#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 !

[goozeghost]

ART pestering MB with riddles

(based on an actual conversation between my best friend and I)

[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

[sossi-still-dreamin]

blue lock fics

because i read too much fanfiction and maybe you do too... otherwise known as a masterlist of this month's best fics *blue lock edition*

note: almost everything is a oneshot unless otherwise noted

nagireo (my otp in bllk, this ship is unbeatable):

my boy's got his own ringtone by okwa - for those of you who like the streamer kuroken social media style fics, this one is for you! huge kenma energy here, nagi is a streamer and he only picks up calls from one particular ringtone... fans speculate.. hee hee

you're drowning in the pit of my stomach by breathepurple (bleedpurple) - my personal favorite nagireo fics, 8 chsoulmate au + college au featuring bachisagi. nagi and reo have been together for years without their soulmate marks... but they must be soulmates, right? ermmmm or not. aaand cue reo's spiral, nagi's confusion, and rin having the most tragic story ever. LOVES

everything and anything by breathepurple (bleedpurple) (this is not an actual fic)

friendship is magic (i'm begging you, please want me) by luffia - canon compliant fic in which shidou realizes that reo can copy sae... and yea you know what he does with that. nagi gets jealous, pines, reo is confused, and in some quirky ahh way shidou is the best and worst wingman ever

seishirou nagi’s guide to make your friend fall for you through flirting - a really really really good nagireo 5+1 fic in which nagi *tries* really REALLY hard to flirt. but you and i both know nagi is a little slow and the flirting... yikes... but they still end up together so he must've done something right! another one of my favorites :D

and they were roommates - a nagireo fic on bltv being a live tv show… everyone speculates, reo realizes, trying to be discrete, minor half breaking up, zero angst

nagireo hanahaki fics (idk why ppl like depressing fics but also i do bc i'm one of those ppl)

fall forward/spring back by nagireo (happy clover) - reo has hanahaki, happens during bluelock (3 ch)

but could you adore me? by breathepurple - nagireo hanahaki fic but tHIS tIMe NAGI gets the hanahaki! (2 ch)

kaisagi:

you're cute by blue0rangeade - an 11 ch pre-bllk fic in which isagi gets chucked to germany for two months and meets... kaiser... and then they meet again! in bllk! yayyyyy this one is rly rly good i was so invested

shirt by jehielshan- ohhh the second hand embarrassment in this one... but its sO good... a post-canon oneshot kaisagi fic (and a/b/o) in which isagi accidentally steps onto the field in kaiser's shirt...

birds and wings by pistatsia - a 15 ch pre-canon? kaisagi fic in which kaiser gets injured, goes to japan to recover... and meet isagi! teaches isagi to do soccer and all that fun stuff

overloaded by no_3- a kaisagi oneshot in which isagi (basically) borderline faints again bc of metavision, super overwhelmed and such but kAIsEr is there... the actual fic is okay but the text fonts and effects are soOOO cool!

he goes to a different school by opposition- a kaisagi 11 ch fic where the bluelockers all dont believe isagi has a hot, famous, soccer player boyfriend but he does…

bachisagi >v<

love bites by j_jabbers- hee hee bachisagi oneshot that is exactly as it sounds, in which bachira likes to erm bite isagi randomly. but its sOO cUte!

other:

ego jinpachi: the world’s most unwitting and unwilling matchmaker by starstruckdove- pfffft a nagireo, bachisagi, + a ton of other ship fic that has soOOo much crack. very amusing to read, had me dying, and ego poor poor ego who needs to bleach his eyes now, a fan favorite

valentines day at blue lock by sephlav- a supercute fluffly fic with a couple of ships on valentines dayyyy

he’s the one i dream of by seventies- no. 1 in the fandommmm, an isagi/everyone fic that is seriously so funny, i'm sorry pls give it a chance

enjoy! (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ.ᐟ

[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.

[youtry2replaceurself]

good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!

