#i wanted to be fun and tried fonts and stuff

[missbuttons]

behold, CLOTHES DON'T MAKE THE TURTLE ! . . . PT. 2 WHERE DONNIE ACTUALLY GETS HIS OWN SEGMENT !

[gothoffspring]

hi simblr, it's my birthday today! virgo supremacy! I decided to share one of my favorite recolors i've ever made (finally!!!). I sticker-ed up the City Living keyboard and added some other fun swatches. There is a functional version for use with the City Living EP, and a non functional deco version for both the floor and the wall! More info + download below the cut!

DETAILS:

This is a recolor of the keyboard that came with City Living, and the deco mesh separated by @pixlmonster. Unfortunately this means CL is required, I'm sorry! I was hoping the deco versions would work without CL but they do not. Mesh by pixlmonster is included.

There are 19 swatches. The first 6 are the more unique sticker-ed swatches, and some of my personal favorites. Swatches 7-11 are more patterned recolors, and the last 8 swatches are from @pictureamoebae's fluoro-pop collection. Sometimes you just need a neon pink keyboard, y'know?

You can see an unedited in game photo of all swatches right here (part one, part two, part three)

Custom thumbnails for the first swatch.

You can download a merged .package with the functional + deco versions, and they also come separated if you'd prefer to pick and choose.

CREDIT:

Thank you to pixlmonster for the liberated keyboard mesh and pictureamoebae for the fluoro-pop collection palette!

I'll be super honest: It's been a year since I first initially started this project and I didn't do a great job recording where I got all of the stickers used. I apologize. Some of them were in game assets already, found via petaluhsims' sticker sheets. Some were found via google/freepik and some came from other places that I'm sure I'm forgetting. I made the parental advisory + seattle grunge stickers on the first swatch myself. Simlish fonts were found via franzillasims' font masterpost. Thanks so much to all of the original sticker/pattern creators, all credit goes to them. I just compiled a bunch of stuff together.

thanks to sam @m0ckest for testing <3

here's an ugly GIF of all the swatches! I tried so hard to make it look better but alas. I have completely forgotten the art of GIF making. I still wanted to include it so y'all could see all of the swatches somewhat easily!

DL:

MERGED: SFS / MF

INDIVIDUAL: SFS / MF

[perrigoaway]

I like seeing them be silly

More thoughts and discussion beneath the cut!

Okay!! Another comic, guys! I tried to keep this one a little more simple visually! Of course, I always get carried away and end up putting in more effort into comics than I want to, so some parts are a bit more detailed than others, and some are a little more simple! Still, that's kinda just how comics are, so it's fine lol

Anyway, as for the comic itself, I think van Zieks would soften up a little over the years after everything is resolved, so maybe he'd be more willing to joke around a little. Still, Gina is a fun character, and also isn't really intimidated by him, so she'd think it was funny to try and mess with him. I tried to keep their dialog as in character as I could, also using the fonts to try and characterize them a bit! Hopefully it's legible!

My older sister gave me the idea for this comic, along with a couple others that I might do something with in the future :D my sisters pretty much ghost write most of my comics, as in planting an idea in my head and I draw it/make it in to comics! So thanks to them!

I think from now on, I'll put all my insane ramblings and yapping beneath the cut, so if you're reading this, thank you so much! I read and appreciate everyone's interactions with my stuff, and spend lots of my freetime reading through the reblogs HAHA they really do motivate me!

[snek-panini]

As promised, I've got more books to share and they are all fic binds. Have a look at this new one:

This is Among the Stacks by MeinirRhos, and it's one of the few post-s2 Good Omens fics that I've liked enough to bind. It's canon-compliant and full of pining, fluff, angst, and a memory loss plot and I knew before even finishing it that I wanted it on my physical shelves.

I kept it pretty simple on the outside, with Library Summit book cloth and white HTV for the title. Large parts of the fic have to do with libraries and library books, so I thought it would be fun to make it look like a library rebind, something that looks innocuous and blends in to the shelves but it's actually going to be your new fave once you open it up and start reading. I wanted very badly to have the titles hand-written in embossing inks but I couldn't get a clean enough line with the textured cloth, so this handwriting font saved the day.

More photos under the cut; I'm really proud of the typeset for this one!

Top view, with pre-made end bands and a ribbon bookmark. Going with the library rebind aesthetic, I didn't think it ought to have handmade end bands, so these were perfect. Honestly I'm not sure the ribbon bookmark fits the theme, but you can pry that from my cold dead hands. All my books have them and I love them too much to leave it out. The endpapers are cream-colored cardstock, and while they look plain they feel nice. I tried out a new-to-me corner style, the library corner, where you don't trim off the excess material at the turn-in. It's supposed to be more durable than other styles and is common in rebinds. Library Summit is stiffer than most of the other book cloth I've worked with, so it was a little challenging to get it to lay flat while drying, and it's a bit bulkier than I'm used to, but it's perfect for the theming. Unrelatedly, it also holds a hinge crease really well.

Title page. I could not be more pleased with this title page design. I showed it to my husband after I finished the text block but before I had the cover on it, and he didn't realize at first that it was one of mine. I have cracked the code of professional title pages. The graphics were, at the time I put this together, available for free on rawpixel. I'm in love with it. It is sexy as hell and it will never be equaled.

Couple more interiors. The chapter header font is called Book Ends and I found it on DaFont. You add in the little plants and stuff with symbols. I haven't done much with custom fonts until this batch of fics, and in some of the others I've got in the pipeline I went a little nuts with them, but I think this one's my favorite for how well it fits the story. I also started experimenting with formatting text messages in this fic, and I'm very pleased with how those came out as well. The Renegade Bindery discord has resources on this kind of formatting, so check them out if you haven't already. I'd never have gotten them so professional-looking otherwise.

And that's it for this bind! I started working on it back in April and I'm thrilled to finally be able to show off the finished product. Thanks @rhosmeinir (Hi! It's Amberfly from Ao3!) for giving me permission to bind it nearly six months ago.

[storkmuffin]

hey there! i'm the one who asked about the wanteez drunk episode, thank you so much for giving it a thought! i was actually also looking to ask about that hwa-joong moment. seonghwa seemed the most different but i decided it as more silly/playful rather than mean, but again, i also caught that "unappealing" comment from joong. this is why i wanted to ask your thoughts and opinion on it. can you flesh it out a bit? seong hwa's drunk self, i mean:)

There are many ways to take drink in a social setting, right? There's the drinking you can do at a formal occasion - a wedding, a business event. You can also have business dinners that are either about getting to know new people, or getting closer with existing people. There's social drinking you do with friends that don't take any form and make no demands other than that you show up and be fun. What Ateez did during the Wanteez drinking series is something between a business dinner and a friend gathering.

One of the things, as I've said, that people can use drinking and drinking games to do is to force closeness in the hopes of creating or strengthening actual closeness. The other way you can also use alcohol is to clear the air.

I feel I have to say all this contextual stuff in order to get to the question you actually asked, about Seonghwa's performance in this reality program, where it was more real than usual because they actually all got more than a little bit drunk.

So, San isn't good with drink and they all know that. HongJoong, as captain and leader (because this is the role that whoever is the leader is supposed to do while out drinking as a group in Korea) asks a caretaking question - San is - are you all right? The editorial comment says not ALL RIGHT. Wooyoung as his bestie is keeping an eye on him, but keeps saying, San is good at drinking! THis serves two purposes - it saves San's face yet it also foments more chaos (which is usually what Wooyoung likes to do as the Fool and Jester).

Since San is several shades redder than usual, sweating, and possibly leaking stress tears, he's clearly not all right. Seonghwa tries to continue the bit by appropriating a song made famous by the tragically departed Whee Sung, translated as Heartsore Story)

The lyrics say: Don't cry you fool/ I'm really all right.

The song is actually about bidding your first love, the one who taught you what love is, farewell, but also promising to love them forever. It's actually quite heartrending. But Seonghwa appropriates it to be able to call San a babo (fool), and a cry baby at that. He's teasing, in a little bit of a mean way. And he runs into the Woosan wall. Specifically, at this point in the fabricated reality content, the dynamic was that Woo could attack and tease San and San would tolerate it from Woo, but they did not readily allow Seonghwa such liberties, either of them.

Woo is not smiling but sneering. And San is not looking but glaring. The bit is dying. They don't like it. There is a danger that this is going to turn into a faux pas.

I didn't see this as Seonghwa being different from usual, because he consistently had this problem with trying to wedge himself into the WooSan dynamic. That was his drama , right? Of wanting in and not being allowed.

So this can be read two ways: Seonghwa made a faux pas, and Hongjoong came in to put a stop to it before San got actually upset and it devolved into hurt feelings and a fight.

