#i tried to do a kind of gradient :3

[honeydewtual]

💖🎆💜 for @cheolmatez

[kveom]

@svtsource carat revival 2024: Picking Favourites and Fights

↳ Bias: DK | insp.

[maddascanbe-blog]

What's this? Unifications and Kwami swaps?!?

Part 2 of the unifications

While sometimes I can come up with ideas on what a unified miraculous should look like right away, like with Shadow Moth and Dragonfly, other times I struggle way less when I draw out the characters with Both miraculous first.

Viper Noir was kind of the exception since I very intentionally didn't want it to look like Aspik that much.

But for these designs I really felt it was important to get my designs out on paper first. SO! Let's talk Kwami Swaps and then we'll get to the unifications.

Since Pegasus already exists, I couldn't call Marinette with the horse that, but according to my brief research Arion is the name of one Pegasus form Greek mythology.

Much like with Chloe as Champion I base Marinette's on equestrian uniforms, and I've always treated blue as the horses accent color since that's the color of the Voyage portals. Keep the wings cause it both keeps with the greek theme and they look cute. And some little braids in her hair like some horses have to top off her Pony-tail. Also, assume the glasses are like- attached to the mask.

Lapin Chanceux (Lucky Rabbit) was the first design I did, albeit on paper, to figure out what I was going to do. I wanted to make her look different from both Bunnix's so I dropped the dark blue that I used for them and brought in more white and light blue.

I do like giving the rabbit holders some sort of poof around their hands or feet since it invokes the feel of a rabbits foot. In the Bunnix's it was around their arms, Marinette its her legs. The pom poms by her ears were added after the drawings was initially declared done but their so cute it was EASILY worth it.

Onto the unifications, I've actually redesigned both Pegabug and Pennybug before. And the first Pegabug redesign is actually still up on my youtube channel as a speedpaint. Obviously the designs and my artstyle have changed drastically though.

I cut the brown from the design entirely, instead opting to darken the red greatly. But keeping the white accents which were in both my Ladybug and Arion's designs. I also moved the wings up to her pony-tail both because they slightly resemble horse ears like that, and in preparation for adding the rabbit.

Whenever I unify the Ladybug I cut down on the spots drastically because they can make it feel really cluttered. But I tried to keep them in places that made sense. Alluding to buttons on her coat, the ones at the ends of the stripes down her leg, which I kept from my first design. And giving her spots on her hands, just cause. Also got some shoulder pad action because I wanted to-

And finally Lady Luck. Because Pennybug sounds stupid- I assumed at the time we first saw her that Pennybug wasn't called Lady Luck because they were saving it for if when unified the Ladybug and Cat. But no, that's Bug Noir, which also sounds dumb.

So we're going Lady Luck. Since Horses, Rabbits, and Ladybugs are all associated with good Fortune.

That being said- no one should be allowed to combine 3 miraculous on the sole pretense that they almost always look bad. Pennybug looked bad, Shadow Noir (also stupid name) looked bad, Monarch is his own can of worms, but- well you'll see.

I knew I wanted to more the glasses to the top of Lady Lucks head, just because I was kinda getting sick of the normal glasses. Assume just the lenses are the miraculous and the frame changes for the user. Now they are attached to goggles- not that you can really tell because they have black straps on Marinette's dark hair.

The ear/wings were the only thing I knew some people liked about Pennybug so I kept those, albeit without the black ring around the blue. And add white to the ponytail gradient. White gloves because they looked good, and I almost always give Marinette opera gloves.

She gets a few more smaller spots since the rabbit also uses them. And combine the riding coat with the the- it's not really a shrug but I don't know what to call it? Keep the wide pants because why not, and make the red a darker cool red. The blue could have also been changed to better match the pallet but the vibrant blue is an accent I use on all the miraculous' usually so it got to stay. So long as the suit is red I think it still reads as a Ladybug.

Last thing to note are the eyes. Lady Luck's eye look freaky because she's using three miraculous and probably shouldn't. And Lapin's eye's are pink/red with white pupils because my family actually had californian rabbits at one point and they all looked like that in photo's.

Bonus- here's the doodles I did years ago for Pennybug

and Pegabug

[faithst]

LIVESTREAMS WITH ZB1

pairing zb1 x idol!reader

genre mostly comedy, maybe fluff ? reader is in zb1 🤝

warnings mentions of food/drinks in hao and hanbin’s

notes hi anon, thank you for requesting ! i didn’t want this to be romantic as idol life is,, something.. but still, i hope you enjoy this ! 🫶

masterlist<3

— zhang hao

you’re playing drinking games

and before you ask, no. it’s not actual alcohol

you mix up the most unhinged drink combinations

like soy milk + tea + mountain dew 😃

the drink literally has particles in it

you play the ‘of course’ game and it turns ugly real quick

“you know that i’m better than you at everything, right?” zhanghao says, feeling proud

“of course! zhanghao.. you know that hanbin loves me more, right?” a smirk tugging on your lips that zhanghao so desperately wanted to slap off

loses the game because of that and has to chug down every drop (he’s ok tho i think)

“you’re lucky we’re live right now.”

— sung hanbin

since he was a barista, you guys are making drinks

he teaches you some tips and tricks but it’s more complicated than you think

his drink is so much more visually pleasing than yours although you both followed the same steps 😭

like pretty gradient colors that blend well together

but it’s expected cuz he’s a professional

you do a taste test

and his drink tastes like heaven 👍

you offered yours to him and he tries it

ngl, you were nervous about his opinion

“uh, it’s definitely a new experience.”

— seok matthew

some kind of crafts live

where you both are making those bead bracelets

you make ones for eachother and also the other members !

and matthew is all like ‘oh, you’re gonna love what i made for you’

he’s so proud of his creations

and at some point he accidentally spills every bead onto the table 😭

and you both take a look at eachother like 😐

and it becomes quiet for a whole 5 minutes as he picks everything back up

after that, you both continue making bracelets for the other members 🫶

“jiwoon hyung likes this color, i know him better than you!”

— shen ricky

painting live

you guys are making paintings to hang on eachothers walls

it’s actually pretty chill with ricky 👍

but then he accidentally splattered some paint onto his designer white shirt

his honest reaction to that: ☹️

but its okay, he can just buy a new one. maybe get a car too while he’s at it

since ricky is really good at arts

you wanted to paint him smth nice too

so you just put your autograph onto the canvas

he loves it tho and keeps it in his room 😔

“i can sell this!”

— park gunwook

workout stream

it was actually supposed to be a live for gunwook and matthew

but matthew had to do smth else

so you offered to accompany gunwook instead !

gunwook shares his workout tips and you just nod and agree

you both share your workout routines and people make articles abt them 🫢

‘zb1’s gunwook and y/n workout routine: is it effective?’

oh and you also get thirst trap edits bcuz of this

flaunting your muscles and abs and stuff idk 😭

“do you guys wanna know the secret to my godly physique?”

— kim taerae

from the content we have now..

it’s 100% a karaoke live

wbk he loves singing and he wanted to invite you to ‘taerae show #2’

has his anpanman guitar, ready at hand 🤝

you both have a blast singing and taerae becomes main rapper at some point

he’s so immersed in the ballad songs, he prolly starts crying for effects 😔

biggest hypeman

like he’s all ‘OH MY GOD WOAHHHH’

and he also harmonises w you

don’t be surprised when you get a compilation of ‘y/n and taerae: 5th gen main vocals’

“100 points?! i’m so good!”

— kim gyuvin

q&a stream

answering fan questions and basically fan service

“is a butt one or two?”

gyuvin actually thinks about it for a second and is like “oh my god.” 😭

it got too confusing though so you continued reading the comments

someone asked what he did today and he started thinking

“uh..” “sorry, i forgot.” you joke, making gyuvin stare daggers to you 🫢

he looks back to the screen

and with a wide smile he said

“i’m sorry zerose! i think we have to end the live here. thank you for watching!”

— kim jiwoong

makeup stream

where you do his makeup

and he’s giving you those eyes yk 👀

the comments are going crazy bcuz of it

and when you do his lips, he smiles and it curves so perfectly (ahdguajskshaikahdh)

you accidentally went overboard with the glitter

but jiwoong pulls off everything so it still looks amazing

everyone loves what you did and your makeup style is trending 👍

“i think some glitter got stuck in my eye.”

