaceous, muscled arse that you couldn't help but clear your throat, forgetting what you needed to say for a second and being distracted over your trembling anxiety.

You eyes took heed of the opened windows where the brisk wind was slipping in a breeze, seeing how you could see the pale moon from afar. A guess telling you that the room was in a high place. In a few short strides, you've looked out of the window, peering up the Tartarean night sky to meet the moon in its full glory, finding no flaw that you were in a different planet and not yours.

Confusing and complicated to understand in your human perspective because nothing human was basically being shown as you lived in their world.

"This...This is your earth. Your continent. While my earth out there also exists without any one of you knowing. What if I have a count down while I stay in your world---what will happen to me---would I get to stay alive forever in this world when I have been too dependent over you?"

Heavy strides alarmed you for Geralt's presence who loomed behind your back. His mouth curled down when he has heard your questions; feeling no trust in between you both, hesitance scrambling your way and filling your heart when it hasn't been there before you even came to the castle. It was baffling him for your curiosity and determined self to seek answers when he has no answer to it at all.

The sorceress has probably told stuff to you, he silently thought as he brushed a hand over your arm and clothed shoulder. The roughness of his palm colliding against your bruised ones as he tries his best to provide what you needed; not knowing what because of how he does not understand this kind of relationship with women because it has always been typically greed, lust or a needed release to calm his overly mutations.

Except for you, Yennefer or Renfri because he actually really cares.

"Do you not want me to protect you?" he gravely mumbled behind, seeming to be slightly taking umbrage after hearing the queries.

"You're only doing this because you have no other choice just like how you've told the king that I was your betrothed when it isn't true at all,"

How sure were you to say that it wasn't true?

Reflecting and debating his thoughts over your judgement, Geralt marred an agonized frown that creased his forehead. He rarely does claim such label but he didn't regret the action after hearing how it made the king lessen the punishments for you; excluding all planned damnation. The witcher had no explanations about the moment he had called you his betrothed nor did he want whatever you were thinking about his actions.

Hence, it instantly made him cantankerous when he hasn't been feeling it before you opened that mouth of yours again.

"You think I have done it with a purpose I don't understand," he incoherently rumbled in his baritone timbre. Slightly pulling away from his own touch on yours to turn around and walk through the end of the bed to wear and grab onto his armor and under shirt, half naked with a straining back; all rigid and stressing under the skin.

"Geralt---"

"With the mishaps of my world and yours, if I ask you to stay; will you leave your kingdom?"

He'd turn his foot around to see him slip the under tunic over his head, the scowl prominent making him appear stony; dour and solemn. His eyes eager while it reflects the candle light on the side of the bed. Reading through the golden hues lay a pining greed that the witcher never knew he craves for; such hungering he does not know that he wanted to find and receive when it was his own faults over not having it because when he feels a deeper connection with someone, the white wolf suddenly becomes disfunctional; pushing her away because of not spitting the truth about his feelings.

He was capable of it; having feelings over another. Love as people may describe but he was in denial and can be reflective, the processing quite slower than usual because he had never received love through out his lifetime; not even a mother who actually cared.

No one.

You didn't understand him; what he really wanted to say or do because his words were spoken on a race track, passing through the chuckholes that could get you knowing what his true feelings were.

Was he letting you stay out of love or out of pity that you were lost, vulnerable and needed adoption?

"Do you believe in love, Geralt?" you've countered back, feeling the warmth spread around your chest for skipping around bushes over the real meaning behind your words; sounding like a confession if he was smart enough. The warmth spreading through like wildfire, scathing your skin as it felt like it was burning from the reality you were seeing.

"---Or are you only doing this because of the Djinn incident? you're only feeling this way for me because I came around while Yennefer isn't?"

The latter gave a grim frown upon the mention of her name. Just like how he always does when Jaskier says her name when it shouldn't been uttered. Now, it was your turn to give a grouch. Your feigned smile joyless when Geralt was unblinking from your unexpected argument.

Was this true love you have with him? Did he even feel the same way when he can't even say the word at all? or will you both hate each other until it grows into spite?

Will you eventually be killed by the hands of a man you love as said by Eanraig's understanding over the curse set between?

"I've heard from the sorceress that you have been finding Yennefer from her a month before I came along and that this connection I had with you also had been the same with that Vengerberg. What if she comes back around? what will happen to me?"

Ingrith has said more information than you can bear. You weren't just physically pained but also mentally as well for whatever bullcrap she wanted to address. Palms over your ears were the only solution to shut the truth off as it echoed around the dungeon. She'd smirked when you've whimpered from the stones, the back of your sweater drenched in blood for using hardened sticks which had pointy twigs; never believing what they were doing to you as they also tried to throughly kick your stomach.

The men who were ordered to do so had no idea why they've been commanded to batter your torso, but you knew it had something to be involved with the cunning sorceress because of how she'd given another dagger of her gaze lingering on your middle like you would magically grow a baby inside of it when it was impossible from the start because of Geralt's infertility.

The witcher was like a bomb about to detonate. Though, the explosion never came other than a tight clench of his jaw. Geralt was wearing a lour like a bad omen over being interrogated; debating over answering the confusing truth that left him debating over himself as well. He has never remembered the sorceress until you've mentioned her; remembering that he'd taken full measures to even try finding Yennefer's long lost cousin for a plan to get back with her and earning nothing in return.

"You're blathering complete nonsense, Midget. You've also been listening to Ingrith when I told you not to. She's cunning and will do anything to ruin you---kill you,"

Your mouth turned upside down; tighter and pensive for being swerved again, "You didn't answer my question." an exasperated huff was let out, "---she was once important to you. I've heard from your bard; you had adventures with her, shared powerful moments that are exactly the opposite of what we are having---she's the first woman you've loved. A powerful, independent lady that you will never regret having in your life because she can defend everyone---and I'm...just me,"

You didn't know what has gotten to you. The insecurities lighting up the sky, constantly reminding you that his existence can be a mere catch of your dreams because he was too good to be true---or jealousy infecting your blood into thinking that he would leave you alone when he never had yet?

Perhaps, it may be how proud Jaskier has told you that she was powerful that it has intimidated you. Her name seems to be beautiful and there was no doubt she was when he has been avoiding of hearing her name.

He had probably been devoted of Yennefer when a tight frown couldn't be erased upon the lips you have been kissing---thoughtlessly thinking that it was genuine or had any meaning to it.

"Really, what am I to you? "

"My home. Also equally important."

"More important than her? Do you dream of her?"

"You know I don't---not anymore."

Not anymore, he said. So, he does dream of her before.

Crossing your arms over your chest, your fingers went straight to the sleeves, anxiously rubbing over the silk against each other for the dreading beats of your heart, your eyes turning to look away as you quietly spoke; highly aware of an expected rejection.

"If I tell you what I really feel about you, will you give me an answer?" you softly spoke to the chilly air embracing your fidgety form.

"---Because then, you will know my answer about staying in this world you're in."

You've turned your head to see him wearing a permanent pucker of his brows, veiled with furrows of indifference and a look of betrayal. Your bluntness being a detriment because of giving an indefinite answer as well, avoiding his question and misunderstanding the sour expression on your face a while ago.

"Is it hate? Disgust?" he gruffly gnarled. His attitude turning colder like an executioner's ax, unaware of the slight wince on your face because of how glazed he appeared to be.

"---because I am highly aware of what people see of me. I am at loss for what Ingrith must've told; lies or what may result that I am seeing you look at me like I've cast the Djinn's curse on you when you have never looked at me like that at all,"

He spat those words with a sardonic drip of his tongue. The frown darkening his expression more than it ever was.

"Don't blame me on this one, Geralt. Don't shift my words like I think so lowly of you when you and I both don't know the real deal between us with the Djinn incident,"

Geralt loudly exhaled his breath through his nose, marching towards you with the face of an angry ape. Disbelieving what he was comprehending from you, saying that what you shared was beyond reality; like he has been told by it the second time. Your words inconspicuous of loudly saying that maybe what you were both feeling was magic after all; having the presence of the Djinn around  for another relationship that he was having.

"You don't want to stay," he ceased his footsteps, looming before you. His irritation suddenly intimidating like a bulldozer when you realized he was bigger than he could get if he was mad at whatever you've done; or probably it was just your point of view because you were feeling small over his blaring anger.

"---Isn't that what you wanted to say?" Geralt emphasized much clearer this time, drawling his words with a hopeful hint that he just misunderstood you and he was right.

"What---? I didn't even said that! Give me a reason to stay then! I am in shambles for your way of thinking right now!"

He had a wide-legged stance; leaning onto more of your personal space while his Aureate eyes deeply stared into yours. Volatile and blazing as it looked like a fixed glare, baring his teeth as it curled---his fangs slipping through as he bluntly spoke.

"You aren't being entirely forthright,"

You couldn't help but cross your arms tighter against your chest, shuffling on your feet as you mentally gasp from his retort. Defensive as his attitude was beginning to irritate you too.

"Well, you aren't being forthright too!"

Geralt huffed before you. Momentarily scoping out the ceilings before peering down and staring right back with blazing peepers. Though, the witcher has never raised his voice on you when you've did. But, you knew he was fuming; seething deep inside, "I don't know what's wrong with you." he gravely mumbled to himself, steaming up from your sudden, churlish attitude.

"---you're a cherub for a while then acting hostile the next. Is this your pathetic insecurity talking or you just hate me all of a sudden?"

Your eyes instantly went wide open and jaw falling slack at how he'd open his mouth. Raising a finger to his chest as you slightly backed away.

"You're calling my insecurity pathetic?" you uttered in disbelief, swallowing hard for having to hear him be this way---though, you knew he was capable of being such because of how blunt he was. But, he was never mean to you as much as calling your insecurity pathetic. Tight lips were given to the witcher who had his chest puffed out for his own frustrations and repulse.