OR (and this is now occurring to me as I write this)

Hongjoong was coming to Seonghwa's rescue but taking on the villain role of being the straight talker. Instead of letting Seonghwa's unaccepted joke - and therefore Seonghwa- die a slow crucifixion, HongJoong decided to be the blunt bitch who just says what everyone is thinking, and give Seonghwa's doomed attempt a mercifully quick death.

Hey Seongwha? You're being a little bit unlikable.

Seonghwa is now officially UNLIKABLE (It says so in bold white font against his black shirt). Wooyoung agrees by laughing, rather than by defending Seonghwa to HongJoong. San, the main target of the failed joke which was tonally wrong, goes back to eating. In a way Woosan are being merciful too, not rubbing Seonghwa's face in the dirt.

This is why, later, Hongjoong makes deliberate Rock Paper Scissors choices that continually let Seonghwa 'win.' Hongjoong shamed Seonghwa in order to save him, you see, but it's nevertheless not fun to have a friend point out you did a thing that kind of sucked. So Seonghwa gets to keep 'winning' against Hongjoong.

Seonghwa has accepted the apology, and he even got to settle the score by calling Hongjoong a fool (babo), the word he got in 'trouble' for using against San earlier. Hongjoong allowed the insult, looking adoring all the while. This was part of the apology.

Hongjoong has said before that by being in Ateez, Seonghwa 'gives up a lot.' One of the things he gives up is his right to hierarchical power in the traditional sense - he IS the oldest. He also gives up a certain amount of power in not being 'the lead' which Seonghwa has the ability to do. Seonghwa, though he would disavow, actually does have leadership capacity in a way that I think men tend to find extremely seductive - he's kind, he's caretaking, he's accepting while at the same time he can totally do over the top macho machismo things, and he's a very powerful skilled performer in a group that really prides itself on their power and skill as performers. I think Hongjoong does try to make amends for what Seonghwa gives up by supporting Hongjoong's captaincy. I find this very good and admirable leadership.

And as usual, my darling who is always there at the scene of the crime was right in the middle of it. Last gratuitous shot of Yunho being deadly competitive and perfectionist even when he's chugging a water-glass full of soju. (You're not supposed to chug this much soju in one go).

[taylor-titmouse]

Lucky Little Lunatics, R/L Monroe @petitemortality's latest erotica release, is out! Another one for the sapphics, particularly the monsterfucker sapphics. If you're into Chimera Falin, or any sort of TF, you'll be into this one! You can check out a three page sample and a full list of its contents over on the shop page.

but this is the post where i talk about the process of designing the cover. i had a lot of fun with this one (i mean, i ALWAYS do, but this one had the most ideas generated)

so let's talk about THUMBNAILS!

like i said: there were a lot! these were the notes i was given:

"moon imagery important

monster girl is a chimera incorporating wolf / stag / owl parts, big monster jaws and sharp teeth are important but otherwise the actual form she takes is open to exploration. she is Large, regardless

it's not an outright vore book but there's definitely a fairy tale style threat of gobble you up

I can give you direction on the three witches she's hunting if you want or need it, but as usual I'm not expecting anything super figurative so it's probably not That important"

so my big takeaways are: moon, obviously. A Monster, fairy tale vibe, and the three witches. already we're cooking with iconography, and the style so far with the covers has been largely silhouette. so obviously we have to do something with a big prominent moon, and obviously the title is going to go there. like that's a no brainer. if you need to have a big prominent circle, you put the title there.

i presented the first six to lee and he liked 2, 5, and 6 the most. we moved forward with 6 because the others were ultimately a little Too storybook, and it is after all a book about turning into a monster and chasing down some women you've been hanging out with, for the purpose of fucking them. taking his feedback about making the monster less specified and more oppressive, we ended up with the 8th thumbnail, which ended up being the final!

and then we went through some color variations. i work pretty much Exclusively with gradient maps these days, which make it really easy to iterate on a palette with very little additional work. lee chose the bottom left, so that's what i moved forward with!

FONTS

we tend to go through a lot when picking these. my first pass was based on the fantasy fairy tale vibe i was still operating under, which we ultimately dismissed. lee wanted something Like the first, simple, font, so i tried a bit more. the crit there was that they ended up looking too much like a bestseller, when what we wanted was something a little less top shelf and more pulpy. we ended up using the top right option, which coincidentally is the font i use for the cover of You're A Mage on Monsterfuck Mountain. apparently that font is just for monsterfuckers

and that's more or less it! there wasn't a whole lot of process between thumbnails and thumbs, just plan and execution. i think my favorite part of the cover is the little witches holding hands and running away. they charm me.

anyway you should go read the book! it's very good. it has big monster tongue stuff AND tail stuff. truly a monsterfucker's paradise

get a copy today!

[earthoreo]

Ryan's Team

Part One -----------------------------------------------------------------

It started with a crisis.

Ryan Burke, star running back and walking Greek statue of Roosevelt State University, was pissed. Not in a punch-the-locker kind of way. He was just sitting in the locker room with his arms folded tight across his sweaty chest, jaw grinding, eyeing the crumpled practice schedule on the bench like it owed him money.

“This is so f***ing stupid,” he muttered.

“Dude,” said Josh, wide receiver, tugging his jockstrap into place, “We lost five linemen. Five. You want Coach to just draft nerds off the quad?”

“No,” Ryan said, cracking his neck, “I want guys who don’t care about class, who don’t mind being huge and disgusting. We need new blood. Bigger guys. Hairy-ass, nasty, growling monsters.”

Trevor, the linebacker with the permanent mustard stain on his hoodie, piped up from his locker, “Bro, the team used to stink. Literally. Like swampy pits and locker room BO 24/7. I miss that. Now? Everyone’s cutting carbs and shaving their pits. We’re soft.”

Ryan grunted. “No one wants to commit to it anymore. Guys don’t wanna change.”

Josh blinked. “Wait... what if we make ‘em change?”

Ryan turned slowly. “Explain.”

“You know the Musk Plan,” Trevor snorted. “We joke about it every year. Pick a weak dude, bulk him up, stink him out, make him one of us.”

Ryan actually smiled. “Yeah, but what if we actually do it?”

The locker room fell into silence. Just the steady drip from the ceiling vent and the faint, ever-present funk of post-practice sweat hanging in the air.

Ryan leaned forward, elbows on knees, voice low. “We pick someone small. Someone who's around us all the time. Someone who wouldn’t notice at first. Get in their head. Get in their gut. They start putting on weight, growing hair in places they didn’t know could grow it. Maybe they even start to like it.”

Trevor burped. “Who?”

Ryan grinned. “I’ve got two names.”

Luke and Sam were the kind of roommates who kept their fridge way too clean.

Sam was tidy, organized, and way too into graphic design. His idea of fun was making custom fonts and rating the foam on local coffees. Luke, by comparison, was a little looser—still neat, but the kind of guy who’d forget to clip his nails for two weeks and then be shocked when he clicked his mouse too hard and it cracked.

They weren’t jocks. They weren’t cool. But they weren’t losers either. They’d carved out a quiet, nerdy space for themselves. Sam designed club posters. Luke worked sound for the campus radio station. They had a system: bagels on Saturdays, “reality TV with beer” on Thursdays, and Sundays were for sleeping in and mutual judgment over who skipped class the most that week.

But that was before Ryan Burke—sun-kissed, alpha, walking BO fantasy—showed up.

It started on a random Thursday.

Ryan had walked into the dining hall like he owned the place, which he kind of did. Guys clapped his back. Girls flipped their hair. Even the lunch lady gave him an extra scoop of mashed potatoes with a wink.

Luke was in line, wearing a stretched-out Pokémon hoodie and some threadbare joggers.

“Hey,” Ryan said, nudging his tray up next to him, “You’re in my Econ class, right?”

Luke blinked. “Uh… yeah?”

“You do soundboard stuff too, right?”

Luke nodded again, eyes darting. Ryan was right there, muscles packed under a tank top, a sheen of sweat still on his neck from practice, smelling like cheap cologne and something muskier underneath. Luke tried not to breathe too deeply.

“You ever go to games?” Ryan asked.

Luke shook his head. “Not really a sports guy.”

Ryan grinned, slow and wide. “You will be.”

Sam didn’t think much of it when Luke mentioned Ryan the first time.

“Ran into Ryan today,” he said, half-buried in a bag of chips. “Big dude. Smelled like a locker room. Kinda funny.”

Sam raised a brow. “Funny how?”

“I dunno,” Luke shrugged, “He kept asking about what I eat. Said I had ‘a build.’”

Sam laughed. “A build for what, the equipment bench?”

Luke chuckled too, but his ears were red.

A week later, Ryan was sitting on their couch.