— han yujin

i don’t know why but you both are face painting

but instead of face painting on yourselves, you face paint eachother

“i’m gonna make you into a piece of art” he says as he paints a streak onto your face

he stops to take a step back and look at everything from a bigger picture

and bursts into laughter 😃

you’re so worried abt what he did to you

he tries to regain his composure but laughs every few seconds

“what’s wrong? what did you do?” “nothing! i made you look very.. cool.” 😁

and then you look into a mirror and you look like shrek's offspring (yes, you get turned into a meme)

“this is my best piece yet! should i leave my signature too?”

© keiwook

[chubsonthemoon]

next round of binderary books are done! these are some paperbacks of three wonderful fics by dear friend @bisexualbluesargentt! they are:

savior complex: the first fic i ever read by bisexualbluesargent that altered my brain chemistry...so so good. Great Pretender, laurent/makoto, post-case 4, phone calls, the ocean...as they say in their tags, it's all here! tried to mirror a lot of those elements in the design, heh. also had to google which font iPhones use and went down a rabbit hole there, which was great fun.

and eat it, too: THEE hisoillu fic for me. i reach for this fic mentally any time i need to write hisoka or illumi, it's just. SO good and so delicious! was quite pleased with this cover paper--it's a blend of dark colors (there's like...a very faint purple gradient I couldn't get to show up on my camera) and neon hisoka/illumi color-coded sprinkles which i found v fun and fitting. also did some coloring in CSP with sections of the cake graphic on the title page to make it look a little like blood/innards :3

there are violets in your eyes: MY BELOVED. this is a rebind of the same fic from 2022, which I made a post about here! it's almost exactly the same in terms of materials used and the typeset, except for the size--I'm really into quarto letter books right now, so wanted to make another to complete this set! this is such a great tamaki/kyouya fic that has lived rent-free in my mind for years now and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. bisexualbluesargent is SO good at nailing the kind of push-pull ship dynamics that make me go insane.

(and some comparison pics with the pamphlet bind! matchy matchy heh)

and that's all for today!! making these was such a blast, and I got to reread some of my favorite fics all over again when I was typesetting them :D

@bisexualbluesargentt thank you so much for letting me bind your work, friend!! i can't wait for you to receive your copies soon <333

[satoruzlove]

I absolutely loved your off-season Sakusa fic! I was hoping if you could do something where he accidentally stumbles across something he thinks you'd like but he's on strict orders to not get anything more but he ends up getting it.

It's totally fine if you don't want to! Have a lovely day! (Stay hydrated and eat real, healthy food <33)

ooooo anon this is so cute !! and thank you for being so sweet , you take good care of yourself okay? kisses <3 [ this is my first req and i smiled so bad when i saw it bwhdjsjwkfjje ANYWAYSSS]

SAVING GRACE

[ K. SAKUSA. ]

your raven haired boyfriend’s eyes were heavy with boredom as he leaned against his trolly. you had given him a list of things to get , and only one instruction. do not splurge. kiyoomi thought he could, no, knew he could adhere to that. he wasn’t a child. so here he was in the toiletry aisle, eyes flitting across the tall and neatly packed shelves looking for the shampoo that was on your list. he let out a little ‘ah’ in satisfaction when he found it.

his legs felt heavy against the semi-sticky floors of the shop, shoes dragging against them when he made his way to get the last item-some deodorant.he needed some too, and seeing as he loved smelling good he knew where it was all too well. kiyoomi made a beeline for the section but stopped when a sweet, floral aroma hit his nose.

his eyebrows raised for the first time since he had entered the shop. head whipping around, he spotted a booth and immediately trotted towards it. a lady sat behind it, and as she spotted your boyfriend she smiled. “hello , sir! would you like to-“,” what is that?” kiyoomi doesn’t allow her to finish. he must know the name of this heavenly aroma. she was taken aback slightly , but answered kindly nonetheless. “ it’s our new fragrance, it’s called grâce salvatrice,” the word rolled off her tongue beautifully, kiyoomi thought. he pondered momentarily- his lips pursed beneath his black mask. “ what does that.. mean?” he enquired softly. the lady smiled at him once more, “saving grace, sir.”

kiyoomi would’ve never liked that scent before he met you. it was sweet, too welcoming and far too warm for his liking but it reminded him of you. the warmth and sickening feeling of security he first felt when he inhaled your scent. it buzzed in his ears and sent blood to his head. this scent reminded him of you for two reasons , first being that it was sweet, second was it’s name.

saving grace , the words echoed in his head as he checked out, holding not one but two bottles of the liquid in his hands. he thought about your strict instructions, ‘ only the list, ‘kay?’ you had said. he was in for a lecture. it didn’t matter though. the man knew that you were soft and if he so much as pouted at you just right, that you’d forget yourself. that always happens . he knows this because you do the same damn thing to him every time.

saving grace , he mumbles, his thick finger tips brushing the engraved words across the form of the glass bottle. it was round, a spout that look similar to a caterpillar and had a green gradient rising from the bottom.

saving grace, he thinks as he drives. why did this remind him of you so feverishly ? it took him a moment until he realised. all of a sudden he was back in college.

kiyoomi was standoffish and cold to the naked eye. the uneducated and untrained eye. not yours, though. it took a few months but once you had melted the tough, stainless steel exterior known as sakusa kiyoomi he knew he was done for. it started with the sparkle of your eyes as you looked at him or the warmth in his chest when you spoke - the little things that he so desperately tried to push away. it suffocated him at first. it snuck into his mouth and clogged his airways, infesting his lungs, his heart and when he thought he couldn’t take it; it hit him.

just breathe.

and when he did; all he smelt was you. your kindness, your understanding of his small social battery and the undying love you held for him. it consumed him, and he embraced it. you saved kiyoomi from a life of solitude that he thought he needed. that he yearned for until you. that’s why this simple, measly scent reminded him of you.

saving grace , he thinks as he comes in and unpacks with you. at first you sigh happily when you see no out of the ordinary items. you believe that he’s actually done what he’s told for once.

saving grace , he thinks when you groan at him as he explains that you shouldn’t be so happy yet. when he pulls out the box holding the bottles. you sigh a , ‘ and here i thought you were learning, ‘ but you still look curious.

you open the box, french words tumbling from your beautiful lips and the aroma invading his senses as you spritz some onto your wrist. the smile you sport with shut eyes is enough to make him fall for you all over again, and the ‘ omi, this smells amazing. thank you!’ prompts him to do so.you hug him.

saving grace , the only words on his mind as you hug his waist in gratitude. kiyoomi inhales and smells it all over again. you. the peace he’s always needed.

[skelliefranky]

LOVE your work!! how do you choose colors? I'm an artist myself and I struggle to find color palettes that feel like me and what I want my art to look and feel like

Color theory is absolute butts and ass and I slept through the classes I tried to take in it so I cheat. I make really ugly flat color layers and then throw a bunch of color adjustment layers on top until I like how they look. Then I smother the skin layers in blush (the naughty artists' technique), do a cold toned multiply layer for shadows on top, airbrush in contrasting warmth, and then top it all off with a gradient map correction layer to bring it all together. (The gradient map is key for color harmony - I definitely recommend looking up how to use them)

The only color theory that rooted in my brain of any kind was complimentary colors, so I use those a lot, with a preference for the green and red combination. Like pretty much on every level I use complimentary colors, when choosing character designs, when making backgrounds and atmospheric lighting, when coloring skin etc etc. I know there's much cooler and smarter things than that but tbh sometimes simplicity is where it's at.

Another random note - it's good to color code character designs in comics and other narrative works. This way you can change their outfits and hair and such and they remain easily recognizeable because of their color coding. It also makes it easier to distinguish them from each other in framing. For example, Gwen wears pale, cool toned colors with gold and Aleksei mostly wears black and silver with bold color accents, usually green and or red. This is so they contrast both in saturation and values and stand out easily in panels against each other.

Simpler color palettes are generally better, it's best to refrain from using more than 3 distinct colors in a design unless it's supposed to be chaotic/flamboyant. You can use as many values and saturations within those colors as you'd like tho so it's not as limiting as it sounds.

[onionpwder]

Hello! I absolutely love the airbrush look on that g3 wysteria drawing. Would you be willing to share the brush/settings, or have any tips for achieving the look? I understand if not though, so no need to answer this if you don't want to!