"---Also, aren't you the one who said that maybe this whole thing is actually just the Djinn effects before you've even---! Even---!?" put his pickle in a jar. Wreck the punani. Ravished you in bed. Shared Netflix and Chill despite having no Netflix in their world.

You shook your head for stammering, quietly growling for the annoyance he'd given after basically taking care of you---expecting that it was done out of love, just like how you've first initially thought of staying forever by his side when he has asked you to stay in their world regardless of the consequences and disadvantages.

"What's next then? My anxiety is childish for you too? nonsense?" pause. "---You don't even know what I mean---and even have no idea about what feelings I was talking about. You can't even tell me what happened between you and Yennefer without disregarding my question or avoiding the topic---or even cut Jaskier off!"

Standing akimbo, you've narrowed your eyes, tilting your chin to the fullest because of his skyscraper height. The displeasure shown from how your nose was twisted and from how you couldn't control your mouth from taking a marathon.

"If I shut up and never question you about things anymore then it just means that I don't care for you at all when I do so badly. Do you know what this means to me? Nobody has plagued my mind so hard---no other man has filled my mind with crazed thoughts. In my world, this means that I---"

Geralt immediately cut you off. His teeth bared and jaw set as he interrupted you out of the blue, catching you off guard.

"It must be for the better then," he rasped, clearly disgruntled for what he should respond to the quick blatter of your brain. His mind gripping so hard like wires being tightened.

"---It must be for the better that you tighten that mouth of yours because you don't know when to shut up sometimes,"

Geralt had a cloudy countenance from his sudden bark. Suddenly forgetting how to respond after hearing every word inside his head. He shouldn't have cut you off especially when you were about to say your secret---the one you've been delibitating over countless of times inside your head; making everything sure before saying those heartfelt words because it was three words that meant the world to you as it will be the first.

Yet, the witcher had to fuck everything up with his petulant mood.

Your clenched fists turned slack. Expression stolid with your throat tightly swallowing the bane sipping through your esophagus like it was being punished for even hoarding all your confidence over confessing what you've felt for the white wolf. You've rapidly blinked your hazy, cloudy eyes; your chest tightening because it was reading 'rejection' because of how Geralt wanted you to shut up.

Maybe, he didn't need to hear the confession at all.

Eyes cast downward; feeling the medicines he'd given you seep through your skin and making everything numb. You didn't expect the concoction to also numb your fragile heart, experiencing your first heart break. Your palms turned clammy over tightening them over. Passing beside Geralt and avoiding those eyes that was thoroughly regretting what has been said, the bed may seem to be a better place to faint on and cry yourself through the night rather than his comforting arms that you wouldn't get to reject if he'd say his apologies, trying to stop you from crying.

Hurriedly hiding your face away from him, you've sat on the bed with your back away from him. Your face like rain experiencing in the middle of thunder, utterly gloomy and despair for reading the signs in the opposite of what you didn't expect. Forgetting that love shouldn't be filled with expectations so disappointments may be less.

Your toes were scuffing against the carpet with a voice turning smaller, shaky as the tears were threatening to fall and it would be when Geralt decides to talk.

"I hope you didn't say that but...but considering my profound hearing tonight and how angry you made me feel, I suggest that you take care of that monster hunting of yours. I sincerely hope you find that witch. You can throw me away soon so you couldn't hear anything from me again, Geralt. You want me to zip it? I'll zip it, then. Don't bother talking to me if you genuinely don't want to,"

Everything would be perfect. This would've been a utopian scenery when your leading man decides to wrap his arms around you, comforting you from the verge of crying your heart out for his mistakes or for both of yours. But, Geralt was no leading man or a prince that he was highly opposing of. He was beyond repair or a man whom you needed to understand more than any normal one should because of how he was raised and created.

Geralt of Rivia was a witcher you couldn't understand. Hence, he was more human than he could ever get as he decided to be unresponsive. Silent and basking in his own regret. Just like a new potion he'd recently encountered, trying to decipher how it worked---knowing the ingredients to get you simmering down in no time.

It was a wrong word to say. Geralt was sure of it. He was beginning to argue with himself, grinding his own teeth together when he has seen your posture slouch. Your fingers fiddling with the sheets of the mattress, tightly holding them in your hands as you looked outside of the window from the side of the bed, avoiding his eyes.

Then, he heard familiar padded footsteps coming forth outside the doors of your chambers.

Eanraig. He was being requested to be seen for his upcoming hunt in a few hours.

Geralt was dreading to leave you in a state like this because he knew you were mad.

He heard loud taps against the locked door which has subtly make you turn your head towards the doorway without wholly turning your body. A frustrated growl reverberated around the four corners of the room---it was Geralt.

The latter tightly closed his fists on his sides, shooting daggers on your back who avoided giving him attention after his fuming episode, hearing the word 'fuck' slipping through his lips in such an exasperated bark to himself while he padded through the room and grabbed onto his belongings; his weapons and his resentment for such an argument that you blocked him in after receiving a petty, personal attack.

You've heard the lock sliding out of its hook. Swiftly turning on your bed, Geralt was already paving his way out of the door, heavily marching and begrudging. He'd open the door to reveal Eanraig raising an arm to knock a little more louder.

"The king requests for you, Geralt---"

The witcher gave a displeased, unmannerly grumble of his chest. A hum that surely given the druid an understanding that he was not in the best mood to talk, passing through Eanraig as he went straight out of the door with the nastiest scowl he has seen since the moment he arrived.

Lovers Quarrel. He mindlessly thought to himself, watching the witcher strut away and along the stoned hallways like he was bringing all the storm with him. Nobody would notice he was aggravated if they knew him better.

Eanraig quietly shut the door behind him, his eyes meeting your bleary ones that complimented the pouty frown growing more and more when you've realized Geralt left you all mad, never even intending to comfort you, ask what 'feelings' you meant or even bother to tell you that he didn't mean you were pathetic.

In a flash, you've gotten a queasy feeling inside of your stomach which made you grab onto your mouth, your face flinching as you suddenly stood up on your feet, "Little woman," the druid sauntered to where you've strolled---before the open windows as you shot your head out of it, retching after a little while before he was beside you, calmly patting your back to make you feel better.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just...nauseous. Thank you, Eanraig." wiping your mouth with the back of your palm, you've heaved exhausted breaths while the druid ushered you to sit on the bed. Talking in the midst of it, assuring him that it was nothing but just a stomach bug and feeling weary over it, "---Probably because they've beaten me to pulp,"

The Druid earnestly stared upon your pale face. Hands shaky as you grab onto the soft sheets, softly grazing them beneath the pad of your fingers, caressing with such feeble strength. Eanraig scrutinized your condition as you turned your head away with a face falling over your current fight with the witcher.

The latter languidly sat beside you, a genuine smile turning his eyes into crescent shapes that tells he was intrigued and amused over what signs was receiving from you especially the warm, tender aura radiating off you; more than what you can offer like you came in two's.

"Will you wholeheartedly accept the responsibility of being the mother of your witcher's child, little one?"

I hope you loved the double update, bb’s! FEEDBACKS ARE SO APPRECIATED!

Taglist for WOTN: (Strikethrough means you couldn’t be tagged, Bb. Please check your settings) @alyxkbrl​​​​ @himarisolace​​​​ @barkingbullfrog​​​​ @ayamenimthiriel​​​​ @hellodevilslittlesister​ @turkish276​​​​ @spookypeachx @grungelovebug @fangirl-inthe-us​​​​ @nympeth​​​​ @amirahiddleston​​​​ @gabethelobster​​​​ @dreaming-about-fanfictions​​​ @uncoolcloudyhead​​​​ @melaninstylezz​​​​ @psychosupernaturalhero​​​​ @missjenniferb @dance-dreamer​​​ @marvelousell​​​​ @kingniazx​​​​ @angelias134​​​​ @tapismyforte​​​​ @chook007​​​​ @covid-donotenter​​​​ @deadlydemon​​​​ @cheesecakeisapie​​​​ @angelofthor​​​​ @carrieannewaywardson, @plantingmum @stuckupstucky​​​​, @shesthelastjedi​​​​, @a–1–1–3, @gutfucks​​​​, @britty443​​​​,  @suhke3​​​​, @shadowclawstudio88​​​​  @ruthoakenshield​​​

Overall witcher taglist: @pizza-eater-i-ate-the-pizza​​​​, @crazybutconfidentaf​​​​​

General taglist for Henry Cavill: @agniavateira​​​​​, @iloveyouyen​​​​​, @rahdaleigh​​​​​, @silverkitten547​​​​ @henrythickcavill​​​​ @kaatelyyynn​​​  @madelinelina​​​, @summersong69​​​, @raynosaurus-rex​

[whumping-out-of-timee]

How to have mismatched eye color in any picrew: a tutorial

*****

At the bottom I give a quick overview (but not a specific tutorial) of how you can also make various other things that are almost never available in picrews, some of these are harder than others: Other forms of Heterocromia, Inner eye ring colors, Custom scars, Custom skin tone variations (can make vitiligo, granted the picrew creator added enough skin variations), Custom hair color streaks

*****

Hate when you choose the perfect picrew, but your oc has some form of heterocromia and the picrew won’t let you show that?

Here’s a quick trick to fix it, with zero artistic talent required.

Everything we need is already in the picrew! We’re just going to use a simple layer trick to merge 2 of the same picrew

This will be user friendly for people who have no experience with digital art and will be done using a free mobile app. (Since most people don’t have computer drawing apps if they aren’t into digital art)

Needed: a picrew you like, a free digital art app (I’m going to use ibis paint X for this tutorial)

The link to the picrew I’ll be using for this. No orange eye color though, the one thing I needed lmao

Step 1:

Save two versions of the same picrew with differing eye colors in each as the only difference.