No warning. Just there. Shirtless, hairy legs spread, sockless feet propped up on their IKEA table like it belonged to him. Sam came back from class and nearly tripped over a football cleat in the hallway.

“Oh hey, man,” Ryan said, not moving, “You must be Sam. Luke talks about you.”

“Cool,” Sam said, because what else could he say?

Ryan stayed for dinner. Stayed for dessert. Left his gym bag on the floor and promised to “grab it later,” which somehow meant never.

Two weeks after that, they were dating.

Luke told Sam over pancakes, as casual as if he were talking about a midterm.

“So… Ryan and I kinda made out last night.”

Sam blinked, mid-bite. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah,” Luke scratched his cheek. “We were watching that stupid car crash reality show and he leaned over and kissed me.”

Sam didn’t know what to say. Ryan? Like that Ryan?

After that, Ryan was always around.

Sometimes sweaty from practice. Sometimes just waking up from a nap on their couch. Luke started dressing different. More tank tops. Less socks. Sometimes he’d go out to “get food” and come back with an entire tray of burritos, saying Ryan had “a craving.”

Sam noticed little things.

Like how Luke’s shirts seemed to fit tighter lately, clinging around his arms and chest. How he was constantly scratching his belly or tugging the neck of his shirt away from his throat.

And once—just once—Sam walked into the living room early from class and caught Ryan and Luke on the couch.

Ryan had his big meaty hand under Luke’s shirt, palm pressed to his stomach. Luke’s head was tilted back, eyes half-lidded, a low moan caught in his throat as Ryan stroked at the soft curve of his gut.

And Luke... he had a little mustache now.

Just a hint. Barely there. But Sam noticed.

Ryan kissed it, and Luke shivered.

That night Ryan walked into the kitchen, cracking open a cold one and handing Luke a burger the size of his face.

“You’re looking good, man,” he said, running a hand down Luke’s back. “Starting to fill out.” He groped Luke's now slightly puffy midsection.

Luke grinned through a mouthful of meat. "Thanks babe."

Ryan sat down next to him, forcing the rest of the burger into Luke's mouth. He then licked the sauce around his mouth and kissed him.

Luke moaned and started to feel his crotch stiffen. Ryan let his hands travel over Luke's bigger body, feeling the start of a gut and big pecs.

Part Two -----------------------------------------------------------------

Luke wasn’t one to skip showers.

In fact, if Sam had to describe his roommate in one word, it’d be “tidy.” Luke shaved almost every morning, folded his shirts military-style, and used unscented soap because anything else was “too much.” But about two weeks into his thing with Ryan, Sam started noticing something.

Luke’s towels? They weren’t drying right.

At first, Sam thought it was the ventilation in the bathroom. But the smell wasn’t mildew. It was… something stronger. A little sour. Musky. Thick. Luke didn’t notice. He’d step out of the shower, humming to himself, hair slicked back, water running in rivulets over his skin—and leave behind a heat, a scent that lingered like fog.

Sam didn’t say anything.

He told himself it was all in his head.

Luke was eating more.

Like, a lot more.

Burgers for lunch and dinner. Leftovers at midnight. Bags of chips, greasy breakfast sandwiches, triple-meat pizzas. He’d munch during study sessions, eat between classes, constantly unwrapping something with one hand while the other cradled his phone.

It crept up slowly.

First his cheeks looked a little fuller. Then there was that one morning where Sam caught Luke tugging down the hem of his tee.

“Shirt shrank in the wash,” he grumbled.

But it hadn’t. Sam knew because it was his shirt, and Luke had borrowed it clean from the basket. It stretched tight across Luke’s belly, hugging it just enough to show a curve forming. His chest looked puffier too, not muscle—just soft, rounded, like the beginnings of a doughy shelf.

And then there was the trail.

Barely visible at first. Just a faint dusting of dark hairs under his belly button. Luke didn’t notice. He’d pull his shirt up absentmindedly when he was full, scratch his gut, then let it fall again. Sam saw it though. Every time. That hair thickened by the day.

“Dude, you’re eating like Trevor,” Sam joked one night as Luke housed his third grilled cheese.

Luke wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “What? I’ve just been hungry lately.”

Ryan, sprawled on the couch behind him, smirked. “He’s got a jock’s metabolism now.”

Luke chuckled and elbowed him. “Guess I gotta hit the gym.”

“You’re getting stronger,” Ryan murmured in his ear. “You’ll fill out nice.”

Luke turned red.

Sam noticed the way Luke leaned into it.

The next thing to go was the shaving.

Luke used to keep a clean face—maybe a little peach fuzz, but nothing serious. But now, he’d forget to shave for days. And then weeks. His upper lip sprouted a faint line of hair, darker every time Sam looked.

One morning, Luke came out of the bathroom scratching his chin.

“You ever get that itchy stubble phase?” he asked, rubbing the underside of his jaw.

Sam looked up from his laptop. “You… growing a beard?”

Luke shrugged. “I dunno. Ryan said he likes it.”

Sure enough, there it was: a little patchy at first, mostly around the chin and jawline. But the 'stache was there. Dark and fuzzy, curling slightly at the edges like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. Then came the goatee—thicker, rougher—and before long, Sam noticed the shine of oil clinging to coarse whiskers. It wasn’t patchy anymore. His cheeks had started to fill out, the fuzz spreading like moss along his jaw, dense and dark.

He was getting beardy.

Sam tried not to stare, but he started tracking the changes. He had to. Something was happening to Luke, and no one else seemed to notice. Especially not Ryan, who just kept smirking like this was all part of some long game.

It started with a slight belly bulge. It started small—barely a roundness under the hoodie. Sam only saw it because Luke’s shirt rode up when he reached for chips. And that mustache shadow? It wasn’t a trick of the light. It was legit. Then, his voice cracked mid-sentence while he was on the phone. Not dramatically, not cartoonish—but it dipped, just enough to make Sam blink. Gone was the high, tight energy in his tone. There was a sluggish warmth now, like molasses. Less “Luke the nerd,” more “Luke the lineman.” Soon the leg hair arrived with a vengeance. Sam caught a glimpse when Luke kicked off his sneakers one afternoon. Thick black tufts had sprouted just above his socks, curling out in every direction. “Dude, when did your legs get that hairy?” Sam had asked, half-joking. Luke just grinned and shrugged. “Dunno, always been that way, right?”

He said it like he believed it.

Then Luke seemed to stop showering. That’s when it got real. It started subtle—just a hint of musk clinging to the couch after Luke left the room. But it built up, week by week. The kind of humid, ripe scent that lingered under the armpits and settled into the upholstery. Sam started cracking windows. Luke stopped caring.

By then, Luke had grown thicker—like his whole body was swelling with some lazy power. His belly pressed against his waistband now, jiggling slightly when he moved. His shirts started creeping up, riding higher on his gut, revealing a stretch of newly fuzzy lower back. He didn't seem to notice—or care.

Sam did.

And Ryan? Ryan would just lounge nearby, watching with this smug little smile as Luke scratched his belly and let out a slow belch mid-sentence, brain clearly stuck in second gear. Sometimes Ryan would toss him a greasy burger or a protein shake with that same tone people use when they’re feeding a dog a treat.

“Atta boy,” he’d mutter, like Luke had done something impressive just by existing fatter and dumber than the day before.

Sam pretended not to notice. Acted like none of it mattered.

But he kept tracking the changes. Every belly shake. Every deeper grunt. Every new patch of hair curling across Luke’s skin.

Because whatever Ryan was doing, it was working.

And Luke… he was starting to like it.

“Jesus, you smell like the weight room,” Sam blurted.

Luke lifted his arm and sniffed his pit. “Damn. Guess I forgot deodorant.”

But Sam saw it—dense, dark armpit hair spilling from the sleeve like wild ivy.

He watched Luke scratch, slow and lazy, letting out a soft burp.

They stopped doing laundry as often.

Luke started leaving clothes everywhere—on the floor, on the couch, balled up in the bathroom. And they reeked. Musky. Sweaty. Used. But Luke didn’t seem to care. In fact, sometimes he’d pull on the same pair of sweats three days in a row.

Ryan thought it was hilarious.

“Jocks don’t need fresh clothes,” he’d say, ruffling Luke’s thickening hair. “Just sweat and stink.”

Luke didn’t argue.

By mid-semester, Luke’s belly had outgrown half his wardrobe.

He kept tugging down his shirts, trying to make them stretch, but they’d ride up anyway—exposing more of his round gut, now dusted in thick, curly hair. His chest hair was blooming too, creeping up his pecs and out the neck of his shirts.

Sam caught him standing at the mirror one morning, one hand under his shirt, palm pressed to his belly.

“Getting kinda big, huh?” Luke muttered.