Also nothing about this post is organized but I would like to add that yes I do take drawing requests and they are very very encouraged, and there's a 50/50 chance the drawing will be shit :3

And I have a huge tag list so ask me if you want to be on it or if you want to be taken off it

OC stuff hERE look

Pronouns are anything other than she/her, preferably they/them

Wattpad is @asri3l_dreemurr, @spamton-detector is my gimmick blog, @thermodynamics-lawyer-esq was abandoned 💔,

aalso @redleavesandteardrops WAs my WoF side blog but fuck you

and @sonder-wof is my fan-made WoF continent blog thing

dni if you're a bitch I guess, don't want a long ass list of terms I don't like lmao

Btw I'm a lynx, reindeer, and crow/magpie (idfk I'm trying to figure out) therian wahoo !! And also some kind of owl but I'm not sure and I'm really confused help

Important links/posts I think are particularly cool and blinkies and whatevers belowww

Important links I think people should see: (actually mostly stuff I just want to go back to later)

Alright, usually, I put the most recent links at the bottom, but I need y'all to reblog this now.

This might be already on here but, if you find someone that tried to commit suicide via pills:

Internet safety and how to identify pdf files/pedophiles

Important sites for while Trump is president

How to be prepared for Trump's presidency

Like the above link

Something to remember about Project 2025

What to do if you suddenly find yourself homeless

^ written by someone who has been homeless

Text... Font... Thing...

Writing resourcesssss

TIME TRAVEL, BITCH

Books Trump might ban, I think

Depression tips

Words instead of "said"

When your character...

Rizz

Some links for a bad day

Suicide hotline that isn't call (was told this isn't working at the moment)

Goodbye medical debt!!

Tree noise<3

Petition to ban perfume in schools

How to bypass YouTube's anti ad blocker thingy

I didn't have the attention span to. Fully read this so I am so so sorry I can't summarize this properly but I'm fairly sure that it is important and worth reading if you're, unlike me, capable of reading this

Thank You Mister Deli Woman

Kewl resources for artists

In the US? Wanna learn new and terrible things about where you live?

Cold shock response

????WHAT THE FUCK ???????

BOYCOTT COCA COLA PRODUCTS AND NESTLE PRODUCTS!

Classic meme templates

THIS ANIMATIC MADE ME CRY

Self care assessment thingy

free movies

How to draw arms and legs

Lineart turorial

Becoming an adult cheat sheet

taxes

How to fight back against ICE agents

Something something food recalls. I'm stupid and don't know what this means but I've heard it talked about seriously

Awesome seawing art

WoF headcanons I wanna go back to

Fuck Google

March 15

Sound

Wobble worble

"Jesus in a hot topic"

Call the police on their pedophile ass

“I have all these OCs! But no story…”

Fuck ice, know your rights

Web games

Fuck paywalls

Survive the next 4 years

Might have another similar thing here but how to identify AI (writing, voices, videos, "art")

Literally everything you need to make a character

Holidays :)

Buy stuff from native people!!

Wholesome thing I wanna save so I can go back to it

AO3 summaries: help

Site to totally avoid

Speaking from ignorance

Top surgery tips!

Consent

Project Gutenburg

Finding your lost pets/your lost non-human family

First aid for seizures

Dragons and unicorns.

Food or drugs that have been recalled

What to do if...

STATISTICS

Substitutes for AI!

The whole untitled wolf sheep comic thing

Kris. K-kris. I don't smoke weed. I DONT SMOKE WEED! I DONT SMOKE WEED! I DONT SMOKE WEED !!! KRIS !!!!!!!

tips

VERY important tips

Deltarune animation I very much love, chapter 3 spoilers beware

Yet another deltarune animation I love, again, ch3 spoilers

Tenna gifs (thank you ezgif I love you ezgif)

Education is a right, not a service

2dollarbeer

TENNA MOUSE??

Fun behaviors to give dragons

Mpreg.

Stop nonconsensual intimate image abuse

Essay about Ralsei i like a lot

Deltarune divorce chart?