In my experience, the picrew stays built when you re-enter the link. So, just build it and save it as normal, then it will still be there and you can change the eye color before saving the second copy.

Your copies should look about like this: it’s important to keep the rest of picrew as a copy except for the eye color. The fewer differences, the easier it will be.

Step 2:

Ok, now the hardest part is over! Drawing apps can look scary if you’re not used to them, but it will be ok.

When we open IbisPaint X it will look like this:

You want to select ‘My gallery” and then hit the plus sign at the bottom left hand corner. You’ll then be given this menu:

Now this looks like a mess, butttt you’re just going to ignore it all and click import picture. You can then choose 1 of the picrew’s from your gallery. Don’t worry it doesn’t matter which you choose.

You will be prompted with this notification:

Cancel this. This will turn the work into lineart or something I’m not sure tbh. Not familiar with this app. But it will mess up our picrew. Accidentally did it? No problem! Just close the app and go back through the menu

Step 3:

So, now you have this:

We’re ready to overlap it with the other picrew we made!

I’m running out of the 10 photos per post, I’ll try to still give a visual for each step though. Hope it’s not confusing

1- First we’re going to hit the ‘layers’ symbol at the bottom right

2- here we can see the layers, this app seems to automatically make a new layer for a new picture, so don’t worry about any of this! Select the add photo button and choose your picrew with the opposite eye color of the 1st

3- Dont mess with these settings, just push the green check! We don’t want to move the picture since we’re relying on them being directly on top of each other

4- cancel the lineart thing again

5- Now we have 2 layers, each with 1 version of your picrew

6- you can just tap above this menu to close it. It should appear as though our picrew has changed eye color.

Step 4:

Now for the fun part! We’re going to erase one of the eyes on this top layer to reveal the other color underneath!

1- We’re going to switch from pen to eraser using this button in the bottom left hand corner.

2- For the best precision, we’re going to want to zoom in towards the eye that isn’t supposed to be the current color (we can zoom in by placing two fingers on the canvas and pulling them apart. Idk what this is called. Reverse piniching?) The other thing we’re going to do is make the eraser smaller by sliding the top slider to the left.

3- Now we’re ready to erase! Carefully erase over the eye and it will change color. Be careful not the erase the other eye, or it will change color as well. If you make a mistake, the undo button is towards the top of the canvas

4- all done! Just gotta save it now. Push the button in the bottom right corner

5- When the menu comes up, you want to save as a normal PNG. Now it’s in your gallery!

Step 5:

Done!

It doesn’t look edited at all! Because it’s really not, we just combined two of the same art in different colors. No one would ever guess. It still has the same dimensions and everything!

*****

Other stuff you can do with this trick:

Although some of these take a lot more careful erasing, these shouldn’t require any actual drawing. You can use these basics to experiment with this stuff as well:

- A different colored ring around the middle of the eyes: put the middle color on the bottom layer and erase around the pupil carefully in a circle with a very small eraser brush size.

- eyes that are half colored, in a line down the middle (a form of heterocromia): layer order doesn’t matter, erase half of each eye carefully, depending on which color should be where.

- a color streak through the hair: this one will require careful erasing to look good. You’ll need a picrew where the hair is entirely the color of the streak, and a picrew with the surrounding hair color. Put the color streak layer on the bottom layer. Erase the top layer in the shape of the streak you want colored. You can place it anywhere. You can do this with faded hair tips as well, but how well that turns out will depend on the color difference the creator had between similar hair colors... in other words, if dark and light brown are closer together in color value, it will look more natural when you merge them. I would recommend putting the lighter hair color layer on the bottom. When you erase, you’ll be drawing where the highlights are, functionally the same as the color streak.

- you can make uneven skin tones or vitiligo if the creator has added enough skin tone variations to the picrew: to make vitiligo you’ll make a picrew with your lightest skin tone and a picrew with your darkest skin tone. You’ll put the lightest skin tone on the bottom layer. Then you’ll erase the top layer in the pattern where skin pigment has been lost. You’ll be able to control the pattern of color loss like this, and make any pattern you want! This layer order works best for putting light patches on darker skin. If you want to darken an area you’ll put the darker layer down first and erase the top layer with lighter skin into the pattern you want. Essentially: put light down first if you want to put a light pattern on dark skin. Put dark down first if you want to put a dark pattern on light skin

-custom scars if the creator has added enough skin tone variations to the picrew: this is the same idea as skin tone variations. This time though, we need a picrew with a pink tone skin color choice, a lighter one than the character’s skin tone can also work if you want silver scars. Make a picrew with normal skin tone for the character, and a picrew with the scar color. Put the scar color picrew down first, then add the normal tone one. Now when you erase it should make scars in any pattern you want!

If you’re having trouble erasing neatly, the answer is always to zoom in on the canvas and decrease the eraser brush size! Also you can undo and redo until it looks how you want!

That’s all I can think of right now! Hope everyone has fun making those OC’s that the picrews always seem to forget. And especially anyone who’s been left out themselves!

I have on anon asks if anyone has questions/problems using this tutorial! Or any questions about how to do something similar

Feel free to add other tips to this post as well!

*****

[murfeelee]

Windows! Tutorial Time!

twinsimmingmain replied to your post “Art Nouveau Miniset”

Amazing! Teach me your window converting ways 😲

Sure thing! 😊👍

☽✶•.¸(✶•.¸★¸.•✶´)¸.•✶´☾ ☆«´¨`•°°•´¨`»☆    ☽.¸.•✶(¸.•✶´★`✶•.¸)`✶•.☾

Welcome to Murf’s School of Crap and Crap-Making!

School Motto: Prepare to be tortured! For Science!

Lesson #17: To the windooooow~! To the wall!! ♩♪

☽✶•.¸(✶•.¸★¸.•✶´)¸.•✶´☾ ☆«´¨`•°°•´¨`»☆    ☽.¸.•✶(¸.•✶´★`✶•.¸)`✶•.☾

So, this is how I made the Banishment Window from TS4 Realm of Magic.  I didn’t extract the meshes -- that was thanks to @deniisu-sims.

Tuck yourselves in for quite the doozy; this is a biggun.

I just exported the textures and meshes from Sims4Studio, doing all the exact same steps from the TS4 Tutorial I posted here, to get the .obj & .png files into Milkshape.

First thing I did was identify all the group parts, to know what’s what. There’s a front and back part of the actual window frame, and a front and back of the window glass. I deleted the shadow mesh, cuz I can’t be bothered.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much UV Map editing that needed to be done, just a quick adjustment to the glass meshes. This is what everything should look like:

Now, I had never made a window a day in my life; never even tried. So, I cheated. ^_^ The RoM window I wanted was a simple circle, that perfectly matched the 3x1 circle from Into the Future. So that’s the one I cloned.

Export EA’s HLD mesh, cuz you’ll need it for reference in Milkshape.

Imported into Milkshape, you’ll see where TS3 windows sit, compared to TS4. Select all your TS4 meshes, and Move them to sit right on top of TS3’s, as close as you can manage.

Now, pay attention to EA’s group names:

Group 0 is the rear glass

Group 1 is the front glass

Group 2 is the rear frame

Group 3 is the front frame

Rename your TS4 groups accordingly. I Regrouped/Merged the Trim with the Front, to stick with TS3′s 4 groups. And I Deleted the Shadow mesh, as I said, since the ITF one didn’t have one. (Not that I’d’ve cared, in any event. :P )

Now, Assign EA’s bone/joint -- DO NOT FORGET to do this; it’s super important that anything with glass has a joint assigned to it, or the glass will be 100% invisible in-game, and won’t that suck. :P

Now, believe it or not, you’re ready for TSRW! First part’s nearly over! ^0^

Export your mesh out of Milkshape, and Import it into TSRW.

Now, before we get to the EVIL part (*cough* wall masks *cough*), lets do the easy bit first, and get your textures ready.

Go into GIMP/Photoshop/etc and make your Multiplier, RGB Mask, Specular, and yes, you’ll need an Overlay for the 2 stained glass versions included.

Delete EA’s extra variations, and make your own. I made 4.

Looks nice, right? WRONG!

Now, before you do another freaking thing, assuming everything’s gravy only to be DUPED once you’re in-game and everything looks like ca-ca, head into your Material Editor and set your shader to Phong Alpha and change the Alpha Mask Threshold to 100 on the 2 front & rear window frame group meshes.

For the love of all things sacred, DO NOT click the Yes button when it prompts you. CLICK NO.

Remember to do the same for Group 2 and Group 3.

Once you’ve done that....we’re ready to address the frikkin elephant in the frikkin room.

Time to mess with Wall Masks.

Dun Dun DUUUNNNN!

So... *takes a fortifying swig of Pepsi* ...Wall Masks. This utter crapfest.

The green is the TS3 wall. That white crap should NOT BE THERE -- that’s wall tearing that WILL appear in-game, which is NOT sexy.

On the side are all the wall mask textures. Looks like 6, but really it’s only 3, because this 3x1 window is 3 tiles wide in-game. (If you make a 2x1 window, you’ll have 4; if you’ve got a 1 tile window you’ll have 2, yada yada).

Pocci’s got a tutorial here for editing 1x1 rectangular windows with TSRW’s built-in wall mask editor tool, which... I can’t handle the controls on TSRW the way Pocci did; they were just effed up. I dunno if it’s cuz of the version of TSRW I use (2.80.0 cuz eff the TS4 update), but yeah, I had to fix mine manually. :\

So anyway, we’ve got the left side of the window on one tile, the middle, and the right. I exported one of each, and opened them in GIMP/Photoshop.