HI THANK YOU!!! ill try my gbest to explain! i used this brush for everything on that piece:

i use it at around 25px on a 2000x2000px canvas if that means anything to anyone

i tried to recreate the process here, heres my little annotations: 1. kind of just make a rough outline of the shape u want 2. add shadows, with black closest to the face so the hair has like a gradient effect 3. add sqiggles!!! your worms!!! this will be cleaned up so go as messy as you want 4. colours, change the black to a purplish colour(or whatever shade you want im doing pink hair so purple goes well with that yknow) on a linear burn layer on like 80ish percent with your colours underneath, i just scribble these in and keep it lighter around the edges again, ill flatten everything and then draw lighter curls on top to make it look cool 5. clean up, this is the longest part uits essentially colour picking parts of the hair and making them more prominent, i kind of just mess around here and keep whatever i think looks good 6. its basically finished now but i like to go with an extra extra light pink underneath and do an airbrush effect around the hair and then add in more curls- and then flatten everything -> duplicate -> gaussian blur at like 15% maybe -> change layer opacity to around 30 or whatever looks good to get more of that airbrush 'ethereal' effect

really i tend to just 'fuck around and find out' when it comes to art, i had to redraw this piece like 3 times until it looked right to me so i think just scribble around and see what you like really. i hope this helped if u need anything else LMK ta

[beeeinyourbonnet]

Covetous | Chapter 20

Pairing: Nostelle 

Summary: Father Joseph MacAvoy wakes up in a library across town with no idea of how he got there. When the kind librarian doesn’t kick him out immediately, he considers that maybe there’s more to life than alcohol.

[chapter 1] [chapter 2] [chapter 3] [chapter 4] [chapter 5] [chapter 6] [chapter 7] [chapter 8] [chapter 9] [chapter 10] [chapter 11] [chapter 12] [chapter 13] [chapter 14] [chapter 15] [chapter 16] [chapter 17] [chapter 18] [chapter 19]

[read on ao3]

-------------------------------

Belle couldn’t explain the nerves she’d woken up with at the thought of meeting with Kathryn again that afternoon. If anything, she should be less nervous for this second meeting instead of more, but maybe it was because a second meeting meant they were closer to the trial, even though there’d been no date set for that yet.

The sooner the trial, the sooner Nosty might end up in prison, and she didn’t know if he’d survive there. Of course she’d visit him, and of course she wouldn’t hold a prison sentence against him, but he valued his freedom above all. He’d been incarcerated before, but never for a felony sentence like this would be. A sentence like that might break him.

At least she didn’t feel the need to impress Kathryn this time, so she didn’t spend longer than usual on her outfit—a belted herringbone dress and yellow cardigan—and arrived at work in a good, if slightly manic, mood.

She shelved her books, gave Kaz more construction paper for the paper chain—almost long enough to drape around the reading room it was for by now—and read more books than usual for story time. 

Ashley was coming to relieve her when she left to meet Nosty at Kathryn’s, but since she couldn’t ask her to work just two hours, she came in at lunch. 

“What’s all this?” Ashley asked when she spotted the paper chain. Kaz blinked at her.

“It’s decoration,” Belle said. “Can you reshelve that cart?”

While Ashley worked, Belle sat at the circulation desk and browsed new titles she could start ordering next month. 

Her phone buzzed around one, but it was just Nosty confirming Kathryn’s address. She sent him a thumbs up and then, on a whim, a heart, and then blushed for no reason. Sending a heart with an address confirmation? His art purchase had turned her even sillier than she’d been.

Kaz appeared in front of her, and she jumped.

“Sorry.” Kaz grinned, not sorry at all, and Belle smiled in response. 

“I wasn’t paying attention. What can I do for you?”

“It’s getting a little out of hand.”

She was not wrong. When Belle took one end of the paper chain and Kaz took the other, it spanned almost the whole main area of the library.

“It looks like it’s time to hang it,” Belle said. The two of them trooped into the reading room with a stepladder, tape, and arms full of paper chain, and Belle stood on the ladder while Kaz held the bundle of paper and handed Belle tape.

“What else is going in here?” Kaz asked, watching Belle like she might tumble to her doom at any second. 

“I haven’t decided yet,” Belle said. “What do you—oh, hang on.” 

She pulled her buzzing phone out of her dress pocket, but when it was only Joseph, ignored it. She could call him back later.

“Anyway, what do you think?”

Kaz shrugged. “What’s the theme?”

Belle chewed her lip, surveying the colors in the chain. Either Kaz had taken care to make sure there was never a double of any color, or she’d gotten lucky, but it was a lovely rainbow gradient.

“Maybe something with clouds? Like a beautiful day after a rain?”

She didn’t blame Kaz for her baffled look, but without any further ideas, she climbed back down the ladder to scoot it a meter over and climb back up.

With one hand on the paper and the other holding tape, her phone buzzed again. Belle sighed and stuck the tape to her palm, fishing her phone out again. 

“Joseph? Everything okay? I’m in kind of a precarious ladder situation.”

Holding the phone between her ear and shoulder, she tried to position the paper where she wanted it again. 

“A precarious ladder situation?” Joseph asked. “Is everything okay with you?”

“Yes, just hanging some decor.” 

“Sorry, I’ll leave you to it, then,” he said, and then hung up.

Too precariously on her ladder, she did not have the energy to parse what had just happened, so she just slipped her phone back into her pocket and taped up her paper.

It took them another fifteen minutes to get the chain fully hung, and in the end, they had to remove about ten links from it.

“It’s perfect,” Belle said. “Maybe I’ll get different shades of construction paper and just hang loads of chains.”

“Do I have to make them all?” Kaz asked, wrinkling her nose.

Belle snorted. “You don’t have to do anything. You are a volunteer, not an employee. Are you hungry?” 

Kaz nodded, so they headed out to the snack cart and Belle poured herself a cup of coffee. A quick glance at the wall clock told her she only had about ten minutes left to drink it before she wanted to leave for Kathryn’s office. 

“I’ll be leaving early in a little bit, just so you know,” Belle told her as they headed for a table. Ashley had taken over the circulation desk, and there was no point in Belle disturbing her now.

“What for?” Kaz asked. 

“I have to meet with my solicitor,” she said. There was no reason for Kaz to assume the solicitor had anything to do with Nosty, so that was safe.

“Solicitor? What for?”

Belle really should have prepared for that question. “Just routine,” she said, hoping that Kaz was young enough to believe that routine visits with solicitors were normal.

“Can I stay a bit longer?”

“Sure.” Belle shrugged. “You’re welcome any time.”

They drank together in companionable silence until Belle had to retreat to her office to pack up and go, and it was just as she was hoisting her purse over her shoulder that Joseph burst in, collarino falling off and hair sticking up every which way. 

“Joseph!” She was too shocked to moderate her tone. “What’s wrong?” 

Joseph licked his lips. “Belle, I’m so sorry.”

It was like he’d dumped ice on her. There was only one reason he’d be sorry enough to rush here—something was wrong with Nosty.

“What happened?” she asked. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe someone had stolen her car or something. Maybe he’d relapsed.

“Can we talk outside?” he asked. 

“Okay.” She locked her office with numb fingers, barely remembering to wave to Ashley and Kaz as she followed Joseph to the parking lot.

Nosty wasn’t there, though she hadn’t expected him to be.

“What is it?” she asked, sounding like a stranger to her own ears.

One of Joseph’s hands reached inside his jacket, but returned empty. “Belle, you know I’d never do anything to hurt you, right?”

“Of course,” she said, too busy imagining Nosty lying dead in a ditch or dead in a pew or dead impaled on kitchen knife to question this direction in the conversation. 

“Nosty left.”

The images froze. She hadn’t heard him right. Nosty hadn’t left. Sure, yesterday therapy had left him raw, and even though he didn’t tell her what they’d talked about, she knew it had been harrowing for him. But she’d spent hours on the phone just being with him, cheering him up, she’d thought. He wouldn’t have left. Not again, not like this.

“What?” she said. She couldn’t see anything other than the blue roof of her car right in front of her.

“He left.”

She clutched her keys hard enough to hurt and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Belle?”

“No.” She shook her head, opening her eyes. Nosty had no reason to leave. But then, Joseph had no reason to come all the way down here just to lie. “He wouldn’t.”