Dads and lesbians and lumberjacks

How to make a cookie in a mug

Anygays here's my other platforms bc I'm so slay

og art blog:

Will wood blinky is made by @skelpiescool

Deny defend depose blinky made by me :3 if you use mine please credit btw, not "credit to the artist" that's not credit

[lgbtqtext]

Hi!

I know you use Xara 3D Maker to make your posts, but do you know if there are any similar tools a complete beginner could use? Do you know of any apps or websites? Any tips for anyone starting out?

This site is what I use to make glitter text gifs. The only other animation software I can think of is Blender, which I tried but it is actually very hard to learn. There is also cooltext.com where you can make simple animated text, like flaming letters. And there is Make Word Art where you can make still images of text in different fonts and styles.

Honestly, Xara 3D Maker 7 seems intimidating to learn, but it's relatively easy once you know the buttons. There are some tutorials out there, and I will at some point make one for a simple animation and show the basics. I have no experience with animation outside of Xara 3D Maker, it's simple enough that you don't need to know how to work Blender or GIMP or anything super complicated.

As for tips for starting out with Xara 3D Maker, read and watch the tutorials. Those were my lifelines when I first started out. And if you like a particular animation/color combination or you have some text you want to use as a template, click File -> Save As... and save it. Then when you want to go back to it, click File -> Open... and select your saved text.

A major thing that would have saved me so much time spent manually cropping animations is to export the animation with the size selected as 'current window size,' the 'crop' box checked, and the 'transparent' box checked. I spent literal years manually cropping text with ezgif.com and GIMP before I decided to mess with the export options and it changed my life, lol.

Again, I'll make my own tutorial sometime. Xara 3D Maker 7 is honestly a lot of fun, and I don't regret paying for it. It was well worth the money to make these animations and some stuff for myself. You could watch the tutorials first and see if it's something you feel comfortable spending money on to try for yourself.

[thompsborn]

darling, won't you take me home?

chapter two: i know that you make me better

The first picture Harley takes is while they're studying at the diner.

He's not sure what convinces him that this is the perfect moment to capture, isn't sure what makes his fingers twitch towards his phone, but he's sitting across from Peter and he's been entirely too aware of his crush since he realized it, and he finds it very difficult to not think about it—about his feelings—about Peter every second of the day. Taking pictures is something he likes to do, blurry snapshots of random moments that he wants to remember. Nothing as nice looking at the photography Peter sells to the Daily Bugle, but images that Harley can look at and smile.

Living with Harry, he's already snagged plenty of insane looking candid shots of him, and a handful of photos of Gwen, as well—but he hasn't gotten any of Peter yet, mostly because of the fact that he didn't think they had really become friends until the week of Halloween, but now they're not just friends. No, they're friends and Harley has an embarrassing crush on him that Harry keeps teasing him about.

Which is annoying, and also, admittedly, sometimes, kind of funny.

But they're at the diner and Peter is sitting across from him, textbook splayed open with his notebook next to it, pen in one hand, the other cradling his chin as he leans his elbow against the table. Harley doesn't care for English classes, but doing the assignments feels easier with Peter—which is ironic, because Harley knows that Peter's plans consist of multiple STEM degrees, yet he's got a knack for knocking essays out with ease whenever he gives himself the time to, and he's pretty damn good at helping Harley with his, too.

He wants to ask—but first he picks up his phone, unable to help himself as he admires Peter, snapping a quick picture and setting it back down before asking, "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. "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 sets his eyes on it.

But Peter is scanning over the words, jotting down notes and quotes and whatever else he finds fitting. 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 friends in high school and I got closer. She loves to read, and we had our English classes together, so she helped me 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.

[battle-of-alberta]

Blue Sky City

This stupid comic about Calgary's tourism branding has been slow cooking in my head since it was announced last year (and Ed was still in the playoffs at the time, so the beard is still on!)

I just want to yell about how tricky it was to make this comic ENTIRELY out of city (and provincial) branding palettes. If the colours look a bit unusual, that's why! (Although I'm pleasantly surprised with how well some of these colours go together.) The palettes are not just from the cities represented, there's bits and pieces of other cities in there (especially for skin tones, which are pretty limited in the selection.)