The top portion needs to be painted over with white, to get rid of the unwanted transparent parts there. You don’t want to paint over too much, or you’ll mess with the glass part. But because of the thick window frame mesh, we’ve got a fair bit of leeway.

So block off the tippy tops of the left, middle one especially, and right wall mask textures, and re-import them. It’ll take some fiddling with until you get it right.

I can’t tell you how much time I wasted fiddling with TSRW’s built-in wall mask editor tool. It was a effing crapshoot for me. Just way easier to edit the textures itself. 

[EDIT] Deniisu-Sims graciously pointed out to me that I’d wasted even more time than I originally thought -- there’s a EFFING GENERATE BUTTON, y’all.

Lord, THIS is why I stick to simple decor; I can’t be trusted with anything else; I’m so dumb! XD

Anyways, make sure you do all the same steps for your MEDIUM Level Detail mesh!!

Now....

NOW.

You might think you’re done, right? Technically, yes, you would be...if we were working with a 1x1 or 2x1 window. But sadly, things are about to get a whole lot more effing tedious. Why?

CUZ EFFING DIAGONAL WINDOWS. >_<

Don’t export your sims3pack just yet.

Just Save your progress.

Keep your current project open and running, but start a New Project too.

Looking at TS3′s windows, you’ll notice that the 3x1 windows have an extra diag 3x1 version, unlike the 2x1 or 1x1 types, which have diagonal windows built in. But eff my life, I picked the hardest type right out the gate on my very first try, cuz YOLO, right? >_>

So, pick the matching diagonal version....

And yup, you guessed it:

You have to do ALL OF THE STEPS ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

This is some BOOOLSHIIIII~~~~!!!

Omg. WHY, EA. WHY.

@greenplumbboblover​ breaks it down in this MTS post how to link your regular window to your diagonal one. Bless you, honestly.

In order to enable diagonal versions on your regular window, you have to Copy/Paste the RK (resource key) from the diagonal window into the regular one.

With your Diagonal Window project open, go into Edit > Project Contents > OBJD > Edit > Open in S3PE.

Double-click the OBJD and click the Copy RK button.

Now bounce back to your Regular Window project -- you should have BOTH projects open, remember.

Open your Regular windows’ OBJD in S3PE, and click the Grid button.

Click where it says DiagonalIndex, and you’ll see a dropdown list with a tiny arrow next to it. Click the arrow.

I’ve already done all this, but on a fresh run the top box will say Type: 0x0000000.

Click the Paste RK button, and it will change to whatever you copied from the Diagonal Window RK. Click Save.

Now make sure you scroll down the dropdown list, and you’ll see that your new OBJD entry is all the way at the bottom of the list. Click it so it’s selected, and click Commit. Save your progress, and close S3PE.

Now, if you’ve been looking carefully, you’ll notice that there are TWO OBJD entries for both the Regular and Diagonal windows. So yup, repeat those steps again for the 2nd OBJD entry.

This is why in my Art Nouveau Miniset I only converted ONE window; eff ALL this noise.

But the good news is that once you’ve finished all this linking crap nonsense, you’re EFFING DONE. \^0^/

Go ahead and Export both of your Regular & Diagonal simspacks/packages!

Install them both in your game. IIRC, in Build Mode you’ll only see the Regular Window. But when you select it and rotate it, you can enjoy the sexiness!

Happy Simming! *dark laughter*

[gustavlindstrom]

graphic tutorial #1: tomas hertl

i had an anon ask:

can you please make a tutorial on how you created the hertl graphic you posted a couple days ago?

hope you guys find this helpful!  i’ve never done a tutorial before, so bear with me, please. let me know if you have any questions! (:

tutorial under the cut

1. start by opening up a new canvas. tumblr’s photo width is 540, so that’s the minimum size you should go with, but i usually like to go a little bigger for better quality. for some strange reason unknown to even myself, i went with a canvas size of 662 x 800 for this edit, but i usually keep my graphics around 800x800px.

(keyboard shortcut for new canvas: ctrl + n)

2. set your background to whatever color you want it to be. (keyboard shortcut: ctrl + backspace or alt + backspace for the two colors on your swatch)

3. open up an image with whoever you want to “cut out” (in this case, tomas hertl). i usually go to google images and choose a photo that have dimensions either close to or larger than my canvas size. then use the quick selection tool (keyboard shortcut: w) and select the general shape of what you want to cut out.

you don’t need to worry about it being perfectly cut out, when you use the quick selection tool, the edges will always be fuzzy. we’ll take care of that in a sec. 

4. copy your selection (ctrl + c) and then paste it (ctrl + v) onto your blank canvas (make sure you haven’t accidentally missed anything in ur copy and paste).

5. use the eraser tool (keyboard shortcut: e) and start erasing the fuzzy edges around the image. you can zoom in on the image to make it easier to erase.   

here’s a photoshop tip for you: erasing the edges can get tedious, but you can make it easier on yourself by 1. clicking one point, 2. holding the shift key down, 3. clicking on another point. the erase will erase a straight line from point a to point b, giving you a clean cut. 

now you should have a nice cut out image of whoever/whatever your main subject of the edit is. you can then resize it to whatever size you want (by transforming, ctrl + t).

6. make a new layer, go to the shape tool (ctrl + u) and make a rectangle, color it whatever color you like (the color on the top of the swatch (left) is what color your rectangle will look like). 

7. rearrange stuff to your liking.

8. gradient! time to make hertl dichromatic. click on the gradient map under adjustments. if the adjustments panel isn’t open for you, you can also click on image > adjustments > gradient map.

or

9. so you should have something that looks like this. click on the gradient color bar to change or adjust colors. the two colors that showed up are just the two colors that are currently in my swatch. 

to just color hertl with the gradient map and not the entire canvas, press the alt key (and continue holding it down) and click in between the two layers (gradient map 1 and layer 3). 

10. copy the rectangle layer (right click on the layer, duplicate layer or ctrl + j). then on the copied layer, use 0% fill, and then double click the layer to bring up properties. go to stroke, change the color to whatever color you want it to be (i used #2a2a2a), size: 1px.

11. optional: click ok once you’re done, then you can transform this layer by crtl + t, right click on the image (not the layer), warp, to kinda make it kinda wavy. (i also did this in the original edit to the blue rectangle itself). 

12. make a new layer for the brush stroke thing, i used a brush i downloaded to get the paint brush look.

13. put some text on it. 

14. to make the border, copy the text layer(s). use 0% fill, go to stroke, size: 1px, and change the color to whatever you want it to be. (i forewent doing the same for the rest of the text this time when i recreated this edit, but you can easily do the same for the rest of the text!)

15. copy the text layer(s) again (i only copied the ‘higher’ text layer), change the color to the color of your background or whatever color you like, and then nest (or mask or whatever its actually called) under the brush stroke layer. move the text to the side and down a couple of pixels.

16. go to the shape tool (keyboard shortcut: u), click on the blobby shape, photoshop already has default preset shapes. click on the lightning bolt, and make the lightning shape on a new layer. to get all three, just copy the layers two other times and then rotate them and move them around to your liking. 

17. this is a little out of order haha but go back and copy the hertl layer, make it white. you can make the hertl image white by pressing ctrl + u, lightness +100 (or go to layer > adjustments > hue/saturation). 

then nest/mask it under the original rectangle and move it around a bit until you like where it’s positioned.

so the edit is technically done here, but i like to add noise and sharpen my images to make them look better in overall quality and look. 

18. optional: select all the layers (click on the first layer, hold the shift key, scroll to the top and click the top layer or ctrl + alt + a) > right click > duplicate layers > right click again > convert to smart object. 

then go to filter > noise > add noise. i like to use 3%, uniform distribution.

go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen. i like the use these settings (below)

19. then just file > save as, and save your image. i usually save my images as .jpg or .png

and that’s all i’ve got! 

let me know if you found this tutorial helpful, or let me know if you want another tutorial, or you can request a graphic or whatever from me! (:

[animus-wild-magic]

How to print your comic, Part III: What could go wrong?!

Today is the last day of the “Printing your comic” series, and after learning the proper vocabulary and better understanding how the printing process works, were gonna tackle the most common problems that will happen anyway. Yes, even if you communicate properly, even if you export the file correctly and if you’ve chosen the appropriate paper grammage. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: printing is not exactly predictable and you’re probably going to have to deal with some unexpected adjustments to make. Let’s talk about the most common things we want to avoid or fix. 

“My colors look dull and dreary on paper”

This is for anything related to color in printing: if you’re like most digital artists, you probably create your comic in RGB mode on your chosen drawing software. This is the standard setting and the most appropriate to work with on your computer screen, since it uses the light-color language.

This apparent desaturation of your painting happens because in fact light is brighter than pigment, very simply, and when we convert the art to CMYK, some of the vibrance might be lost. This happens especially when portraying conditions such as high contrast, bright lights and some particularly tricky colors such as blues and greens. In this case, color might simply break in generate ugly color bands instead of the smooth gradient transitions you’ve envisioned and executed on digital media. 

A simple way you can fix this is to work normally on your RGB file, and after finishing it, save it in CMYK color mode to check it out. Things you’ll get to fix at this point are:

Color balance overall, using tools such as color curves (they will now appear as CMKY),

Avoid color bands, which happen because some colors don’t exist in CMKY the same way they exist in RGB

Anything to glowy or scenes that have lots of contrast might need to be toned down in order not to break your colors. Again, white in light is really, really bright, so it naturally looks very different on your computer screen, which is a light source.

“My colors looks too glaring and oversaturated”

This is not a very common problem, but it’s the other side of the coin from the topic above. Some colors might pop out more than you’ve expected and overtake the painting. For me, I’ve had the experience of getting a really loaded yellow, so everything close to this color would look lighter and brighter - as a consequence, some other colors would look dull and gray, since the proportion of colors was a little off balance now. Most cases, however, you’ve probably picked a very shiny paper, like a glossy photographic one. Changing to a matte finishing generally fixes this issue. So, for this cases:

Check the color balance as indicated above,

Choose a paper finishing that favours your colors.