“Yes, he would,” Joseph said, and before Belle could even begin to scream, he raised his hands in surrender. “And I know he would, because—because it’s my fault.”

Belle frowned. “What do you mean?”

Joseph looked as though he’d prefer to be anywhere but there. “I said some—well, some awful things. And he stormed off and said he was leaving.”

“What did you say?” It didn’t make sense. Had Joseph tried to defend her honor or something? Had he told Nosty they’d kissed?

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Just—it was bad.”

“It does matter.” It mattered because what if it was nothing? What if Joseph had quoted the bible and Nosty had run off citing freedom of religion? Or what if he’d mentioned the kiss and Nosty had left in a jealous rage?

“Please, Belle, I don’t—” He wrung his hands, then touched one to her wrist. She laid a hand over it in reflex. “I’m so ashamed.”

“What could you possibly have said that was that bad?” 

Joseph closed his eyes, and she thought he was going to continue not answering, but then he threw his hands up.

“I said he had shelter and food at my mercy, and—” He pinched his bottom lip. “Well, I guess the implications were that I could take it away for any reason.”

It took Belle what felt like hours to process these two sentences. She kept trying to rearrange them into something that made sense, but they kept being awful. After an eternity of Joseph watching her like it was only a matter of time before she tore his throat out, she closed her eyes. Nosty was gone again.

“How could you do this to him?” she whispered and then, louder, “How dare you do this to him. You’re the one who offered him a place to stay!”

“Belle, please, I’m so sorry.” He touched her elbow and she tore it away, unlocking her car with two angry punches to the fob. 

“Don’t touch me,” she said, and he raised his hands again. She yanked her door open and threw herself in, needing to get as far away from Joseph as possible so she could cry.

“What are you doing? Where are you going?”

She glared up at him, into his helpless face. She wanted to slam her car door into it. “I’m going to find him, and if I can’t find him, I’m going to go tell his solicitor exactly what happened and try to keep him out of prison.”

“Let me help you. Please, Belle.” He grabbed the top edge of the door. “It’s the least I can do.”

“You’ve done enough.” She tugged the door out of his grasp and shut it, unable to look at his wounded, desolate expression because it just reminded her of Joseph another lifetime ago, a Joseph who’d held her and called every hospital in town.

Did that Joseph even believe in her either?

She started the car, and when she put it in reverse, Joseph backed away. He was calling her name, so she turned the radio on, and then all she could see as she backed out was him clasping his hands in a plea and mouthing Belle, wait! to the too-happy song playing through the speakers.

****

MacAvoy stared at the empty space where Belle had been until well after she’d gone. What had he expected to happen? He’d gone and fucked it all up again, just like he’d always known he would. 

For this, he deserved a drink.

****

Belle cried the whole drive to Kathryn’s, a fresh wave of tears coming every time she phoned Nosty and he didn’t pick up. She wanted to have faith in him, and maybe if she had longer than twenty minutes to process, she would, but now it felt like Joseph had picked the scab off an old wound and driven a knife into it, and all she had to stop the bleeding was her fingers.

She parked a block away and dug some napkins out of her glove compartment to fix herself, though there was nothing she could actually do about her makeup except wipe the tracks of mascara off her cheeks. At this rate, she’d be late meeting Kathryn, but she was sure the solicitor would understand.

As put together as she could be under the circumstances, Belle got out of the car and forced her legs to carry her to the office building.

Then, when she turned the corner, there was Nosty, smoking a cigarette at the picnic table and reading. She blinked and shook her head a few times to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating, then sprinted to him, heels and all.

He closed his book and stood, opening his arms to receive her with an oof as she barreled into him.

“Oh my god, you’re here.” She squeezed him so tightly, she could feel his ribs.

“Said I would be, didn’t I?” He rested his lips atop her head, and she could have cried again. “I guess you talked to the Father.”

“I thought you were gone forever. Why didn’t you answer your phone?” 

He shrugged. “Didn’t want to let him off the hook if he was with you.” 

“Nosty, I am so, so sorry.” She turned her head so she could breathe, loosened her grip just a hair, and rested her cheek on his chest.

“Don’t apologize.” One of his hands came to rest on the back of her head while the other stayed curled protectively about her waist. 

“What happened?” she asked. She had been too frantic to ask Joseph any followup questions, and she considered now that, maybe in her panic, she’d overreacted. Safe in Nosty’s arms, the rage that had filled her seemed so far away. 

“He’s fucking mental, that’s what happened.” 

She wanted to look up at him but couldn’t bring herself to lift any part of her from any part of him, so she just slipped her hands under his jacket to clutch at the back of his t-shirt. 

“He told me what he said,” she said. “But he didn’t tell me why.”

Nosty didn’t speak, so with a tiny sigh, she leaned back to look at him. If she didn’t know better, she’d say that the pink tinge on his cheeks and the way he wouldn’t meet her eyes meant he was embarrassed. Embarrassed of what, though?

“Nosty?” 

“You might be mad,” he said.

Of course. Of course she might be mad. She didn’t know what to think anymore. Joseph had come to her to self-flagellate, but he didn’t want to tell her what Nosty said because he didn’t want to incriminate him. She would have to apologize to him later, but she would be the judge of what did and didn’t make her mad.

“Lay it on me,” Belle said.

He tapped her left arm. “Need to get in me pocket.” 

She moved out of his way and he came out with a folded piece of paper that looked like it had gone through a washing machine and handed it to her

Accepting that she would have to let go of him eventually, she unfolded it and scanned quickly. As she read, her cheeks warmed with heat she could not acknowledge standing on a public lawn. This was Nosty’s clean bill of sexual health, just like the one she’d received over the phone yesterday. 

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why would I be mad?” 

Nosty shrugged, his feigned nonchalance as familiar to her now as his jacket. “Joseph seemed to think it was presumptuous to go without you.”

She had never felt so stupid in her life as she did trying to process each tiny piece of information about this conflict. It seemed so easy to understand, and yet every time one of the men said something, she had to pause and deconstruct every single word over and over before she got the picture.

The picture, as she best understood it, was that Joseph had somehow found out that Nosty had gotten tested and then lost his mind. 

“How did he even know?” she asked. 

“Belle, come on, you don’t want to hear anymore.”

Belle frowned, folding the letter back up and handing it to him. She was opening her mouth to say something but was saved the trouble by Kathryn calling their names. Nosty turned, and they both waved as Kathryn made her way to the picnic table with her legal pad, a cup of tea, and Joanna in tow with two more. 

“I figured you’d want to meet down here again,” Kathryn said, taking her seat. Joanna set the cups down and then fled back inside.

“Thanks,” Nosty said before Belle could, and she could have fainted with shock. 

They joined her at the table, and Belle forced herself to focus on the matter at hand instead of trying to figure out what had happened today. 

Kathryn had gotten Nosty a court date for three months from then, and Nosty grimaced. Belle wanted to grimace as well—as long as he was out on bail, they were free—but she just took his hand under the table and squeezed. 

“I think we should talk about the actual trial,” Kathryn said. “We want to make Nosty look as sympathetic as possible. I know his story is sympathetic, but you know how juries are.”

Nosty snorted. “Aye.”

Belle didn’t know how juries were specifically, but she knew how people were. She knew what people saw when they saw Nosty. 

“So, first thing’s first, I don’t think you should go by ‘Nosty’ in court.”

Belle bit her lip to keep from saying anything, especially when Nosty yanked his hand away to fold his arms. This was his call.

“Why not?” he asked. “Never been a problem before.”

Kathryn raised an eyebrow. “Were you found innocent before?”

Nosty’s glare held no fire, and Belle almost laughed. “No.”

“Okay, so what is your real name?”

Belle watched Nosty and Kathryn watch each other like it was riveting cinema. Nosty had the full force of his glare turned on the solicitor, and Kathryn just smiled blandly in return, not moving an inch. Finally, Nosty huffed.

“What if my real name is worse?”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Kathryn said. 

Nosty glanced at Belle, and she only shrugged. “You’ve never told me your real name, so I can’t help you.”

He groaned, fingers tapping against the bench like they weren’t attached to him.

“Look, you don’t have to tell me,” Kathryn said. “It’s all your choice. But if we put you on the stand and say, ‘This is Nosty, he assaulted a cop,’ they’re all going to say, ‘of course he did.’”