“You, uh… like it?”

Luke glanced over his shoulder, surprised. “Yeah, I guess. Ryan likes to grab it. Says it’s real jock material.”

Sam didn’t reply. His heart was pounding.

Luke’s voice was deep now. Lazy. Drawling.

There was a stretch mark curving just under his love handle.

The final nail was the feet.

Luke had always had small feet. Size 9, tops. But now? He was stretching out Sam’s flip-flops.

“Dude,” Sam said, “What the hell?”

Luke grinned, lifting one foot. It was broader, hairier, toes thick and slightly swollen like he’d been stuffing them in too-tight shoes.

“Ryan says my whole body’s bulking,” Luke said, like it was obvious. “You think I should get new socks? These keep tearing.”

Sam just stared.

One night, Sam couldn’t sleep.

He wandered to the kitchen for water—and heard giggling from the living room.

He peeked.

There was Luke, shirtless, lounging on Ryan’s lap. His gut was out. Full and round. Ryan had one hand stroking the thick forest of belly hair, the other scratching behind Luke’s ear like a dog.

Luke let out a groan, low and breathy.

And Ryan? He leaned in and kissed Luke’s mustache.

“You’re turning out perfect,” he whispered.

Part Three ---------------------------------------------------------------

Sam had been sweating more lately. He could feel it clinging under his arms, a humid dampness that lingered even after showering. It wasn’t just the sweat. His undershirt clung tighter across his chest than it used to, the seams digging into his sides by midday. His face felt prickly constantly, like there was always a faint shadow no matter how recently he shaved. But it was the smell—the strange, overpowering musk that Luke now carried with him everywhere—that was really messing with Sam’s head.

Luke had changed. Sam didn’t need a magnifying glass to see it. He used to be his skinny, clean-cut best friend—neurotic about his hygiene, weirdly proud of his hairless chest. But now? Luke waddled around campus in stretched-out gym shorts and stained tank tops, burping through half his sentences and scratching his thick new gut like it was second nature. The guy hadn’t shaved in weeks, probably months. His face was covered in a dense patchy beard, his upper lip crowned with a thick, greasy mustache that twitched every time he laughed at something stupid. His chin had practically vanished under the bulk of new weight and coarse hair.

And the smell. God, the smell. Luke reeked. It hit Sam like a slap every time they hung out. That thick, manly, sour musk that clung to Luke like a second skin—armpits, belly folds, even his breath. Luke didn’t seem to notice or care. He’d just fart, laugh about it, and keep talking about protein powder and “hitting legs.”

Something was wrong.

Sam had chalked it all up to Ryan at first. Ever since Luke started dating the cocky jock, he’d started acting different. It wasn’t immediate. Ryan was charming, a little dumb maybe, but confident. And Luke, bless him, had never dated anyone before. He’d fallen hard. At first it was cute—Ryan bringing him burgers after class, Luke trying on tank tops to impress him. But then came the weight. The hair. The smells.

And Luke didn’t even seem to notice.

“Dude,” Sam had said once, trying to be chill about it. “You ever, uh, think about shaving again?”

Luke blinked. “Why? Ryan likes it. Says it makes me look ‘grown.’” He chuckled dumbly. “Plus, it’s kinda hot, right?” He lifted his arm and gave a flex, revealing a jungle of matted pit hair soaked into the fabric of his tank. Sam nearly gagged.

So Sam decided it was time. He had to confront Ryan.

The walk to Ryan’s dorm was a blur. Sam’s shirt felt too tight, the sleeves digging into his softening arms. He kept tugging at it, aware of the way his belly was starting to bulge ever so slightly over the waistband of his jeans. He hadn’t eaten anything crazy—at least, not that crazy—but his appetite had been out of control lately. Just being near Luke made him hungry. For food. For... something else.

Luke lumbered beside him, slurping a protein shake between burps.

“Dude,” he said around a belch, “Ryan’s makin’ wings tonight. Smells soooo good.”

“Luke,” Sam said, exasperated, “We’re not going to eat. We’re going to talk to Ryan. Something weird is happening, man. You don’t notice how... different you are?”

Luke scratched his stomach with a lazy smirk. “Guess I’m bulking, bro.”

Sam rolled his eyes.

They arrived at Ryan’s door, the scent of fried meat and musky jock sweat thick in the air. Luke didn’t knock. He just barged in like he owned the place.

Ryan was sitting on the bed, shirtless, glistening with sweat, his golden-tanned muscles flexing lazily as he lounged back. The room smelled rank—a mixture of old socks, fried food, and BO. Sam almost choked.

“Yo,” Luke said, flopping onto the couch and immediately scratching his chest through his tank top. “What’s up, stud?”

Ryan chuckled. “Just waitin’ on my boys.”

Sam crossed his arms. “We need to talk.”

Ryan stood slowly, like a panther stretching. “Sam. Buddy. You look... bigger.”

Sam stiffened. “Don’t play games with me. Something’s wrong with Luke. And I think you did something.”

Ryan shrugged. “He looks fine to me. Healthy. Confident. Hot, even.” He stepped forward, his bare feet padding across the grimy floor. “What’s the problem?”

“You’re changing him. And I think it’s happening to me too.” Sam’s voice cracked, deeper than expected. He cleared his throat.

Ryan smirked. “Maybe it’s just... catching.”

He lunged.

Before Sam could move, Ryan grabbed him and yanked his face hard into his musky, swampy armpit. The thick hair smothered Sam’s nose, and the scent hit like a punch to the brain—sour, salty, manly, feral. Sam struggled, but Ryan held him there, rubbing his sweaty pit deeper over Sam’s face.

“Breathe it in, bro,” Ryan growled. “You’re one of us now.”

Sam groaned. It hit his gut like hunger. His skin flushed. His whole body prickled with heat. He felt it.

His belly gurgled, swelling outward inch by inch, pressing tight against his shirt. His arms thickened, fuzzing over with dark hair. His face tingled—a mustache pushing out, thick and greasy. Then his chin itched furiously, filling in with dark scruff that thickened fast into a scraggly beard. His shirt ripped at the seams as his chest ballooned forward with fat and muscle.

His feet burst out of his sneakers, toes thickening, toenails yellowing slightly as hair sprouted across his knuckles and the tops of his feet. He let out a burp, deep and gurgly, followed by a lazy laugh.

“Ughhhh... bro...” he moaned. “I’m gettin’... fat...”

Luke clapped. “Welcome to the bulk, man.”

Sam stumbled back, rubbing his hairy gut. His mind was slower, fuzzier. He could feel the dumb spreading in like fog. He liked the smell. He liked being sweaty.

Then he turned toward Ryan with a feral grin.

“Let’s get our boy finished.”

They tackled Ryan.

Ryan yelled, but he was laughing too. “Guys! Hey! I’m not—HEY!”

Luke yanked his head back and sat hard on his face, grinding his swampy, sweat-soaked ass across Ryan’s nose.

Sam rubbed his own pit, working up the stink, then pressed it to Ryan’s chest.

“You did this,” he muttered. “Now it’s your turn.”

Ryan groaned. His whole body convulsed.

It started at his abs. One by one, they softened, puffing outward, then disappearing under a soft new layer of fat. His pecs sagged slightly, then jiggled. His jawline faded under the slow crawl of a thick, dark beard that crept out like mold. His armpit hair doubled in density and color, stinking up instantly. His feet cracked and grew longer, hair bursting from his toes.

“Noooo... ughhh... I’m gettin’... gross...” Ryan muttered, his voice deepening with each breath. “Smell so bad...”

Sam and Luke just laughed.

“You’re hot now, bro,” Luke said, slapping Ryan’s belly as it surged outward with another burp.

When it was done, Ryan was barely recognizable. His once golden skin was now sweaty, pimpled, and flushed. He was massive—easily 300 pounds—covered in dense dark hair, from his thick chest to his round belly and down to his bloated, sweaty feet. His beard was unkempt and tangled, his mustache curling over his lips. He stank like a gym locker on fire.

“Ughhh... bros...” he moaned. “I’m... hungry.”

Luke grinned. “There’s wings in the kitchen.”

They all waddled off, bellies rumbling, sweat trailing in their wake.

They were dumb. Hairy. Fat. And happy.

Forever jock bros.

Part 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------

The air in the locker room was thick with sweat and old body spray. Ethan, Bryan, and Jake had just wrapped up a grueling afternoon practice—alone. Again. Their cleats thudded against the tiled floors as they wandered toward the coach’s office.

“Where the hell is Ryan?” Ethan muttered, wiping a sheen of sweat from his brow and tossing his helmet into his locker.

“Seriously,” Bryan chimed in, stretching his thick neck from side to side. “That’s the third time this week he’s skipped out. Coach is gonna lose it.”