“My blacks look gray.”

For this one we need again to remember the difference of color perception from screen to paper. If you are now looking at your CMKY final file on screen and have the impression that the blacks are gray, that’s totally normal. For your screen, “black” means no light at all in those pixels, but the “K” that is printing black ink has a different data to inform that. That’s why most softwares will give you two options: PDF-digital and PDF-printing for exporting your art. 

Now, if your printed file comes out with blacks looking too gray, let’s talk about what probably happened. This typically will show in your speech lines, if you’re making comics, and the confusion happens when we switch color modes from one software to the other. Say you’re on your painting software (Photoshop, SAI, Corel Painter, etc), painting in RGB color mode. You export the file and don’t pay a lot of attention, and the page art is still in RGB, but you open in on a vector based (InDesign, Illustrator, CorelDRAW, etc) the add speech bubbles and character speeches, but these softwares generally work in CMKY. So the problem generally comes from picking two images that were generated in different color modes and merging them. When you export this mix in whichever final format, something is bound to break down.

If you’re working with more than one software, be sure they’re on the same color mode when you merge those images.

“My pages came in the wrong position/upside down in some of the units.”

That’s always a funny thing, and way more recurring than you’d expect. Unless you noticed this happens to all of your units (which would mean the file has the pages switched), that’s absolutely not your fault, but a very common mistake from the printing shop. Take a moment to think about just how many units you are printing, and how many pages you have in each one of them. Most the process of saddle stitching is automated, so the staff won’t actually check every page of every unit. This is your job, actually. Once you notice one or more of your units have this problem, just make a video of it indicating the issue, send it to your printer and explain the situation. Like I said, this is more recurring than you’d think, so they’ll probably very quickly print you new copies with very little questioning.

Always check your comics at the time of arrival. You can ask for corrected copies later on if one you your buyers notices it after the purchase, of course, but whenever you can, check before to have a chance of substituting them in advance.

Be communicative and register everything in video.

“My text font came out wrong.”

This can happen if you’ve sent the native file to the printer, like a .AI, .ID or .CDR. (Illustrator, Indesign and CorelDraw, respectively) and did not link or pack your font with it.You’re using a font that you’ve downloaded, it didn’t come embedded in your computer or software. When the printer staff opens your file to send it to the printing machine, their computer will not be able to read this font, and will therefore substitute it for a font they have available. Since this is an automated process, it won’t even be a similar one, and you might end up with Arial Black all over your comic.

Send your files in PDF, really, it is just the best format for this purpose (JPEG and PNG will also prevent this from happening, though).

If you need to send a native file, always remember “packing” your fonts. (That’s a very specific situation, so I won’t explain how to do it here, but if you need this, please feel free to contact me, ok?)

For all of those problems above, you can actually ask for a print test when you’re running a certain amount of units. For most print shops, they’ll either have a free or very low fee option of sending you a test copy to anything over 100 units. You get this copy before your actual print is run, so you get to check all of these things and talk to your staff ahead of time. It’s a great idea, always ask if this option is available and use it!

Here is a quick list of things to check before you send your file:

Be sure the number of pages in your file is a multiple of 4

Remember your cover counts as 4 pages (front, back, and the verse of each one)

300 to 450 DPI resolution

If needed, “pack” your fonts

Make the proper math to choose between offset and digital printing in advance

Always leave a bleed

Be aware of your safezone

Send your files in CMKY

Check paper size

Have sample prints whenever is possible

Always have a time buffer so that you can fix problems before a convention or event

Always, always, always be patient and communicate a lot!

That’s the end of our series on how to print your comic, guys! Thank you so much for questions and suggestions and for keeping track of this blog.

You might also like to read:  How to print your comic Part I and How to print your comic part II

If you don’t want to miss this, go ahead and subscribe to our newsletter!If you 

enjoy this content and comic, please considerer  supporting us at Patreon!

[great-daze]

how do u make ur icons, my dude

this is how i make them and what i’ve gotten used to but i’m sure there are much simpler ways and that some of the steps i take are probably unnecessary or can be made easier

1. open the picture that you’re using for your icon on photoshop

2. right click the pen tool and choose freeform pen

3. now go around tracing whoever it is you chose. i recommend not tracing it in one go but in little sections bc the lines might adjust themselves awkwardly and if you mess up you can undo a small section instead of the entire thing

4. once you’ve closed the loop, right click the picture and do “make selection” and make the feather radius 1 px

5. now change to the rectangular marquee tool

6. right click the picture again and do “select inverse” and hit “delete” on your keyboard

7. now you can play with the lighting and coloring until you’re happy with it

9. this is when i feel like there’s an easier way but what i do is once i’m done, i save my edited picture (file -> export -> export as PNG) or else all the editing i did won’t show up in the end

8. next go file -> new to open the background for your icon. i like making mine 500 x 500 px but most people make it 128 x 128

9. now for coloring, if you want a solid background, right click the gradient tool and select the paint bucket tool (the color will be the box in the front) and for a gradient, use the gradient tool, choose two colors and drag your cursor from one corner of the background to the other

10. next i do file -> open and open the picture i had edited and saved in step 9.

11. to put the picture onto your background, drag the tab on the top of your picture and move it so it’s its own little floating window

12. now select the move tool and drag your picture onto your background

13. not to make it fit, hold down shift while resizing or else your picture will distort

14. when you’re happy with the size and placement, press enter on your keyboard and you should be done! now i just export it as a png again

[smubuh]

♡MAKING CC IN PHOTOSHOP♡

I finally decided to make a CC tutorial. However, after finishing the screenshots I realized why I have been avoiding this. It’s a VERY LONG tutorial and it’s definitely not the easiest! If you are trying to make CC, please do not get discouraged. Keep trying and practicing, none of my cc works out the first or even fifth time!  (This tutorial does not talk about meshing!)  Keep reading for the tutorial.

Step 1. Open up Sims4Studio and choose Create CAS standalone. Yours may look different if you are on PC (I use MAC).

Step 2. Choose a piece of clothing you would like to work with. I am choosing this skirt because I like the mesh and it’s white so it can be recolored easier. If the clothing is not white, try this photoshop tutorial to make it white.

Step 3. I named this TeresaSkirt inside a folder I created called Teresa and clicked save.

Step 4. Once the display opens, click on diffuse and choose export.

Step 5. I saved this as TeresaBase and clicked save. This is what will open in photoshop.

Step 6. Once I open this in photoshop, I am going to duplicate the layer so I can make the skirt high waisted.

Step 7. On the duplicated layer I am going to select the top half of the skirt with the rectangle selection tool.

Step 8. Next I am going to take the move tool and move this selection up.

Step 9. Before I go any further, I am going to save this photoshop file, do this often while making your file to make sure you don’t lose any progress. I saved it as TeresaBase.psd.

Step 10. Now let’s save it so we can see how it looks in sims4studio. Normally I would save as a .dds file but I will save as a .png just to see how it looks. I always save as test.png, I use this same file to test throughout my cc making.

Step 11. Go back to S4Studio and click on Diffuse and then import. Choose the test.png file. This looks like the height I want. If it wasn’t I could go back and adjust as needed.

Step 12. Back in photoshop I would like to clean up the line between the bottom and top layer. So I click on the erase tool and choose a brush at the size 91px with a hardness of 0. I click on the top layer and erase just at the bottom of the layer so now they look blended together.

Step 13. Next I will go to Layer>>Merge Layers to merge both layers into one.

Step 14. Now to clean up some of the repeated shadows. Since I duplicated the skirt to make it higher, some of the shadows can look weird since they are exactly the same. So I am going to take the Clone Tool, with a brush size of 37 px and a hardness of 0. I also set the Opacity to 85%.

Basically the clone tool will duplicate anything you choose. On a Mac I hold down Option (ALT) and a little Target comes up. I click on the area I want to clone. That is now my source, I now click anywhere, not holding any buttons and I will start to paint over other areas. You may have to play with this tool a little bit to get the hang of it.

Step 15. You can see above the before and after. In the second screenshot the shadows are more varied.

Step 16. Next I am going to create a layer mask to cutout some of the skirt by clicking the “Add Layer Mask” icon.

Step 17. Then take the Polygon Lasso tool to select an area to cutout. I am cutting out part of the hip.

Step 18. Next take the Paint Bucket Tool and make sure the MASK is selected in the layers window. Anything black will be removed and anything white will remain, so I will fill in the selection with black. (Tip: If the mask is selected it will only let you use black or white) Now that selection is gone.

Step 19. Now we need to make sure we still have the selection so that we can duplicate for the other hip. Hold Command and click on the little mask thumbnail. This will select the mask. (It might still be selected from before)

Step 20. Now make a new layer by clicking the new layer icon from the bottom of the layers window. Choose any color and fill in the selection on this new layer using the paint bucket.

Step 21. Then go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. This will flip the shape we just made.

Step 22. Now I am going to duplicate the layer by right clicking the layer and choosing duplicate. I need to because half of the hip is on the far left and the other is on the far right. Now I am going to move each shape to where I want the skirt to be cutout using the Move Tool.

Step 23. I save really quick as test.png again to make sure the shapes met up where I wanted to, looks good! If I needed to adjust I could.

Step 24. This next part a little tricky. I want to add these new shapes to my mask. So first merge the two shape layers into one by clicking merge down on the top shape. Then I will select the shapes by holding Command and clicking the top layer thumbnail in the layers window. The shapes should be selected. I clicked on the little eyeball so I couldn’t see the pink anymore, just the selection. Then I will click on the MASK and fill in the selections I made just with black to cutout the skirt. Delete the top layer with the shapes.