“Fine.” He snatched Belle’s hand up again, and she squeezed his fingers. “It’s Fraser.”

“That’s not bad at all,” Kathryn said, jotting it down. “Last name?”

Nosty mumbled something. Belle and Kathryn both leaned closer.

“Didn’t catch that,” Kathryn said.

“I said, that is me last name, and it’s dead to me.”

“After this, you never have to acknowledge it again,” Belle said. “Though it probably wouldn’t hurt to get some ID.”

“I guess Nosty Fraser isn’t so bad if you really don’t want to give a first name,” Kathryn said. “It doesn’t really roll off the tongue though, does it?”

Nosty glanced down at Belle. What did he think was going to happen? She’d hear whatever his name was and immediately turn against him? 

“Nosty, we’ll still call you whatever you want,” Belle said. “This is just for the court.”

He groaned again, then slapped his other hand on the table. “Fine, it’s John. Happy? I’m just a sad, boring fuck named John, just like every other bloke in the fucking UK.”

It took a herculean effort for Belle not to laugh, but she forced down her amusement as Kathryn made a long note on her pad, much longer than just the word “John.” 

“Oh, Nosty,” she said, and when he glared at her, she couldn’t stop her eyes crinkling. “Just because your name is common, it doesn’t mean you are.”

“It’s perfect is what it is,” Kathryn said. “John Fraser? Who’s afraid of that guy?” 

This statement did not help soothe Nosty in any way, but Belle’s snickering seemed to take the wind out of his sails, and he loosened his grip on her hand.

“Fine, but if I hear it outside of the courtroom, I’m knocking both your heads together.”

It was such an empty threat, even Kathryn smiled. 

“Duly noted. Now, your look.”

Nosty spluttered. “What d’you mean? This is how I fucking look.”

Kathryn shook her head. “Not in court, it isn’t. Do you have a suit?”

“Do I have—”

“We’ll get one,” Belle said, patting Nosty on the hand. “What else?” 

“Keep it mute, sedate. If it looks like church clothes, it’s perfect.” Kathryn took a sip of her tea, giving Nosty a chance to settle, and then said. “You’ll want to be clean shaven as well, and I think you should shave off the locks.”

“No.” Nosty shook his head. “Absolutely not. D’you know what I’ll look like with a shaved head? A fucking skinhead, that’s what. No.”

Belle studied him, and he probably wasn’t wrong. As skinny and gaunt as he was, he would certainly look threatening in a new way if he was bald as well.

“If you shaved it off now, it would have plenty of time to grow back,” Kathryn said. “Just think about it, okay? If you show up looking like a clean-cut former altar boy, it’ll make a huge difference, especially with Belle there.”

Nosty cast her a helpless look, so Belle squeezed his hand again. 

“We’ll think about it,” Belle said. “We’ll definitely think about it.”

“Good.” Kathryn smiled, making a few more notes. “Now, let’s talk a bit more about our defense.”

****

Nosty was quiet as they walked back to the car, hand resting loosely in Belle’s. She thought the meeting had gone well, but then, she wasn’t the one Kathryn had lain bare. 

“You don’t have to do any of it if you don’t want to,” Belle said. “I mean, I think you should wear a suit, but you don’t even have to do that.”

Nosty grunted, so she said no more, content to swing their hands between them. Once in the car, Nosty dug through her purse for the snack she always brought him, and a swell of affection ballooned in her chest.

She drove off, though she wasn’t exactly sure where she was going. Obviously, she wasn’t taking him back to the church right now, but would he go back later? She still didn’t exactly know what happened.

For now, she’d drive to her flat, and then they could walk somewhere to get dinner. Maybe once Nosty calmed, they could talk more about the hair.

He polished off the bag of crisps she’d brought, then rolled the window down to stick his head out. Even the thought of what happened with Joseph couldn’t quash Belle’s happiness right then. Nosty had pulled his disappearing act, but he hadn’t disappeared on her. This was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? For him to prove that he was in it for good?

“Belle?” Nosty rolled up the window.

“Mm?”

“You’ll still look at me if I look like a skinhead for a few weeks until me hair grows, yeah?”

She glanced at him, then grinned. “Of course. Besides, I think if we go to a professional instead of me shaving it in a bathroom, they might be able to salvage some.” 

“You think?” He pulled the mirror down and bunched up his locks, tugging them back and studying his face. He wrinkled his nose and shut the mirror. 

“You really don’t have to cut it, Nosty.” She squeezed his knee, but couldn’t keep her hand there since she needed it to drive.

“It’s fine. I don’t need it anymore.”

She frowned, almost hitting the car in front of her when she glanced at him. “What do you mean?”

“Eh, it’s like—” Nosty moved his hands like he might find the words in the air. “It’s like armor, right? That’s what the shrink says, I have all this armor, like me kilt.” He plucked at the kilt. “But I don’t need all of it anymore.”

She smiled at the road. “You don’t?” 

“Nah, I’m not going it alone anymore. I’ve got you now.”

Belle was on the verge of responding when what he’d said hit her, and the words disappeared. I’ve got you now. 

It was the sign she’d been waiting for, and if she did not kiss him immediately, she would disintegrate. She turned onto the next street, pulling into the first open space she saw while Nosty watched her with a furrowed brow.

“Belle, what are you doing?”

She put the car in park, unbuckled her seatbelt, then grabbed his face and planted her lips on his. 

“Got it,” he said, and then his hands were in her hair, and he was biting her lower lip, and she was pressing herself as close to him as she could with the console in the way. 

“Nosty,” she sighed into his mouth.

He bit her lip again and then dragged his mouth off hers to kiss down her jaw, holding her head still. 

“Yes, love?” he growled.

“I couldn’t go another second without kissing you,” she said. “I forgive you.”

He groaned, surging toward her and then stopping to glare at the cupholders. She laughed, but she felt the same.

“We should probably get going,” she said, though she tilted her head back as he kissed down her neck.

“Are you kidding? Get in the back seat. My cock is clean as fuck, let’s go.”

She felt his smile against her neck when she snorted, but he did bring up a good point about all the things they could now do. “Come on, let’s go on a date or something.”

“What’s with you and dates?” He pulled himself off her neck, and she took the opportunity to kiss him once more before turning to the wheel. She didn’t want to be in this car anymore.

“I like you,” she said. “I want to date you.”

“There are too many other people,” he said. “I want to just be with you.”

“Maybe another night, then?” She wasn’t giving up on being able to do things with another person. 

Nosty’s hand slid across the console to rest on her thigh, and she could have melted. “If it makes you happy, love.” 

“You make me happy.”

He grinned, and she could not get them home fast enough.

****

MacAvoy didn’t know how he made it, but he’d walked all the way home from the library. It took hours, and it was only the pain in his feet and legs and stomach that reminded him he hadn’t died.

He wished he’d died, but if the look on Belle’s face as she drove away from him hadn’t killed him, nothing would.

He knew he shouldn’t have bought a bottle of whiskey on his way home, but what the fuck did it matter now? At least it was cheap so he wouldn’t feel guilty about wasting money as he poured it straight down his gullet.

Nosty’s presence had never been a comfort until now, when his absence loomed over MacAvoy like the grim reaper. He dragged himself through the barren church, up the stairs to the kitchen. 

There was still plenty of food, but he didn’t want to eat. He didn’t want to think. He just wanted oblivion, the void.

After grabbing a mug from the dish rack—Nosty’s from that morning—he sat down and plopped it onto the table with an angry thunk. 

With weak, trembling hands, he unscrewed the cap off his whiskey and sloshed some into his mug. Sweet relief would be his soon, but when he brought the mug to his nose and inhaled deeply, he coughed. The smell made his eyes water. 

No matter. He tipped the mug back, ready for the joy of alcohol, and when it touched his lips, he gagged, the smell so horrendous, his stomach lurched.

“Fuck.” He stood, glowering at the bottle, and then he hurled his mug, followed by the bottle, against the door, relishing the shatter of glass and ceramic much more than he’d relished the drink.