Jake shrugged, reaching into his gym bag and grabbing a protein shake. “You think it’s got something to do with Luke? I saw them hanging out a lot last week. Luke’s looking... different.”

Ethan snorted. “You mean fat? Hairy? Dude looks like he ate a lumberjack.”

“Whatever,” Jake muttered. “I say we go check his dorm. Get him back in gear.”

With a shared nod, the three left the locker room, cleats still clacking, not bothering to change. They marched across campus, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows.

The scent hit them before the door opened. Thick. Musky. Like sweat baked into a couch for years.

“Dude... what is that?” Bryan said, recoiling.

Jake made a face. “Smells like someone’s cooking socks and B.O.”

Ethan pounded on the door. “RYAN! Open up, man!”

Silence. Then, shuffling footsteps. The door creaked open—just a crack—and an ungodly belch rolled through the gap. Jake gagged.

“What the actual fu—”

The door swung open fully, and all three of them froze.

There, lounging shirtless on the couch, were Ryan, Luke, and Sam.

All three were massive. Not muscular. Massive. Their thick hairy guts spilled out over stretched athletic shorts, and sweat glistened on their dense body hair. Ryan had a thick brown beard now, curling under his chin and coated in crumbs from what looked like half a pizza box. His chest hair connected in a solid pelt to his belly, and he scratched his belly with one hand while the other held a can of beer.

Sam, no longer small or clean-shaven, had the thickest back hair of the three. He leaned forward to grab a chicken wing, his gut pushing his thighs apart. His neck had disappeared under a thickening double chin, and his voice was several octaves deeper than before.

Luke had gone fully feral. A dense forest of hair covered his chest and arms, his legs were like two tree trunks, and he was idly stroking a patch of belly hair with one hand while finishing off a carton of fries.

“Oh shit,” Ethan breathed.

“Bros!” Ryan grinned, mouth full. “Come in! We saved y’all some wings.”

None of the three moved.

“You guys look...” Bryan whispered. “Different.”

“Better,” Sam belched, rubbing his gut. “So much better.”

“C’mon, sit down,” Luke grunted, patting a seat on the couch. “Let’s chill.”

Ethan took a cautious step in. The smell was worse now—so strong it was nearly visible. Sweat, grease, and musk rolled off the couch in waves.

Bryan followed, nose wrinkled. “Ryan, man, what happened to you?”

“Just got upgraded, bro,” Ryan chuckled, taking a long swig of beer and letting out a thundering belch. “No more stress. Just eat, sweat, and hang with the bros.”

Jake looked Ryan up and down. “Dude... you’re, like, huge. And hairy.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Sam smirked.

As the three former jocks sat awkwardly on the other couch, something started to shift. Subtly. But unmistakably.

Bryan scratched his stomach. “Weird. I feel hot.”

Ethan yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Yeah. Me too. Sweaty. Like... more than usual.”

Jake frowned and looked down. “My socks feel tight. Are my feet swelling?”

The room seemed to hum with a heavy energy. The couch cushions squished under their weight, heavier than just minutes ago.

Ethan shifted, pulling at his jersey. “Ugh, my pits are soaked. What the hell?”

Sam leaned over, sniffed dramatically. “Damn, bro. You’re ripe. Smellin’ like a real man already.”

Luke chuckled, grabbing a handful of chips and stuffing them in his mouth. “Let it out, bro. Don’t fight it.”

Bryan scratched again—this time at his chest. “Is it just me, or is my chest hairier?”

He pulled down the collar of his shirt. Where there was once a smooth expanse of skin, a dusting of dark hair was forming, spreading slowly but visibly.

Jake’s breath caught. “Dude, your stomach too.”

All three looked down. Bryan’s once-ripped abs were starting to bloat outward, a soft gut pushing forward.

“No way,” Bryan muttered. “No way, man.”

Ethan stood abruptly, then sat right back down. “Whoa. Dizzy. My legs feel like... huge.”

He looked down—and froze. Thick, curling hair was sprouting down his thighs, and his calves were looking puffier by the second.

Jake leaned over to touch Ethan’s leg, but stopped when he caught sight of his own forearm. “What the hell...”

His normally smooth skin was sprouting blond hair like wildfire. A prickly itch ran up both arms, followed by a deep warmth settling in his chest.

Bryan let out a sudden grunt. “Oh god—my voice! Did you guys hear that?”

He coughed, then belched. The sound was guttural. Deeper. His throat bulged slightly as a patchy scruff darkened across his jawline.

Sam was grinning like a lunatic. “Told ya. It’s the smell, bro. Can’t fight it. Just embrace it.”

Luke leaned forward, lifting one of his arms and wafting the air toward the trio.

“Take a deep breath, bros. Let it sink in.”

The three jocks writhed in slow-motion discomfort as the changes began speeding up.

Bryan clutched his stomach. “I’m... I’m starving.”

Ryan laughed, tossing him a half-eaten burger. “You’re gonna want more than one.”

Without hesitation, Bryan tore into it. His beard, once patchy, darkened and connected under his jaw. His stomach gurgled as it expanded further, pressing into his waistband.

Ethan’s arms had thickened, veins disappearing under soft muscle and a coating of hair. He was panting now, the collar of his shirt tight around his neck.

“God, I’m sweating like a pig,” he mumbled.

“Good,” Sam said. “You’re starting to smell right.”

Jake was quieter. Still resisting. But his belly had started to rise, swelling under his compression shirt. His pecs had softened into thick mounds, bouncing slightly as he shifted.

“I can’t... we can’t turn into this,” he muttered. “We’re athletes.”

Ryan burped, and scratched the fuzz of his growing second chin. “You were athletes. Now you’re bros.”

He stood, letting his own massive gut swing forward. Then he waddled toward Jake, leaning in close. Jake tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go.

“You already smell like us,” Ryan whispered.

He grabbed Jake’s face with one hand and shoved it deep into his armpit.

Jake screamed—or tried to. The stench hit him like a freight train. Pungent. Thick. Masculine. Something primal shifted inside him.

His arms went limp. Then heavy.

He gasped when Ryan let him go, stumbling backward. “Oh fuck,” he growled. His voice had dropped an octave. “I... I need food.”

His gut rumbled loudly. A beard was already darkening along his jaw.

Bryan and Ethan were too far gone to react. Bryan was on his third burger, crumbs in his chest hair, while Ethan was pulling his shirt off to scratch at his sweaty, newly hairy chest.

“Damn, Ethan,” Sam laughed. “You’re almost as hairy as me now.”

“Can’t help it,” Ethan muttered. “Feels good.”

Ryan returned to the couch, planting himself between his two new bros. The couch groaned under their combined weight.

Bryan’s face was now encased in a short, thick beard. He scratched it absently, his other hand resting on his swollen, shirtless belly.

Jake had kicked off his shoes, revealing rapidly hair-growing feet. He reached into the box of wings and started devouring them, grunting between mouthfuls.

“Think... I need to stop shaving,” he growled, licking grease off his fingers. “It just keeps coming back thicker.”

Ethan, now fully shirtless, belched and grinned. “We still doing practice today?”

Ryan laughed, spraying crumbs. “This is practice now, bro.”

The room was filled with the sounds of chewing, burping, scratching.

Jake’s voice was now a full, gravelly bass. His body hair had connected across his chest, and his gut sagged onto his thighs.

Bryan had completely outgrown his pants. They were unbuttoned, his hairy belly hanging forward, slick with sweat.

Ethan looked around, blinking slowly. “Wait... what were we doing before?”

Luke laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “Doesn’t matter, bro. You’re one of us now.”

Jake belched. “Damn straight.”

Ryan let out a thunderous fart and slapped his own belly. “Time for round two, bros. Pizza’s on the way.”

They all erupted into hoarse, greasy laughter. The air was thick with funk and fried food. Their bodies were massive, their minds foggy, their lives reduced to eating, scratching, and hanging out shirtless with their bros.

[yeetle-beetle]

follow-up to a previous post i made about transcribing all the floor one dialogue: decided to go through with the idea so here

disclaimer: i don't recommend reading this unless you've gone through the lobby section at least a couple of times just cause the last thing i want is for this to be used as like, a replacement for the experience of the game itself. the whole reason i put this together was just for the sake of documenting stuff/possibly wiki purposes if anyone needs it (not to mention that i think seeing the dialogue in game and the portraits that go alongside it adds a certain something that this lacks). obvs im not anyone's mom so i can't tell you what to do but yea

(also this is only listing dialogue you can see in game/legitimately, i'm not trying to do a showcase of unused content or anything LOL)

aside from that uhhh. shoutout to @.sagefurry for helping with transcribing roxy's dialogue and @.integralpiece for helping check the game files to see if i missed any dialogue options

and lastly if there's anything i somehow missed or got wrong, or if the formatting is confusing and could be better, please feel free to say so! i tried my best but there's probably a nonzero chance i messed up somewhere. anyways have fun

[jenn2d2]

WIP Wednesday | 4-23

I didn't get tagged, but I'm barreling forward anyways, because this legit helps me get stuff done.