Step 25. Now let’s add some darker edges to those cutouts. Command+click on the MASK thumbnail to select the mask. Then create a new layer, and go to Select>>Inverse. Fill in the selections with any color. I just chose grey.

Step 26. Set the fill to 0%, this will hide the layer but we are going to add a stroke. Go to “fx” at the bottom of the layers window and choose stroke.

Step 27. I chose a stroke of 1px, position is outside and I chose a medium grey. This will just create a little darker edge on those cutouts.

Step 28. Now I am going to add some stripes across the cutouts. Go back to the skirt layer and grab a long thin selection with the Rectangle Selection Tool.

Step 29. Copy and paste this selection onto a new layer and drag it to the bottom, under the skirt layer. Then I am going to go to Edit>>Transform>>Warp. I just chose Arch from the presets on the top bar. I set the bend to 12% so it wasn’t just straight across. 

Step 30. I duplicated this layer 3 more times to make more stripes. I moved each one to where I thought it looked best using the move tool. I then held down SHIFT and selected all of the stripe layers and right clicked and chose Merge layers to merge all of the stripes together.

Step 31. I don’t want these to just be solid gray so I added a smaller inner glow. Double click the layer or click “fx” and choose Inner Glow. I set the Blend mode to Multiply, Opacity is at 12%, Choke is 15% and size is 3px. Adjust these until it looks good!

I then duplicated this layer twice (one for the left and one for the right) and added them to the other cutout sections as well. I had to save as test.png a couple of times to check and make sure the stripes lined up. I then went to layer>>merge visible.

Step 32. Once everything was merged, I deleted and sections I didn’t really need. Save this as teresabase.psd for recoloring later.

Step 33. To create a shadow we are going to add a white background by making a new layer, filling it with white and then moving it to the bottom.

Step 34. Now click on the skirt layer and click on “fx” and then choose color overlay. Change the color to white (#ffffff) so the whole skirt is white. Then also choose outer glow. I set the glow to Blend mode: normal, Opacity: 24%, Noise: 0%, the color is #333333, Spread: 5%, Size 4px. Click OK.

Step 35. Save this as a shadow.dds file, I downloaded a MAC .dds plugin from here. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK MIPMAP.

Step 36. Save all of your recolors as .dds files as well (make sure mipmap is checked)

Go back into S4Studio

-- I saved a white.dds file so I imported that into diffuse (this will be my white swatch)  -- I uploaded my shadow.dds into Shadow. -- For specular, I just click on make blank. -- For normal use this .dds file to import into normal. -- Leave the Emission alone

Also if you want to import a thumbnail you can use this template: THUMBNAIL TEMPLATE.  Make sure the thumbnail is on the first swatch.

You obviously might not have a screenshot yet for the thumbnail, but you can always go back into S4studio and add it later once you have tested the cc.

Step 37. Before you save, go into categories and uncheck Allow for Random.

Once you add all of your swatches you can save and test in game!

A lot of CC making is testing, redoing, trying something else, and failing and trying again so just keep at it!!

[italicwatches]

I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job - Episode 03

Alright, I have actual time today, so let’s get to it. It’s I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job, episode 03! Here we GO!

-We begin with Fino’s clock reaching seven AM, and trying to wake her up. Which also gives us a good view of her shiny new apartment, which is…I mean, look, the kid’s had it for like a week, tops. It’s a futon, a table, and a couple boxes of crap she presumably managed to haul out of the old castle, and that’s about it. Her alarm clock’s not even on a table, it’s just kind of sitting by her. It’s also loud and Fino’s a deep sleeper, forcing Raul to come in and wake her up.

-A deep, naked sleeper.

-So the blushing comes. And then Fino has to try and find her clothes and is all squirmy and naked and Raul finally just throws one of his old t-shirts at her. And that’s all she’s wearing and well it’s the whole “wearing your boyfriend’s big t-shirt and nothing else” look and Raul’s brain just kinda cracks like an egg. He’s trying, guys, really.

-Opening!

-Episode 03: We Should be Careful When Handling Weird Products Sent to Us by Corporate.

-Raul and Fino are out and about, and Raul is kind of grumbly about that alarm clock. How the hell did you not wake up from it. It woke him up and he’s an entire apartment away. Also Fino has, instead of getting actual clothes that fit her, chosen to just tie off Raul’s t-shirt under her cleavage. It’s equal parts adorable and absurd and it even still smells a little like Raul. Shit, I think that means you’re engaged.

-To work! Where Seara tries to get them both to perk up despite Raul trying to complain about the whole “Fino is a terrible neighbor” situation, and Fino trying to steal herself a snack from the bowl of treats. Also Seara and Viser have to go off to the corporate offices for a meeting. Again.

-Hard cut to Fino working on an ad for the new washer they just got in. …Fino has, instead of drawing an actual ad, chosen to draw a horrifying warscape full of undead and dying and blood and just kind of put a washer in there. It’s like if you made Suzu from Comic Girls do ad copy. They are not putting that up on the wall, Fino. Just, no.

-Also there’s a customer who needs help. Seems she’s got an old, beat-up fan she’s hoping they could look at…And Raul can see it’s pretty old and battered. Might just be time to get a new one…But Fino sees the disappointment in the woman’s face, how even this small thing has so much sentiment tied up into it, and she wants to try and fix it! If there’s anything at all they can do…! Alright, into the back. No guarantees, but it’s not like they can make the situation worse, right?

-A blue haired woman disagrees. Meet Lore, the delivery and maintenance woman. She takes two seconds to look over the fan, sees the problem, and she can fix it. Come over here and she’ll get the paperwork ready. And of course the woman is ever so thankful, not just to Lore for being so confident she can fix the problem, but to Raul and Fino for being willing to take on the challenge at all instead of just trying to sell her something…

-And oh, dear sweet Fino, she’s so excited at the idea of being appreciated by someone. You’ve got a good heart, kid.

-Then over to corporate, where Seara is basically having to deal with the reality that her customer satisfaction ratings are amazing, but her sales are shit. And she pretty much stonewalls her boss, as she always does, to keep the stress of this from ever hitting her floor-staff…Sooo the orders come down hard. In short, they’re going to start carrying more budget items and do a big promo about all the new deals, and get people in the fucking door.

-Lunch break! Raul brought Fino over to the convenience store, and we get the name Elza for the busty woman who works the counter. Also, Lam-chan continues to try and be serious. It’s not working. Even as she…

-Well, I was going to say “sees Fino as a rival”, but considering the overwrought name, I can’t help but wonder if Lam-chan is also a refugee from the Demon Lord’s kingdom…

-So, lunch, then back to the shop, where it’s the kind of quiet part of the day. Sweep the floors, fix broken goods, and just kind of kill some time.

-And then All A walks in. And to be fair, that was a nickname. Now that she’s not in the heroing game, it’s just Airi. So what brings her in? Here to gloat over him? She’s out shopping, is all. Uh huh. …So where’d you end up, Airi? If you’re out shopping, that means you have real money. The kind you get from a job, not the petty cash their old classmates scrounge for.

-Well she’s all blushy so I suspect she’s lying when she says she ended up working security, but Raul is impressed. That’s good work, the kind that really puts her skills to use…Also out comes some long lingering hatred of demons. Don’t let Fino hear that kind of talk, Airi. She’ll get mad.

-Cue Fino. This is the worst possible time of all times. Also, Fino can only deduce that, seeing as Airi isn’t at the counter with anything to buy, but instead is acting all confrontational, that trouble is afoot! Fear not, Raul, she’ll save you from this would-be complainer! The most ferocious enemy of all corporate life! Stay behind her, Raul! She’ll take this foe down with her greatest demon magic!

-Please be quiet, Fino. And finally they manage to get her to walk off and start browsing…Aaaaand she’s totally watching how Raul interacts with Fino. I’m going to assume Raul was never that loose and casual with anyone back in the hero academy. (plus ultra)

-Cut to when some of the stuff from corporate arrives! Including a shiny new air purifier! They’ve never even carried air purifiers here, and Fino is all impressed! She wants to see it working! You, are not, going to be the one to turn it on. They’ll wait for the manager to get back, and that’s th—

-Cue Elza. Who’s gotten off work and come over to hang out. She wants to see the shiny new stuff! What’s this brand? Domos? She’s never heard of it…

-Must be small. And/or new. Well, corporate’s making them carry it, so, time to see if it—

-Click.

-It’s not doing anything.

-Did they get a DOA? Fino is so very disappointed that she tries turning it off and on again, wait dammit FINO NO—

-Shit.

-…Shit shit shit SHIT

-So let me paint you a word picture.

-The air purifier gets all sparky like the last thing Fino touched and overloaded with magic. But instead of just running into overdrive and burning itself out, the air purifier kicks out belches of black smoke, and from those emerge phantasmal claws! Claws that steal Elza into the air!

-Fino is still impressed. THAT IS NOT WHAT IT’S SUPPOSED TO DO YOU STUPID GIRL. Also it steals Nova too. …Wellllll shit.

-Okay they’ve got to turn it off! One problem, the countless grasping hands are trying to keep them from the actual air purifier! Fino manages to get behind the counter, while Raul grabs the mop and starts clearing some space…But fresh hands leap out of the clouds! They need an actual plan here…

-Which is when Airi sees what’s going on, and jumps straight in! And not just her, but Lore, who identifies this whole mess as witch’s arm. It’s one of the natural shapes magical build-up can take when it’s not properly gathered, shaped and stored, and can happen when the entire syntax of a magical item is damaged and cannot be shaped. And then she gets snatched up because she’s not a fighter.

-But fixing the problem is, if not easy, at least simple. The problem is that the purifier is drawing in magic relentlessly and spitting it out unshaped. You stop that by turning off the purifier. You get to the purifier by getting through the witch’s arms. That’s the rub.