[ifyoucandaniel]

Can I ask what kind of materials you use for bookbinding? Your 'cards on the table' binding is gorgeous and it looks sooo clean! Love the inner paper and how you styled the cover <3

hi, thank you so much!! i’m very happy you liked my bind :)

so this was actually different from any project i’ve done before because i tried almost completely new materials i’d never used before because i wanted a very specific outcome with lots of pink. so here is a list of the materials i used!

book cloth is from this shop on etsy called MaudieMooBooks and the colors were something like cherry blossom pink and blush? or something like that, the shop is on hiatus so i can’t look at it, but they were pink. don’t do what i did because i didn’t look at the measurements and i ordered it WAY too small and only had .5’ to go over the top and bottom of my bind and it was a very close call. definitely double check measurement before ordering!!

i didn’t use it this time, but i also really enjoy using PemberyBookbinding’s bookcloth! it’s pretty cheap but it ships from AUS so if you live in the US the shipping is like $30. really good stuff on his shop though and you get a lot of it for cheap!

the vinyl is from a shop online called mivinylworld and it has a lot of variety for really cheap! this was my first time trying it but it worked really well with the book cloth and i really liked the colors!!! it ships from michigan and i live in the us and it arrived like two days after i bought it!

the charms were from michaels but i think they’ve since been discontinued? you might be able to find them online but i bought them sometime last year

the end papers were on some paper i bought from michaels, i think 100lbs white! i designed the end papers on canva and then used procreate to create the gradient and printed them on my laser printer.

the dust jackets are designed in canva and then i print them at office depot :)

i think that’s everything!! if you have any more questions or anything my DMs are always open and i’m happy to offer any help i can :)

[dragon-tummy]

3 am, almost 4 am, rambles.

Dunno why but my weed brain really really REALLY wants dragon Thoma. So I'll be talking about him.

Vore wasn't my focus for this, I'm just tryin to flesh out ideas that sound nice to me. I might add more to this later.

Probably poorly written but I'll find out when I wake up.

:3

For aus where I make characters monsters, dragons are my first thought for him. My dragon aus offer two forms beyond human, either (cen)taur or feral. It gives me a chance to make interactions with characters of varied sizes and worldbuilding opportunities.

Thoma would be pretty averagely sized, if just a bit more lithely muscled than other dragons. The term kobold comes to mind, but its more of a mean nickname to smaller dragons. Soft fluffy body. Scales dotted down the back break up the fur, a surprisingly unbalanced amount of fur to scales. His pyro doesn't seem to burn his fur, so it's not that big of a problem.

He trails after Aether, Ayato, and Childe often. The desire to tend to tasks for a dragon he sees as hard working and amazing is a strong one, his loyalty and eagerness to please leading him. Probably more characters like Neuvillette, Zhongli, and Ningguang but my brain is too squashed for many ideas.

He and Yoimiya tend to be saving a lot of regular humans from the chaos of Inazuma's varied dragon population. Because it's impossible to tell a kind dragon apart from a mean one, most humans don't know if a dragon is safe or not until its within reach.

Put me in tummy. Now.

Pyro themed stomach, a red to orange-yellow gradient. There's a magma pattern similar to that of a the underwater light pattern. Hard to explain like this, but it's the light u see on the ocean floor/distance n stuff.

Taur form, he holds people bridal style when awake and over the shoulder when asleep. There's the other option of uh... eating. But thats not special to a singular form.

Dragon ears are dog-like, one ear folded. Soft dragon paws and paw pads.

Dog-like habit of drooling when excited and licking others affectionately. The latter has gotten him into one too many weird situations with a smaller person. It's not his fault he gets overly eager! He just wants to have them as close as possible in his excitement. And that means in the mouth they go.

Aether is the person that has to listen to his rambles abt his day. Idly talking about a new recipe he tried making alongside chores done and things seen. Pair that with him doing something in taur form, he's bound to knock something over in his distraction. Surprisingly well balanced until he's set on a single goal, at which point he's very clumsy and unaware.

Big wings and feathery accents to indicate Mondstadt origin. Leans into the sky-related traits also including aerodynamically shaped horns and wider chest/ribs for larger lungs.

[jamiethebeeart]

A different kind of post from me!

Asking for ✨help✨

So *long story short I created a cosplay design for Oboro/Kurogiri? And I kind of settled on a design I like, but something still feels.... not right. So on the off chance one of my followers has design know how and is willing to chime in.... uuh please feel free to weigh in.

*a con I'm going to announced Elements as their gala theme and my friend suggested an Oboro/Kurogiri mash up and I dove head first into the idea. whoopsies. I did solidify fabric choices but looking at the cost of all dress materials in addition to Ms. Joke's stuff I decided to leave this as a cosplan for the future (maybe a masquerade entry???? I think it'd be lit... literally lmao - I want the lightening to be lights under organza. but since it won't have to fit into an elements theme I might nix that part or change it?)

Version 1 relies on tulle to create a kind of shadow-y gradient up the torso. I didn't actually figure out what under the capelet would look like - it's the most unfinished design of all. Version 2 played around with the corset idea, but I still wasn't pleased with it - it cut off too much visually, but at least I thought through the shirt portion?

(you might be asking yourself what's up with the white. well... yea. I like body paint more than straight foundation and I think the starkness lends itself more to the established nomu-ification more than trying to make the top portion more like Oboro's canon design. Honestly liable to change. Idk how to incorporate Oboro's nose plaster/bandaid on the white face as it is visually one of the markers of the character. But also I love contrast. oooooh contrast my love)

Version 3 tried to make the top section/corset more like Oboro's hero costume, and then adding in elements of Kurogiri's vest with the "buttons" but it was clunky trying to fit in Kurogiri's uuuh.. neck... brace... thing.... and I didn't like the silhouette enough to figure it out. lmao. BUT I figured out how to do the skirt portion! (The black dress is just there as a visual reminder of what the arm section is trying to go for. I just got lucky finding a picture that fit well enough to what I'd already come up with.) SO the bottommost base will be a circle skirt of sorts to lay down a base over the hoop skirt. Then the next layer of fabric on top will be like the 3rd reference picture down - I liked the poofy/cloud like texture, but I still wanted the smokiness of Kurogiri to be present in the skirt so I was thinking adding layers like you see in the 4th picture on top of the poofy cloud structure. Which is.... a lot considering I've never attempted a formal dress before. And all of that will be textured diagonally down the skirt to give a sense of swirling movement hopefully reminiscent of Kurogiri's portals. Inbetween the cloud texture and smoky texture is where I was planning on applying the lights. (The smoky gradient texturing would be layered organza which should be shear enough even with layering to allow the light to shine through.)

Version 4!!! So many variants of version 4! I solidified what I wanted the torso to look like! Which is a cross of a stay and a corset. I've yet to find any examples of real garments that match my design but I want a front lacing corset that has that blue stomacher. The shirt borrows from version 2 except this version is like a wrap shirt so instead of applying the blue ribbon (satin? I'll figure it out later exactly what I want from it) over a completed shirt I make things more difficult for myself by making a wrap shirt whose edge is lined with the darker blue. How will I make this stay in place and be comfortable under a corset? idk.

(Also - the shirt is going to be so much gradient dying.... because I have to add in things I don't have a lot of experience in.... I love throwing myself into the deep end haha... The black will probably be an applique? Or if the fabric won't hold up to the weight I might just "paint" on black dye for the corruption effect.)

I played around with different hair covering to bring in the orange cloud logo Oboro has on his jacket. I'm not sold on the jacket design, so I wanted to figure out how to incorporate the cloud motif and jacket colors another way. (Also on purpose to primarily focus that on the most Oboro part of this design.) At the time of compiling this post I might try out an actual (short) cape? So as to keep the frontal view as is but still add some interest to the back view? Also I'm imagining twirling with a cape on stage.... It'd look so cool.

I also tried out a hair down style instead of the bun with a few curls/waves released. I was leaning towards hair down would have the different hats/bonnets/hair accessories. And then hair up would be balanced with the capelet.

Also I might just be overthinking the hair lmao. A cute cloud clip in the hair would also work perfectly fine. (Also as mentioned I love contrast and that includes blue/orange my complementary color love)

Idk why I have pictures here with capelet and hair coverings but I do.

Anywho! This last picture is the one I've settled on.