Throwing out tags to @serensama, @strugglinggranola, and @the-font-bandit in case you have anything you want to share! (absolutely no pressure)

From Chapter 4 of Crow Parties are Murder Everybody Talks Too Much (multiple POV, this snippet is Rook/Carina)

"Rook! Yes! Isn't it romantic?" Bellara's eyes shone with excitement, even in the dim light, and Carina couldn't help but return the woman's broad smile. "You told me these parties were fun and dangerous, but this is so much more than I expected!" "Romantic? I must have missed something good," Carina laughed, but her eyes scanned the chantry. Viago and Emmrich were deep in conversation around what appeared to be a body, while Teia carefully watched the entrances. The Seventh Talon gave her a brief nod, acknowledging her arrival. "Murder! And assassins," Bellara paused for a second. "Well, not Crow assassins, or at least the Fifth Talon doesn't think so. Not your assassins, but somebody else, maybe more than one? Someone stabbed Illario, or threw a knife? So he had to take his shirt off, because of the poison. But that was after he fell on the dead body."

"Okaaaay," Rook blinked, trying to find some sort of order those events had happened in which would make sense. "Just so I've got this straight, someone who was not a Crow tried to stab Illario? Was that before or after he fell on the dead body?" "Oh, the stabbing part was before," Bellara nodded, opening up her notebook. "Some rude chantry person was being strange, so he ran here and Neve came to find us. But when he got here, someone was on the roof. One of the roofs? But also inside upstairs, and there was a fight, and then he fell on the body." "I think he jumped down on purpose, Ms. Lutare," Viago interjected, the barest of smiles at the corner of his mouth. "Illario has many faults, including arrogance and poor luck, but clumsiness is not usually one of them." "Oh, that's right! Someone threw a poisoned knife!" Bellara exclaimed, furiously updating her notes. "It could be the same someone, or maybe not, and Illario didn't know it was poisoned, but Neve saw it on his back. Did you say it was his poison? Illario's I mean. Something about it being old?" "Illario's?" Carina's eyebrow raised slightly towards Viago, the gesture adding another question. He nodded slightly in response, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck raise a little. Why would someone unearth an old, failed poison? How would they even know about it?

[greenhorn-art]

Prince of Shadows, Lord of Thieves by alkat

Fandom: The King's Avatar | 全职高手

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Words: 1 929

Once upon a time, their exploits were immortalized by artists and writers across the tapestry of history. Once upon a time, they were worshipped as gods and reviled as demons. None of that stopped the Met from stealing all their shit.

About the Book

FONTS: Alegreya [Google Fonts], Lato [Google Fonts]

IMAGES: all art made by myself @greenhorn-art for this fic

MATERIALS: regular ol' printer paper (8.5"x11", 20lb, 96 bright); ~2-2.5mm binder's board; Neenah cardstock (8.5"x11", 65lb, bright white); Cialux bookcloth (black); waxed linen thread (30/3 size, white); wheat paste (1:4 flour:water); paste wax (from a friend, unknown ingredients&quantities, some kind of wax and turpentine/mineral spirits)

PROGRAMS USED: Affinity Publisher 2; Affinity Designer 2; Bookbinder JS | Renegade's Community Imposer (settings: Quarto, snug against binding edge, custom signatures of 2, 1, 2 sheets).

Text & QR codes printed with colour laser printer (duplex, flip long edge), images printed with inkjet printer. QR codes generated with LibreOffice Writer, snipped, saved, and inserted where needed.

BINDING: quarto (quarter-letter) size, sewn board binding with french link stitch and breakaway spine.

.

So this one all started because the visual of HST's outfit was so fun that I was possessed by a visceral need to draw it. Inspiration slapped me across my mind's eye, and much like a medieval knight being slapped in the face by a glove (which didn't actually happen, that's a myth that sprung from the throwing down of a gauntlet. but that's beside the point), I felt bound to take up the challenge. Which lead me to draw a few more, and then I ended up binding the whole thing.

(Also, I find it really amusing that the famous Terracotta Warriors were just storage for YXs stuff. And the gang going 'shopping' at various exhibits for gifts for friends/family,, like that sure is SOME window shopping! I can hear it now: 'Oooh I'll take one one those SMASH, and that SHATTER, and throw in some of those CRASH, they're going to love these! 😇'. All in all, it was a fun little read, and fun little project! :D)

About the Art

Because this was initially a one-off drawing I tried a new art style (and struggled to at least not stray too far for the rest). It was fun and helped me think more about shape and visual focus, instead of being caught up in the details.

The crow (based off of image ID: 4039963 from Rawpixel) and the red umbrella on the front cover were filled curves made with the pen tool. The illustrations' poses were based off of a combination of images found on Google and photos taken by myself.

Pinterest is awful for sources, but it would have been handy to pin the references I'd googled. Only remembered to save the one of a man sitting at a desk. (I deliberately searched for someone sitting with bad posture because YX is described as being "slumped" over the desk. I figure that since "the laws of physics held no meaning to ["cursed souls eschewed by the natural order"]", they'd also be immune to mundane things like discomfort from sitting hunched over for too long. Back pain images were a gold mine! All I had to do was choose one with lighting that would give me a silhouette.)

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrellas and illustrations were drawn in Procreate.

I opted for a more plain umbrella design because it's not (presumably) a fantastical weapon in this story. Though the initial version did have YX cradling the donghua!MMU.

For the scene breaks I inserted the images, pinned them inline as character, and adjusted height and baseline in the pinning menu to fit.

The author wrote one scene break differently than the others, using multiple empty paragraphs instead of just one. Following suit, I used a different image for that particular break. I wanted to reference vampires somewhere, so for that break I made two bloody spots resembling bite marks. The blood spots were made with a group of shapes in Designer.

On cover design:

Because the MMU is what sparks the whole heist, I wanted it on the front cover.

Earlier iterations involved a full cover spread with a man's shadow standing before a shattered glass case, with a plaque mounted on the wall to the left providing information. The plaque was formatted like a museum label and had the author, date published, title, event collection, and story description. I'd also added a QR code to it. Ultimately, I abandoned the concept because it was difficult to decipher what is was when only looking a one cover at a time.

My second idea for the cover would have been a bookcloth-only cover with a cut-out of the MMU on the front, acting like a window showing off an image of the MMU on paper below it. (Inspired by the work of a number of folks over on Renegade's Discord. Here's a few examples gleaned from a quick search: szynkaaa's lung cutouts, some of EHyde's books, and the front cover of Spock's massive all-in-one TGCF). As fun as that would have been to try out, I felt it didn't quite suit the style of the art so I nixed that too.

Eventually I landed on the back cover design with the Met exhibition webpage. At last, I felt that the back & white and simple-shapes-background went with the artwork. The webpage viewed on the phone is based off of the Met's actual website. I took a snip/screenshot of the Met's logo from the banner at the top, then looked at their exhibitions' pages and eyeballed it to create my own. (Threw in the QR because I wanted the easy access to the fic online on the back cover). I chose to use a phone screen rather than I computer monitor because it worked better composition-wise. And besides, while YX may be allergic to owning a phone, SMC is not. I imagine that she saw the news while on her phone then messaged him.

The front cover came together after that. An umbrella for the MMU, and a pop of red. One of YX's messenger crows. A black shape in the background similar to the back cover's, sort of creating a spotlight over the umbrella and placing the rest of the cover in shadow.

Trying New Things: Applying a protective finish to printed covers

Over on the Renegade Bindery Discord, folks have spoken about using a beeswax & turpentine/mineral spirits 50-50 mix to seal printed covers (thank you Kate). According to my dad that's just a paste wax, so he threw 3 different ones at me and said 'have at it'.

I tested them out using the same paper and inkjet I'll use for the cover. I was looking at 1) whether the paste wax affected the paper colour or print quality, and 2) the finish. After applying one coat each and buffing them out I had my winner. Then I applied & buffed two more coats to it and tested 3) water resistance by dripping tea on it. The liquid beaded up and wiped away without staining -- good, three coats will work nicely.

(Test results: Mystery paste wax from a friend wins.

The commercial SC Johnson Paste Wax Original formula (intended for woodworking) has a nice dry shiny finish, but coloured the paper slightly brown -> disqualified

My dad's homemade stuff has a nice shiny/satin finish and didn't change paper's colour, but it felt slightly tacky even after buffing it -- maybe I didn't buff it enough?