-So Airi steals the mop, pours an enchantment in, and goes through with her THOUSAND BLAST! One strike propagates through the field, clearing out the witch’s arms for a split second! The girls are dropped, spilled away from the core of the purifier… If you can’t fight, get running, NOW!

-So that was the good news. The bad news is mops aren’t designed to have magic woven into them, and the thing just melted under the push Airi put on it. And then she gets caught by the next wave of arms, and is all fully tentacle-grasped! Oh dear. Oh DEAR. That, uh, I think that goes past ecchi.

-Raul needs options and methods, and now. He tries to think, to figure out his plan….When Fino races in to try and save Airi, only to get swarmed! Yet she won’t give up, because THE CUSTOMER COMES FIRST! You’re taking your job too seriously, Fino.

-But that gets Raul to realize what he’s got to do, as he runs into the back…Pulls aside all the mops and brooms…And finds that which he buried here, to never be reminded of it. His sword.

-BOOT! A single charge of magic pours through the blade, and he cuts Fino free, before raising the charge! And then he’s in at full force, cutting Airi free in a flash! He didn’t even know if he still could do this, but it worked…And that’s when Fino really realizes, that was demon-killing magic.

-But Raul is too busy dealing with the aftershock, trying to focus. All he did was get them free. He’s out of shape, rusty. But the job’s not over—And then Airi gets caught again when she knocks Raul out of the way of the grasping hands. That’s…Not…Great.

-And Fino can’t actually do much. Her demonic powers haven’t awoken…

-Airi has a good view of the purifier, though, and she can see. It’s almost all coming from the front, where the purified air should be. If you strike from the back, it might just work! Okay. OKAY! They can do this! Fino races out in front to be a big distraction, trying to gather this natural force to come at her, while Raul pours everything he has in. BOOT! FIVE THOUSAND AMPERES! He pours it all into a single shot of raw magical force, blasting through in a flash down the aisle! The witch’s arms are torn to shreds, the entire core shattered, and Fino sprints in before it can reform, hitting the off switch in a flash! YES! THEY WI—

-Oh god it turned to white sticky goo. Oh god she’s covered in sticky white gooooooooo.

-While Raul is busy really parsing what he managed to do there…Until a goo-coated Fino latches onto him! They did it! That was so COOL, Raul! And then Airi’s words hit him, as he realizes that the very task of being a hero would mean one day having to strike this girl down…This kindhearted, ditzy, over-enthusiastic, sticky girl. Wait, sticky? Q-Quit clinging to him while you’re like that!

-And when it’s all over, Fino properly introduces herself to Airi. And Raul has to desperate keep Airi from realizing that Fino isn’t a demon. Fino is not listening in the slightest and he can only despair. I’m sorry, Raul.

-Credits! Full of KNIGHTLY FANTASY.

-Aftercredits! Raul has dragged Fino to the public bath to clean up, and she’s like a tiny child there. But after they leave…Fino really, really realizes the idea that her very nature is something humanity would suspect and hate…

Well that main episode was…Absurd. And then bam, they just slam in the feels and hard questions right after the credits just to make sure you can’t call the whole thing meaningless fluff. You’re sneaky, anime. But I’ve got my eye on you. We’ll see if they pull that trick again next time, in episode FOUR of I Couldn’t … Job! Wait for it!

[tingthings]

The Kiap’s Wife

Jan Sinclair tells the story of her husband, the late Dr. James Sinclair.

‘A lot of people know about Jim’s work but they don’t know a lot about him’ she said, as she stood proudly with a smile radiantly beaming across the many faces eager to hear the story of her late husband during the launch of his last book DIWAI, The history of The Divine Word University.

Jan Sinclair was the wife of a man renowned for his exploratory patrols into a remote and untamed Papua New Guinea. His 41 books and hundreds of photographs are a rare and accurate source of PNG’s colorful colonial past.

James Sinclair or ‘Jim’ as people called him, was fascinated by the early history of New Guinea. As a student at Sydney Grammar School he read every book he could about that country.

‘He was a non-conformist, even after school’ she said with laughter under her breath. His mother said one son Max was to be a doctor and Jim a lawyer. Jim did not want to go to University and the young, rebellious and adventurous James applied to become a kiap. He was too young and worked at menial jobs until he was old enough to apply to go to New Guinea.

In 1947 after a five-and-a-half-month course at the Australian School of Administration in Sydney the 20-year-old James began his first posting to New Guinea as a Cadet Patrol officer. He went to Wau then Ioma then back to Lae and other posts. He eventually went to the Southern Highlands. There Jan had been posted to open a Primary A school at Mendi. The trouble was there was no school just the Mendi Valley Club.  She was the first single female officer to be sent there. ‘In our group there were 10 women – 8 were sent to Moresby. One to Daru and me to Mendi. I asked the Director why I had been sent to such a remote place and he replied ’Because we thought you would fit in better’.

The Methodist Mission was her temporary home. From there it was a fair trip across a suspension bridge then on the back of a motor bike to her school. The school always had the smell of stale cigarettes and beer.

Jan rebelled and asked to live on the station. Materials were scrounged and Jan’s house was built. The only paint available was bright pink so the house became known as the pink House on the Hill.

A loud ‘Whoop whoop’ from the hills was heard one day and the children knew a big patrol was coming in. I had forbidden them to go out to see it but they went anyway with a throng of people watching the patrol come in.

Jan looked outside the classroom and saw a man, skinny as a whip stick with a bright red beard, holes in his shirt and very grubby. Teachers did not regard kiaps highly and thought them bigheads.

‘When you go to Mendi look for my friend Jan and send her my regards’ asked a friend from Wapenamunda and the message had to be delivered by the red bearded kiap. ‘My boss introduced me to Jim (James Sinclair). All I could see was a scruffy, skinny and untidy man. I did not think much of him.’

Easter was always fun as most of the kiaps were given a break at Headquarters. The Mendi Valley Club was the venue for the Easter Party. ’I loved big skirts, winkle pickers and Rock and Roll as did others. After a dance I looked for somewhere to sit and there were no chairs so Jim offered me his knee. I sat on his knee to be told ‘You are a fast-little bit”. I left straight away.’

Next morning, I heard a knock at my door. On opening it I saw a clean shaven.  smiling face and a well-presented young man. ‘Don’t you remember me’ he said to which I replied that I had never seen him before.

Later on the District Commissioner wanted an exhibit to be presented at the Goroka Show. Jim being a good photographer myself and others went to Goroka.

A while later we decided to get married. Jim went back to Koroba and we conducted a courtship by ‘Sched’ a daily radio linkup with outstations. Everyone spoke – admin people, missionaries, visitors from all over and much advice was given to us. It provided entertainment.

Preparing for our marriage we decided to choose what we would need from both our houses so I visited Koroba on a wet cold day. As wood in the fireplace burned down it was found other wood was too wet so Jim threw a large bundle of papers (screwed together neatly) into the fire. I asked him what it was and he replied that it was a book he had written. I asked why he would burn it and he replied that everyone who came to New Guinea wrote a book and he was no different.

After our marriage we were posted to Wau. In 1962 the Foot Royal Commission announced that Australia had to hurry up its attempts to have Self Government so six local persons were to be Advisory Members to the Legislative Assembly. Many people thought their jobs were in jeopardy, so they left and others took up study. So, with two young children and me not working I told Jim he had better finish his law degree. Sometime later he came home and said I am not going to do any study but I will write that book again. That was the one he burnt at Koroba. I did not think he could remember it but he started next day in February and wrote the book which was published by Melbourne University Press in December. It has become a very valuable book on early exploration in that era.

We were posted to Lae, Finschhafen and then Wau and twice more to Lae. During this time, I started teaching again. Jim was transferred to Goroka as Deputy District Commissioner in 1968.

He always loved the Highlands and he was thrilled.

He was appointed District Commissioner in 1969 because it was petitioned by the local leaders.

The Goroka Shows were the most colourful shows in New Guinea at that time and Jim took up his photography with great delight. Taking his photography talents to a new level, Jim captured the colours and the vibrant cultures of PNG. ‘One of his photos showed a yellow and red initiation mask from the Duna. He did not know hat this would become a national symbol.

Jim was a good communicator. One episode is worth telling. At a big gathering in front of some Royal visitors it was the interpreter’s turn to translate the speech. A rumble went through the crowd and fists were shaken; mutterings began. I felt it was a tense situation. The upshot was that the people wanted Jim to tanim tok (translate), not the interpreter. His Pidgin was superb.

A visitor to our house was David Attenborough (now famous naturalist) who was at that time a BBC journalist. Jim was interviewed for the famous British Current Affairs program ’24 Hours’. He and Jim were of the same age and had much in common.

After Jim wrote ‘Behind the Ranges’ I said to him I hoped he had got writing out of his system. He said the book he had always wanted to write was one on Jack Hides – The famous ‘Outside Man’ He did that and later Bobby Gibbes pressured him to write his biography. In spite of work pressure and protests he relented.

He was appointed District Commissioner in 1969 because it was petitioned by the local leaders.

Many books on Aviation followed.  Jim loved doing these as he was always a frustrated pilot.

Many famous figures crossed our path and stayed in our house. In 1972 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh came.

Jan recalls seeing the Queen in earnest conversation with Jim talking about using reflectors for taking good portraits. She was just a wonderful lady.

One local leader Soso Sube, was very disappointed because the Queen did not wear her Crown and let Missis Kwin know this. She placated him by saying she had to wear a hat because the sun was too hot and the Crown too heavy.

Localisation had come and Jim was posted to Port Moresby in 1972. Relics of the past era of colonialization were unpopular – that is records of Government. They were to be destroyed. Politicians just did not understand their value. Jim was encouraged to get as much as he could copied to save. These became a fundamental section now in the Archives – a rich area for researchers.