Additional notes about the design: The white body base with shadows creeping up is actually a shirt. Because body painting myself and creating a mess on my body and clothes sounds like an actual nightmare. So it'd be more like white long sleeved shirt, basically the equivalent of a blue shift for the hero shirt with ... idk what those sleeves would be called where they're like gathered with a sewn in string or elastic? The sleeves would end in.... organza? tulle? for the kind of shadowy effect over the hands. (It's hard to see but the bulk of it over the hand would blend with the black fingerless gloves and then the bottomost layer would be purple to give that halo-y effect that Kurogiri's hands have. (Where his body smokes out you see the purple color on the edges - ya know that whole thing?) It'd have removable fingerless gloves taken directly from Oboro's hero design, but also so that I can visually continue the sleeves and still remove them as needed. The orange floating clouds are actually like a veil? The clouds would be embroidered on blue tulle (?) so it's hard to see but still be able to be embroidered on and pinned into the wig. I didn't draw in my eyes because... I was lazy lmao but I don't wear contacts... I suppose for this I'd have to either take off my glasses or finally get some. But I do think coloring in my entire eyelid with yellow so that with my eyes closed it all looks uniform across is the way to go.... Or maybe have one eye be normal and the other smoky? Oh, and then I could have a corner of my face that isn't white. I'm not sold on the corset/stay design. I think in order to have it properly supporting things I have to increase the length of it down so it settles over my hips to displace the weight instead of ending right above them... From what I gather that should increase comfortability, but it also makes it tricker to visually get the angles on the sides to translate right. Honestly I don't even know how well a more form fitting corset and a stomach will interact for support? I might just have to make it more like a proper stay with a flatter profile for it to physically work. I've got no idea on shoes though. (Men's) Dress shoes would be a fun nod to Kurogiri's formal outfit but also sneakers are so much nicer to move in... Oh! The bit around the eyes is supposed to be like smoky/cloudy makeup. Tumblr will probably trash the quality so it'll be hard to tell.

I have considered making this in a style that properly pulls from one time period but I've yet to find a historical period of fashion that encapsulates what I'm trying to achieve. Until then it remains a mish mash of fashion ideas.

[thebigcjart]

Here are some extra bits on Kane!

ngl trying to match the fonts on the assets was super tough so I ended up just using the font listed on the wiki.

Infodump under the cut >:3

Strife Specubi

Kane's strife specubi consist of catkind and 2xlegkind. Kane brings Cazador into the Medium, but I don't know if they prototype him or not yet. I haven't really thought of sprites yet tbh.

Cazador does most of the fighting, but it's still registered as Kane "fighting" using Caz as a weapon through Catkind. Kane can also use cat statues, and other weapons that involve attacking the enemy with a cat of some sort. Cazador never strays (pun!) far from Kane, but Kane knows how to kick (with both legs only) through 2xlegkind. This also includes dual wielding legs as weapons, funnily enough.

Fetch Modus

The Claw Fetch modus was something that just kind of... happened? Whenever Kane captchalouges something, the captchlogue cards are thrown into a big hole with lots of platforms. Smaller items fall much slower than large items. Items must be retrieved by playing a claw mini-game, avoiding the platforms and undesired items along the way. The item fall speed thing is so if they captchalouge something by accident, they have a chance of catching while it's falling or following it closely if the item is small enough.

I had the thought that the deeper the claw goes, the more spaced out the platforms would be, to the point where if they go deep enough, there wouldn't be any more. From there, I imagine that the claw would leave the mini-game window and be able to grab things in the world. Either that, or there may be something down there in the deepest reaches of their sylladex. Waiting.

Or both of those things idk lol

Internet Browser (and Denizen)

So... let's talk about Khaos. I might have more to say on their presence and impact on the session in a separate dedicated post, but I'm going to talk about the design here.

So, the browser consists of a display window, which displays whatever webpage they're on, and a raw html console to interact with said display window. I don't know any html, and Kane only knows barely more than me, so most of their internet browsing has been through sheer dumb luck. Things just sort of work, and Kane doesn't really care but Jake, oh Jake is pissed that Kane can just... Use something without fully understanding what they're getting into. Jake isn't the kind of guy to really get "angry," but this is a conversation that Kane and he have often, to keep it brief.

This pet peeve is reinforced when the Khaos browser automatically downloads both a SBURB server program and a client application to everyone's devices ;)

Khaos is very clearly derivative of Yaldabaoth, but for good reason. I tried many things to try and move away from the stereotypically "edgy dark shadow version ooOOOoooOOoo" design tropes, and this is the best I could do while still keeping a recognizable homestucky design. All instances of the original denizen sprites on the wiki and online had a sort of dropshadow/transparent gradient outline that didn't exactly mesh well with mspaint's lack of transparency. I could have very easily removed the resulting black border, but I think it makes the grey tendrils pop more and serves to boost the void themes.

I really want to move away from setting up Kane as some edgelord figure with all the "no emotions" "Chaos" "emptiness and darkness and shadow" stuff, and just sort of treat them as kind of just another flavor of person, if that makes any sense? probably not, but just know that edginess is NOT my goal here.

Where Yaldobob is a sun-headed snake with Dirk's text color, Khaos is a black hole or black sun-headed snake with Kane's text color. As I talked about in my original Kane introduction post, the black sun is a symbol representing Nigredo, an alchemical component with an immeasurable quality of emptiness that is the first step toward creating the philosopher's stone.

In Greek mythology, Khaos is the primordial void state preceding the creation of the universe, perfect for Kane's voidness.

And much like Yolobroth, Khaos is also associated with creation and universalness. These parallels were designed this way on purpose :)

[constantvariations]

V9C4

Finally here after several hours of a dnd session zero, so this whiplash is going to be interesting

Post Ep: not as infuriating as the last episode but still missteps at pretty much every turn. At the very least we can say there’s been character “progression”

God Ruby’s voice is so damn bad I thought it was a literal child calling for a cat. Why does she sound more mature at 15 than 17?

Did we really need a close up of the cat piecing itself back together? We already know it can do wacky things with its ugly gradient body, so why the emphasis here? I doubt it’s foreshadowing for a permanent bisection

“Nothing we’ve tried has gotten us any further.” Ruby. Darling. Babe. You’ve tried walking to the tree. Nothing else. It’s not the cat’s fault you can’t think of something else besides Scooby Doo hijinks with the looping sections

What the hell is Yang now? She hasn’t been fun or quippy since Beacon but now (and that one spot in V8) she’s suddenly Joss Whedon with a dash of Hulk rage? And I can’t recall Weiss ever having these kinds of facial expressions. Judgmental commentary, sure, but this feels like she’s 3 seconds away from saying something into the camera like this is the Office

“Just because [the cat] doesn’t want to go back to the tree doesn’t mean we can’t lure them there.” That’s... a curious choice of words. Why “lure?” You lure someone into a trap or an ambush, not ask someone to be a guide. Why wouldn’t Blake use the obvious direction of “we can make a deal with the cat because they’re curious and want information we have.” You can’t really call someone a hero when their instinct is deception of a potential ally who’s already saved their asses for no real reason

Are they going to be losing the cat the whole damn episode? Is that going to be the running gag? I fucking hope not. Ruby’s voice is absolutely obnoxious this episode

She���s talking to the cat like he’s a literal toddler. And it’s acting like a toddler with an ipad. Someone put me down like Old Yeller please

Which of these idiots thought lampshading was a good idea? Like, congrats! You recognize the flaws in the story you wrote! How are you going to fix them 10 years too late? You can’t wink, wink, nudge your way out of shitty writing that you so desperately defended and clung to despite all the people giving actual constructive criticism

Why are all of them so tired of the questions? Surely, each of them have something they’d be ecstatic to talk about at length? Ruby with the progression of weapon development, Weiss with her plans to improve the SDC, Blake with other stories she’s read or how the White Fang came and fell, Yang with stories about Ruby when she was younger. There’s so many possibilities when you have a genuinely curious audience, yet they went the lazy route of “har, har, no one cares about anything” again

Was that bridge made of legos?

Okay, this is the second time the roles of acres have been mentioned. Exactly what does that mean? Do these roles serve a central purpose? The tree seems to be at the center of Wonderland, so are the acres serving the tree in some way? Is harmony throughout the different factions pivotal in keeping Wonderland in wonder instead of despair? What could this possibly mean for any themes or character arcs? It doesn’t seem like the areas thus far have resonated with any of the team, and they left behind Penny’s halo sword, the only thing that’s been even somewhat emotionally compelling, so I’m struggling to understand why Wonderland is set up like this

Love how literally nobody asks the obvious question of “are you okay?” All we get is Yang’s “Rubes?” (has she ever called Ruby that before? I can’t recall) and Blake’s logical deflection and Weiss whining yet again. You’d think for a season that cut away from the bloated cast to focus on the main characters they would, I don’t know, focus on the main character

This is the least Little has talked the entire season. Please keep the cat around more so this shithead will shut the fuck up. Also, Little deadass pointed to where the cat went and y’all don’t immediately follow? Are you trying to get lost?