The gifted paste wax has a matte finish, didn't change paper's colour (in the image below this one has 3 coats. The paper is now slightly off-white, but still acceptable), and while not as dry-to-touch as the Johnson it was not as tacky as the other homemade stuff.)

When I print out my quarto covers, I print front and back covers side-by-side on the same page*, with some guides to ensure I'm cutting and gluing in the correct place. (The guides mark the boundaries of the covers and start of the turn-ins, and stop at the edge of where I cut. Before cutting I flip it over to mark the guides [see marks indicated in image below] on the wrong side and connect them so I can see where to glue/place book. Then flip it back over to cut, right side up.)

*I'm being economical here at the cost of possible warping damage. This layout means that I'm only using one sheet of paper, but the grain is running in the wrong direction (across the book instead of preferred head-to-tail/top-bottom). This could cause warping issues, but I'm OK with that. I'm hoping that by just gluing at the edges, instead of pasting down the whole thing, warping will be minimized. (I use wrong-grain endpapers most of the time with larger books anyways).

I applied the paste wax before cutting out the covers, working carefully to avoid accidentally creasing/bending the paper (which happened twice, but it was minimal and I hardly notice it). Doing so before cutting ensured that the cover material was completely covered. Even the turn-ins -- something I later came to regret. After all, wax is used specifically so that things don't stick to it. It made it rather difficult to drum on the endpapers because I was trying to glue something down onto a waxy surface. It all worked out in the end -- perhaps due to the fact that there were multiple layers of wheat paste which could adhere to each other, followed by being squashed in a press.

[thompsborn]

howdy, hb2 ch2 progress 🫡

(here’s a snippet from the first scene)

"Have you thought about an English degree? Or, like, something similar?"

Peter looks up, nose scrunched up on his face. "Absolutely not."

"You're good at it," Harley tells him, shrugging. "I just thought you might have some interest in it or something. Pretty sure you're the only reason I'm not failing."

The end of Peter's mouth twitches up—he's been odd since the Halloween party, sometimes fully present, able to smile more, laugh easier; sometimes closed off and quiet, completely dazed, like he's sitting here but he's not really here. Right now, he seems to be having a good day judging by the way he's got that small smile pulling at his lips. "You wouldn't be failing," he says, shaking his head.

Harley makes a face. "Sure, yeah. I'd be passing. With a C-, probably."

Peter rolls his eyes and huffs a soft laugh, turning his eyes back to his notebook, jotting down a few notes as he reads through the short story that they've been assigned to write a responding analysis to. Harley doesn't know how Peter's able to focus on the short story—Harley tried reading it, but the words started floating around the page about halfway through. The story itself is good, to be fair, and Harley does enjoy reading, but something about the font and the layout of the textbook makes his brain want to clock out as soon as he's looking at it.

But Peter is scanning over the words, jotting down notes and quotes and whatever else he finds fitting. And Harley doesn't look at his own book. Instead, he continues to watch Peter for a moment and then asks, "Do you like to read?"

"Mm." Peter finishes the sentence he was writing, then looks back up at Harley with a slight frown. "Kind of," he says, words coming out a little bit slow. "I mean, yeah, but, uh… I didn't really appreciate it until one of my best friends in high school and I got closer. She loves to read, and we had our English classes together, so she helped me with them and it kinda opened my eyes a bit, I guess." He shrugs, kind of clunky as his gaze drops back to the table with his frown deepening. "I don't really read for fun," he says. "But I can, like… enjoy it, you know? When I do read stuff."

This is the second time Peter has mentioned a friend that he doesn't seem to have anymore—he'd brought up his Aunt May and an old friend at the Halloween party, when he said that he doesn't like Thanksgiving. Harley's crush makes him want to ask to know more. His curiosity makes him want to dig for the information himself.

He does neither. "I think I forgot how to read," he says instead, looking down at his own textbook with a scowl. "None of these look like words."

Peter snorts. Harley's gay little heart flutters at the sound.

It's definitely a good day.

[charlottesbookclub]

Norrington headcanons! 🪶🛏

send me a headcanon request 🥰

hello! ☺️ thank you so much for this request and I am so so sorry it took me so long to get to it!! 😭❤️‍🩹

I'm very excited for these since it'll be my first time writing for Norrington! I think he was the very first person I read fanfic for back when I mostly read stuff on ff.net, so it feels really fun to be doing some headcanons for him now! ☺️💕

I really hope you enjoy! 🥰

James Norrington

🪶 – what's their handwriting like?

for the vast majority of his writing, his penmanship is aggressively neat. we're talking font-like in its perfection and regularity (I know fonts weren't a thing in like the 18th century, but it's the vibes of that lol). I'm sure this was drilled into him by his father and his tutors/educators, but he's also absorbed it as part of his "perfect royal navy officer" personality. he definitely prides himself on turning in reports and writing official letters with impeccable handwriting. however, I do also think there's like 5% of his writing that is absolutely illegible, but this is private only to him. when it's late or he needs to make quick notes and no one is around to see, he reverts to just scratching on the paper, leaving ink smudges and using abbreviations. if anyone else were to find these writings, they would absolutely not be able to read them and it would seem so out of character that they would never believe that Norrington could have written them. that's part of the reason why he discards or destroys these notes once he has translated them to his official handwriting. I feel like his handwriting situation is like a microcosm of him as a person: 95% of him is the perfect navy officer, but that tiny piece rebels just a little bit, even if only in secret

🛏 – what's a sleeping habit of theirs?

I like to think that sleep is the one place where Norrington can't constantly monitor, correct, and control himself. and he is not an elegant sleeper. the habit that embarrasses him most is the way he sprawls out over the whole bed and completely changes position during the night without realizing it at all. he'll wake up with his head at the foot of the bed, his feet propped up on one pillow and another pillow inexplicably half crushed beneath his torso. if he had a partner, he would absolutely wake up draped all over them, or else receive a nocturnal punch to keep him on his side of the bed, depending on the temperament of said partner. he absolutely dreads the idea of needing to share a room or ship cabin with other members of the navy because he does not want them to see him in such a state. if this scenario arises, he either won't sleep at all, or he'll be sure to awaken very early and then lay in an extremely still and controlled posture so that if his roommate sees him, they'll think he has impeccable posture 24/7, as befits the image he tries to project

[carelessflower]

sunday recap 🥓😽

so many things today but more importantly SO MANY CATS LET GET THIS THROUGH SO WE GET TO CATS

fit check, i changed like 5-6 times wanna lean into a coquette style but sadly this the shirt with the closest match I could find

seafood buffet because we didnt have any breakfast so this kinda our brunch. this just opened in the mall near where I lived lmaoo, basically they served seafood in any kind, and also there bbq and hotpot too but we didn't take the hotpot. all seafoods are very fresh (look at that tank!!!) again ranking

grilled shrimp and oyster with cheese: 8/10, the cheese is like too sweet and fatty

grilled snail with scallion: 8/10, good but nothing special

sashimi: 9.2/10, very solid!!! and u can get as many as u want

sushi: 7.8/10, idk I dont grab those much there not much variation also it can make u full quick

grilled abalone (not pictured): 9/10, for the price we can get as much as we want and I think its neat! also it got run out so quick lmaoo

seafood soup: 9/10, phenomenal, like I had two bowl of these

grilled everything (had pork chest, pork, beef, octopus, grouper fish, okra, eggplant and cheese fish ball): 9.5/10, I love the way they marinated the meat!!

durian ice cream: 7.5/10, nothing special also it all durian which I dont like and they run out of chocolate ice cream :((

flan with coffee sauce: 9.2/10, smooth, creamy with that bitter sauce like it just top notch flan, literally one of the best I've ever eat

also on the way down i saw they're having this cat contest thing like there so many booths it looked so fun (pictures later cuz I took like A LOT)

first tried a bunch of stuff at uniqlo, obsessed with these snoopy shirts and these cutest zip up, like the zip up are clothes for children but there big size and I can fit in there too

trying on, the shirts is from the male section and the zip up and hoddies are from children section biggest size they look so cute tho icant think of the way I would wear the white zip up a lot and the green shirt is xs so I def need a size bigger

next is cotton-on, they're having this collab with polly pocket which is sawr cute if only they're not like fucking expensive, like why is that shirt 30$ and that tiny MICRO purse 28$ like I dont get it, it not even real leather! also oversea website having XL size but vietnamese store doesn't is criminal

tried on a bunch of stuff the sale associate was looking at me like crazy also the price there has only gotten more ridiculous with time. the black shirt was giving sabrina carpenter and there another one with blue background and red font just like short n sweet aesthetic lmeow. the cardigan looked so close like that coloring the cutest but it looked wear on my body. the mentioned polly pocket shirt, I mean idk it fit but it expensive and also I dont like too much figure hugging in my clothes. same with the other shirt who I think the color pretty nice

can you guess which one i got hehe

[mellxncollie]

Hi Olly! For the gifmaker ask game, can I ask about 12, 14, and 20 pretty please?