1975 came sadly for Jim as we left PNG.

He was never going to settle in Australia and hated his job at Melbourne University Press.

He won a couple of Commonwealth Literacy Fellowships and we settled on the Sunshine Coast.

His writing became hard work but he just loved getting back to New Guinea.

In his last years he wrote about his years in New Guinea:

“I think that most men who have patrolled in the uncontrolled areas will agree that the years so spent are in many ways the finest and most rewarding of the patrol officer’s life, filled with the satisfaction of country covered, new people seen and new mountains climbed.”

Jan has given all of the past historical documents collected by her husband to the Canberra Archives – his being the biggest collection on the South Pacific. It is waiting for national scholars to record their own history, which was Jim’s great wish.

Smiling as she was applauded, ‘Thank you for listening to an old lady who has talked too much’ said Jan Sinclair, the wife of an historian, photographer, explorer, friend, husband and father.

Read the story here: https://tinyurl.com/kunyja5r

[pri-the-writer]

All My Fault

(This is long overdue but basically @vp-dot-png made this little beauty http://vp-dot-png.tumblr.com/post/159524852268/do-you-remember-that-solangelo-prompt-i-sent-in-a for a prompt I sent in and I always said I would make a fanfic for it and guess what I did. Here it is, enjoy!)

It was supposed to be a simple exorcism. Lately Nico said he had sensed strange things in the shadows, so he, Will, and Apollo (who had invited himself along) had gone out to exorcise ghosts from buildings, the woods, and (occasionally) people. Their latest endeavor took place in an old, rundown mansion down the coast a bit from Camp Half-Blood. There had been reports of ghost sightings and attacks on the mortals, and Nico confirmed that something was lingering in the house. So the boys (and the god) headed to the mansion to investigate.

“Well, that certainly looks ominous.” Apollo said bluntly as they looked up at the dark and gloomy old mansion. The large front porch was overrun with vines of poison ivy, and the porch itself, much like the rest of the house, was falling apart. There were graffiti tags on the walls, some fully drawn and some hastily done or incomplete. The trees above them were so thick in the canopy that it seemed like dusk instead of the afternoon. But that wasn't the creepiest part. No, that would be the lack of vines or grass on the front walk and the path to the door. It was almost as if someone had expected them and prepared for their visit.

“It's just an old house, Apollo. Nothing omnicess about it. Now if you're scared, you can just go back to camp.” Nico snapped. He had been in a bad mood ever since he had sensed the dark presence inside. Will rolled his eyes and reprimanded his boyfriend, “Nico, be nice. This place is even giving me the heebee jeebies.”

Nico huffed, but didn't say anything else about the matter. Instead, he headed up the path to the porch without another word. Will and Apollo spared a glance with each other and the younger blonde gave his father an apologetic shrug. They eventually followed Nico and joined him on the porch.

“Will, Apollo… be careful. This one feels… wrong.” Nico warned. He didn't know how to describe it any other way. The spirit inside this house just didn't seem like anything he had faced before. Will nodded and steeled his hls nerves, while Apollo gulped and tightened his grip on the duffel bag containing their supplies. Nico reached for the doorknob, only for it to swing open all on it's own.

“Okay nope. Time for Apollo to leave now.” Apollo said and he turned around and attempted to leave, only for Nico to grab the back of his shirt and haul him into the house. Will followed, a bit wary of the house now that they were inside, but hid it well enough.

The entryway led into a larger room, almost the size of a ballroom. Along the walls were old paintings that had faded over time so that the faces were blurred and unrecognizable. The furniture, covered by a thick layer of dust, were pushed against the wall to make room in the center. This old room may have actually been a ballroom, or perhaps was used for dinner parties and the likes.

“Nico, you go get a feel of the place while Apollo and I set up the equipment. Oh, and Nico,” Will paused and pressed a kiss to his boyfriend's cheek before he added, “Be careful.”

“You're the one who needs to be careful, Doc.” Will teased. Will chuckled at that and ruffled Nico's hair affectionately before the demigod went off to explore. Will turned back to Apollo, who had a grin plastered to his face as he said, “You two are really good for each other, you know?”

Will blushed at that and mumbled something about how they needed to get started to set up the camera. The kids at Half-Blood were in need of some kind of entertainment, so Will had suggested they film their little escapades as a sort of ghost hunters show. The kids knew that spirits and ghosts were real of course, but it was still fun to watch.

While Will and Apollo set everything up, Nico wandered around the house and one of the hallways that branched off from the ballroom. He looked up at the ancient portraits and busts of people long forgotten. A thick layer of dust covered the artwork, save for a cracked bust at the end of the hall of a man who looked like he was in his 20s or 30s, possibly from the Greek period. Nico had seen a fair share of Greek and Roman artwork, obviously, and was able to pick it out from the others with ease.

Unlike the other busts and portraits, this piece was spotless, save for a crack that ran across the face diagonally like a horrible scar. As Nico neared the portrait, he sensed something… wrong with it. Something was inside the painting itself- something evil. Before Nico could think about it further, the bust suddenly cracked open further along the scar and something black and smoke like leaked out and- that was the last thing Nico saw before he blacked out.

Back in the ballroom, Will and Apollo got worried about Nico, who never took longer than 5 minutes to look around. Will checked his watch over and over again until Apollo squeezed his shoulder and said, “Don't worry, he probably just got lost. I'll go look for him.”

“Are you sure Apollo? Aren't you usually the one who never wants to split up?” Will asked in confusion.

“Yes, normally I am, but I don't like to set up even more than splitting up. I'll be right back.” Apollo said before he went off to look for his future son in law. He spent about 5 or 6 minutes looking around the dusty old house looking for Nico before he found him standing in front of the remains of a bust, it's dust and pebbles coating the floor at Nico's feet.

“There you are Nico! Will was worried about you, so I heroically volunteered to… go look for… you? Nico… are you alright? I'm sensing something… off about you. And it's more than the usual Underworld vibe I usually get from you.” Apollo asked as he approached Nico. He placed a hand on Nico's shoulder to turn the boy around, only for Nico turn on his own accord and bring his fist to Apollo’s face with enough force to knock the god-turned-mortal out cold.

Will heard a crash come from the hallway Nico and his father were in and quickly called out as he stood up from the dusty floor, “You guys alright?”

When only silence met him, Will started towards the hallway, worried but sure that Apollo had just bumped into and knocked over something. His worry only increased as the air grew heavier around him and the shadows seemed to grow, but Will still had no idea he himself have need to fear for his life until all he could see was shadows and the world went dark.

Will woke up eventually, back in the ballroom, but hardly alone this time. Next to where he lay on the floor, Nico was standing over Apollo, a purple light surrounding and connecting the two. Nico was faced away from Will, but Apollo’s face- twisted in pain and agony- could be seen pressed against the floorboards, as though some force was keeping him pinned.

“N-Nico? What are you doing to Apollo?” Will stammered out incoherently as he managed to push himself up to a kneeling position. Nico stiffened visibly at Will’s words and the light faded. Apollo passed out then, exhausted. Now it was just Nico and Will, except… it wasn't Nico. The paler boy turned suddenly and purple eyes glowing like blacklight bulbs focused on Will with a cold, calculating gaze.

“... You're not Nico.” Will whispered as he came to his senses and stood up. Nico- no, the person possessing Nico chuckled at that and said, “Give the son of Apollo a prize: he figured it out.”

Will quickly but cautiously backed away from the stranger disguised as his boyfriend and demanded to know, “Who are you? What are you? Why have you possessed Nico? What were you doing to Apollo?”

“So many questions with this one. Unfortunately, I’m more of a ghost of actions than words. Let’s see if you can use that brain if yours huh?” The ghost said as he stepped towards Will and raised his hand up next to his face. The hand became engulfed in purple light suddenly, which then formed into a ball before the ghost hurled it at Will, who quickly jumped out of the way before the ball of light hit the wall behind him and exploded in a shower of sparks.

“You’re a ghost then! Someone who- gah!- used to live here? And what you were doing… Shit! You were stealing energy or power from Apollo, weren’t you?” Will guessed as he dodged more balls of light before he eventually ducked behind some old furniture.

“Ding ding ding! Give the boy a prize, he’s so smart. Unfortunately, dear old daddy here doesn’t have much juice in him, being mortal now and all. But your boyfriend? Oh my, he could be a god all on his own. I think I’ll keep him.” The ghost chuckled darkly. Will’s breath caught in his lungs at that, and a sudden blind rage filled the young demigod as he screamed and ran out from behind the couch to charge his assailant.

As soon as he did so, unfortunately, Will was hit with a ball of energy that blew him back against the wall with the force alone. The energy burned him and left scars along his face and body, as well as drained him of his own energy with one blow. Will fell forward after crashing into the wall, unconscious.

The ghost snickered, pleased with his work, until he noticed his hold on Nico was fading. It seemed that all of those blasts had used up his energy and his time in this body was ending. With a frown and a scoff, The ghost grumbled, “Goddamnit.”

With that the ghost left Nico’s body, quickly hiding in the walls to avoid the Ghost King’s wrath. As the purple glow faded from Nico’s eyes, he stumbled slightly and groaned as he rubbed his face. He looked around a bit, shocked at the damage and curious as to what had happened, before his eyes landed on Will, who lay motionless on the floor in front of Nico.

“W-Will?... Oh my Gods…” Nico whispered in shock as he wrapped an arm around himself and felt tears start to sting his eyes. He quickly wiped them away before running to Will’s side, gently flipping him over and checking his vitals. Thankfully, Will was alive and breathing, but he was badly burned and concussed. As Nico looked over his battered boyfriend, he knew somehow, that “This is all my fault.”