Okay. Not gonna lie. The caterpillar’s design is dope as shit. The triple eyes in that gorgeous green. The pointy mouth that moves like a skeleton’s jaw. The two-toned wings. The antennae and little spikes. The collar and vest. That ~voice~ Fucking A+ The only thing I’m side-eyeing is the accessories. Hopefully I’m wrong - I’ll be the first to admit I’m not well versed in Indigenous cultures - but the coloring is very reminiscent of turquoise which was an incredibly significant mineral to Southwestern Native American tribes, most commonly associated with Navajo, and Caterpillar’s jewelry designs reflect this as well. My quick google search for this specific design mostly ends up being “hippie aesthetic” which does take inspiration from Indigenous aesthetics, so I can’t really say for certain which one crwby looked at for the design. Given the Medicine Man trope and the herbal smoking in the OP, I’m not holding out much hope

“Growgurt” sounds so damn gross please never say it again

They are really hammering this “who/what are you” thing directly into your eardrums aint they? I’m not entirely sure how this answer affects a recipe, but go off I guess Also, note how Caterpillar gets just the bit exasperated and Yang’s immediately in a fighting stance. The others are afraid, for some cocksmith of a reason - all homeboy did was grumble, what y’all scared of? Did y’all suddenly develop RSD? - but this bitch at half a foot is ready to throw down

Caterpillar is speaking philosophy 101 and these idiots are acting like he’s speaking ancient greek. I hope he poisons the lot of them

“This is how a king winds up a prince.” Does that imply that the prince was genuinely the king that played Alyx but he’s somehow reverted back to a toddler? That raises way too many questions I have no care to even ponder

This far in and we have no idea who or what Caterpillar was to Alyx. Not even a whispered expo-dump, which would be stupid easy given that most of them are tiny. Yet Blake, upon seeing the smoking, is like “we gotta dip” which so par for the course in every episode thus far. This better not be crwby’s attempt at an anti-drug message or I swear I’m gonna toss a fridge into space

Oh christ on toast the Beacon outfits don’t deserve this slander

“You could just be human or just a cat.” Once again, weird phrasing. Like, yeah, it’s clarified that it’s about trying to bring peace between humans and faunus, but why wouldn’t you phrase it in a way that sticks closer to that sentiment rather than acting like she has the Yamato and can carve out what she doesn’t like? What would it even mean to Blake to “just be a cat?” Would that mean living in Menagerie forever with no worries about humans? Would she turn into an actual cat? She just has fucking cat ears man, this is so overblown

Wow, these “I know who I am” speeches suck ass. They’re so vague and InSpIrAtIoNaL I’m wondering if this is supposed to be a mature cartoon or a reading of those posters they put up in school halls of cats in trees with the quote “hang in there!”

“I’m the granddaughter of a hero” bitch who? Who is this mysterious hero? If someone doesn’t know or watch the Remnant expo-dump series, they don’t know who you’re talking about Weiss! You can’t bring up something in the main story if the context is shoved in a spinoff! Also, “daughter of a villain.” Babe, your father was a clown at best and a business major at worst. Villain is not a title he deserves “I will not be defined by my name because I will be the one to define it.” Uhhhhh exactly where in this redefinition is compensation for the lives stolen by your family company? Have you thought of that, Miss Heiress? When your name has that big of an impact, I don’t think you get to be the sole decider. Also, you have siblings who might want a say in it too

Still pissed that the whole “Missing Summer” arc was shoved onto Ruby, who was what? 2? 3 years old when she left? Ruby talks to her gravestone, sure, but as for memories or stories, she hasn’t had a single one. This entire thing falls flat because there was 0 buildup

“You’re supposed to be helping others find their way, but you’ve lost your own.” WHAT WHAT WHAT THE FUCK. Jesus on a toaster strudel can you not villainize every single person who slightly questions uwu precious Ruby? He literally helped the other 3 cement themselves, why doesn’t that count? Sure, it was against their will and all, but these girls clearly need some goddamn help if they can’t answer a basic question like “what is a huntress?”

There are so many questions about those last 20 seconds that I don’t even know what to do with them. Let’s just sum it up with “what the fuck”

[derelictheretic]

💭💭💭 Anya and any other of your lovely OCs for Dove! :3

Anya having a Moment upon seeing Dove lolol (Spoiler she goes back to the same trail every day after this <3)

Anya near stumbles under the gaze of two amber eyes, the soft face framed by short wavy locks disarming to say the least. The gentle gradient of her hair was mesmerising and the friendly smile on her face left Anya somewhat dazed. So dazed in fact she nearly didn't hear her gentle greeting.

"Good morning." Anya offers back after the sweet words register, her voice slightly hoarse from not having been used all morning. She hadn't run into anyone until now and she cursed the slight crack in her words. The other woman stops a foot away from Anya on the trail she'd been walking down, fingers playing with a bunch of wildflowers.

She looks like something out of a mirage, a fairytale princess in a flannel shirt and pale blue jeans. It's then Anya notices the camera hanging around her neck, her periwinkle eyes flicking between her face and the camera. She should ask about it, or, she'd like too, but her words are caught in her throat.

That was new. She didn't normally fall flat when a beautiful woman approached her, not that many did. Not any with such kind and earnest eyes anyway. She stiffens as the other woman tilts her head, an inquisitive noise leaving her throat, shit—she'd been staring. Good job Anya, what a charmer.

She clears her throat and walks on briskly, embarrassment flooding her as she tries not to look back. What the fuck was that? Whatever it was, Anya firmly notes the trail and convinces herself she will not be returning to it—lest she embarrass herself again. But, it would be nice to catch those dazzling eyes again, at least once more.

Based this in the Single Parents Crossover AU, they will be bffs at the end of it all I feel it in my bones <3

"Miss Dove is nice," Caleb muses, handing his dad a dish to dry. Dean hums, nodding in agreement and turning to look into the living room. Dove sat on the ground with Ace in her lap, Phoebe and Charmeine putting on an intense puppet show for the both of them with sock puppets.

She was a kind woman, who was fiercely protective of her daughter. She was a single mother doing her best to keep her safe, something Dean could relate too heavily. It wasn't easy, especially not with the added stress of a cult takeover. And despite the crazy situation they were in she managed to be optimistic, which was definitely appreciated.

"She is, isn't she?" He smiles and Caleb nods, dutifully scrubbing at a plate. Of course his kids already loved her, which admittedly helped him warm up to her as well—kids were an excellent judge of character after all. He was honestly thankful to have her around, it'd been a while since he'd had anyone to help take care of the kids. It'd been a long time since he trusted anyone enough to help him.

But they'd come a long way from pointing guns at each other and being on edge when in the same room, now they'd fallen into a sort of rhythm and Dean was starting to hope when all of this was over they could stay friends. Well, not like they'd have a choice—Charmeine and Phoebe were slowly becoming inseparable and he doubted Charmeine would stand for not seeing her new best friend every day.

[intramoon]

ur edits look v different than they did before have u changed anything particular? They still look so good tho and Wednesday- so hot

I'm not doing anything intentionally? I haven't tried to change my editing style, it's just kind of ... happened? Even when I am not here making stuff with Sims in Photoshop, I am still making other kinds of art in Photoshop and I think whatever I've picked up on/started doing for my other art in the last 6 months is bleeding into my Sims portraits/edits/etc now. I see some people a fucking with the change but I think most people don't. I don't know if I am undecided because of that or because I really don't know if I like it?

I think the thing I do the most differently is how I color grade, I used gradient maps before but I lean on them heavily now. You can get more detail out of your image when you use a black and white (or close to) gradient map and then add a colorful one on top. I am hoping I can use it with story screenshots but it might be something that works best with edits where you can control that background. We'll see!

Glad you still like it! You know I love Wednesday she's my favorite sim to edit which I know is a little boring and repetitive but I can't help it <3