Hi Robin! Thanks for the asks :)

12. What gifset made you feel the happiest to work on?

Ooooh so I just answered this but this means I get to pick another! I loved working on this Gilgamesh edit. It uses my favorite translation of Gilgamesh, and I got to really geek out over linguistics. There's a ton of research that went into figuring out the exact cuneiform that was used on the original tablet for the highlighted words (which required cross referencing three or four translations, a transliteration, and two online dictionaries/databases), and also finding a font that supported cuneiform. And since I've graduated and am now teaching, I don't get to do as much of the more technical research I enjoyed in university anymore, so it was very fun!

14. What gifset was the most difficult to make?

I think I spent the most time agonizing over this set from episode 7. I kind of enjoy coloring the hell scenes, but this one was a nightmare. Each of the shots have slightly different lighting, and so I could not get the coloring to match between gifs. Using the same psd coloring folder on each of them looked really bad, since it overexposed some shots, oversaturated others, and underexposed yet more. So I had to make alterations to almost every gif and it still didn't look the way I wanted it to. I don't feel like the gifs match. I ended up posting it as is, and it did okay, so I tried to stop overthinking things too much after that.

20. What's something you are expecting to gif in the upcoming year?

I've recently downloaded all the episodes of Doctor Odyssey, so I might be doing some gifs for that. I also see people make gifsets for every movie they watch in a year. I don't think that's feasible for me, since I typically try to watch 200-300 a year, but I have been thinking about doing some more film stuff, maybe "one movie I watched this week," or my top 3 from every month or something. But ultimately, as I mentioned in the previous ask, there's lots more dbda edits and gifsets planned!

gifmakers year in review :)

[lieslab]

heyy! if the role isn't taken, can i be 🥐 anon?

i just wanted to ask you for recommendations on designing a blog. yours looks really good and i'm kinda stuck on how to make mine look pretty - any tips would be really welcome

also can i request a really angsty fic where the reader is struggling from childhood trauma from domestic violence that involves touch-related issues (specifically the shoulder and torso areas) that everyone writes off as sensitivity but one of the members figure out something's wrong? the reader kinda struggles with telling other people about it bc her parents are really toxic and have made her feel bad about telling other people before, so she tries to avoid talking about them at nearly all costs. any member is fine, but can they already be in a relationship with the reader?

tysm sry for the long-ish ask

i love your work btw keep writing!!

That's a new one, but you can totally be the croissant anon!! That one has been unclaimed until now. AH!! I'm so excited for you. Making a blog, no matter what it's about, is so fun and it's a great way to be creative. I can't wait to reveal the calendar I made because I tried to theme it around my blog.

Anyway, the world is really at your fingertips. For my blog I picked a lab theme because it was easily expandable and you can create a lot in a lab. I'm not good at science (actually, I hate most science related subjects) but the idea of creating my own little lab sounded unique and fun. Calling the people who read my stuff lab rats, it really felt on brand and I've just kinda expanded it since then.

Just recently, I believe it was another Stay, they made their fanfic page set up like a diner and their masterlist is the menu. It's SO fun. Whatever your blog is about, it should be a representative of you or at least, what you like/enjoy. It can really be anything.

I based mine off a science lab, but is there a specific place you like? Science labs have always been fascinating to me. I've always liked the idea of being an evil scientist and this is my take on that. Making my silly little angst makes me feel evil. You can always base it off a place or an idea. When I was first thinking of my blog, since it's about a k-pop group, I was imagining a k-pop concept.

When I first started, I picked out my favorite color and ran with it. Everything else just kinda happened. I believe I used Canva and Pinterest to make my main header. If you can't think of anything off the top of your head, pinterest is also a good place to find ideas for layouts/designs.

Start with your colors and a username. Your username doesn't have to be aesthetic, just make it whatever you prefer. Then you can dive into a profile photo and the header behind your photo. There's some websites out there that have fancy fonts/things you can copy and paste. When I first started, I used this site to add the fancy heart symbols to my drabbles. There's so many and it's a good way to add fun.

It can be something fancy or something totally niche. You can also reblog certain posts to help fuel your aesthetic. There doesn't even have to be an aesthetic if you don't want it to be. Whatever you decide, it should be what makes you happy and not other people. You can make it super aesthetic, or as chaotic as you wish, that's the fun part about Tumblr.

Whatever you post about, if you use hashtags, it'll reach more people. Don't forget interacting with people and supporting others in whatever you post about, it not only helps you grow your audience, but it's really nice to build a mini community in the endless void that being online creates. If you're still stuck, come wiggle over to @live-laugh-lie-7. Bring your croissant self and we'll brainstorm something together. You can stay anonymous, unless you're cool with hopping off and jumping into my dms.

As for the drabble request, I absolutely can. That hits close to home and people aren't alone in those struggles. Childhood trauma is so tricky and ugh. I wish it didn't happen to people. You said make it really angsty, so I'll do my best to conjure something up.

Good luck with your blog making (try not to stress too much, focus on the fun) and I'll put this request up when I can get to it!!

[rassicas]

Hey, tried to reach you on CuriousCat but didn't hear back. Saw your work on the wiki with regards to Splatoon alphabets - we're dealing with a very similar problem with the uppercase 'Galarian' alphabet in Pokemon Sword/Shield/Scarlet Violet. Lots of gibberish, no 'valid' translations that we can see, lots of letter inconsistency (the F of GAME FREAK is an R for GALAR, fun stuff like that). Any advice on getting the 'true' alphabet out of this mess? Tried a bunch of stuff, but it doesn't seem to be working. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tz06e1q9dnXo29q9SpxELO_eDGEd6S08iA3NbkNHb8g/edit?usp=sharing https://www.pokemonaaah.net/research/galarian/galarwords/ ^our work so far, plus a decent chunk of the in-game body of text

Yeah my curiouscat is just about abandoned, this is a better place to contact me. Funny thing, I am aware with your guy's deciphering work of the Galarian (on the second website linked)! I remember it coming up in conversation some time ago while working on the deciphering of Splatoon's scripts. But the doc is new for me, and looking through that...i mean this with as much praise and respect as possible, you guys are insane. in the trenches over here. my god. I see some the progress on the lowercase, we used similar methods in solving some parts of the inkling languages too. for the uppercase...Going through and seeing real world decoding techniques applied... for a fictional script that likely was implemented for the sake of design rather than as a thing with secret meaning/consistency, you guys already figured it out, but it doesn't work. My two cents is that Galarian could be something like Splatoon's "Bold Script". this script has many letters that kind of look like latin script, and is often used to write things in game that look like real english words. when trying to decipher it however, there was a similar problem to Galarian: same symbols would be used to mimic different letters, just too much inconsistency. For years, it and the Inkling language as a whole was assumed to be totally indecipherable.

(TOWER RECORDS HICOLOR) But then the "true" alphabet that the splatoon team was using internally was solved for, and...

most of these don't resemble their latin letter counterparts at all, and then a few seemingly random repeats. There's also some glyphs we've found that looked like they'd be part of the deciphered form of the script, but only appeared in limited contexts and ended up not being a part of the alphabet. I think those extra letters were arbitrarily assigned to symbol keys, but its kind of impossible to know which. (those rare letters, like the G in game freak/galar could fall under that category of being an "extra" letter in the font and not part of the main alphabet?)

The "true" alphabet of Galarian may be something like this: comprised of many letters that resemble the latin alphabet that in font form, are assigned seemingly arbitrarily across the alphabet. And then to make something readable to the viewers, those letters are hand picked or modified to mimic words. Why go through all the effort to do that instead of doing a simpler decode-able thing? no idea other than "looks cool" "don't want people to solve it too easily" or "conveys information to the player". The splatoon team does both in the same games in the same writing systems. One key difference between Galarian and Splatoon's scripts is that splatoon has multiple scripts used within the same game, vs SWSH sticking with the one script. a lot of the deciphering work for Splatoon has involved comparing matching lines of text between a solved and unsolved script. If you're interested in the history of the deciphering of the Inkling language... there's a video for that ;) Without such points of comparison, and if the only way the script is used is to mimic words and doesn't exist in large bodies of text, the "true" alphabet of uppercase Galarian may be just about impossible to solve. (this is the case for a couple Splatoon scripts, like the Deepsea scripts)

ofc i'm not the one that's combed through Galarian so i'm not gonna claim to be an expert on it, but that's my two cents as someone who has extensively rotted their brain deciphering fake video game writing.