I'll dig a bit more into the details but briefly:

Winn / Lucille belongs to @rotivae

Bert / Ralph belongs to ctcsherry

and the rest all live here~

the branding history panel is a tribute to the information that used to be on the City of Calgary website... until around the last election it vanished and now I feel like I've been gas lit. My quick skim of the waybackmachine hasn't turned up the branding page, alas, but luckily i had saved the previous colour palette before.

"outgrowing the olympics" says the man who still sleeps with hidy and howdy

The energy word cloud is very loosely based on a pdf of a presentation i stumbled across by accident several years ago re: Calgary's brand evolution - the Big 5 Personality Test is Entirely based on said presentation. It's the most Calgary quarter life crisis document I've ever seen in my life and I reference it constantly for a laugh.

On that note I'm sure you're dying to unstatus the quo and learn more about the Blue Sky City Brand and flip through all those colours and tone of voice notes and not do something irresponsible like download all their fonts and beads to use incorrectly for nefarious purposes

Unfortunately Calvin being the Most American (tm) of the cities (other than maybe Lilith, though she's trying to quit, honest) means he wears shoes indoors if they fit his presentation :/ we should start teaching him otherwise with a spray bottle

Blue Sky City just feels so wrong. On one hand, the entire province of Saskatchewan has based all their marketing on the sky for decades, and likewise the City of Edmonton has long been the blue to Calgary's red (at least so long as I've had a memory)

The Beaverton Article for your convenience

seriously are you guys ok please put your clothes back on

the last bit was inspired by convos with Ro about how Winnipeg, which has traditionally been blue and yellow, is trying something new (although this actually predates Calgary's brand by a couple of years but shh)

Don't kill it at the next social maybe just gently maim a little bit

Anyway, the City of Calgary's official colours are still red and white, but we will see how long this blue tourism thing lasts. Drawing Calvin in blue just seems so wrong, it took me several tries to come up with an outfit for him that didn't completely fill me with despair hahahaha

(That said if you draw him in a blue outfit I want to see it - we can add it to his wardrobe and see how long this phase lasts)

Anyway I had a good time poking fun at Calgary and reading branding stuff - I have a stockpile of brand guides for both cities and their tourism squirrelled away because I love stealing colour palettes, so it would be fun to do a few more of these (though no brand goes into as much depth as Calgary's - save for Edmonton's of course). I just find how cities present themselves endlessly fascinating, especially the more muddled and generic the branding language becomes. (we can never be on Tourism Winnipeg's level anyway so we might as well stop trying)

[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

[19ryan17]

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 fucking 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.

[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!

[redbatchedcumbermayned]

How about edit edit on the wall will it be the final one for all for the WIP title game? <3

Thank you, Phee <3! So, perhaps because I'm professionally poisoned to forever edit my own stuff, I like to, from time to time, edit Much Ado About The Lord Captain and implement the growth and new techniques I have acquired to improve upon the prose more so than the contents. To do it chapterwise, I plug them into a new document, change the font to Courier New, 12 pt, 1.5 linespacing and go at it with fresh eyes.

The story is fundamentally still the same (I rarely delete or rewrite something; I primarily enhance things). This time, I hope it is the last time, hence the title of the document, because a friend offered to bookbind the whole thing, and I want a version I'm happy with. So whenever I'm not working on a current chapter, I pick an old one and work through it again.

Right now, I'm going through chapter 4, and I have enhanced the bit about the pronunciation of Heinrix's name and added the German way of pronouncing Heinrich into the fic (as much as you can without spelling out the phonetics).

Again, he was taken aback by her way of pronouncing his first name. In her mouth, the sounds rolled softly off her tongue as if she spoke his native language. The last time someone had called him Hainriks, not Haynriks, as most people tried to approximate his name in Low Gothic, was when his family had disowned him. Contempt had coloured their tone, and the two syllables had become an insult, a curse, not a caress. He had welcomed the foreign sounds of the official Imperial pronunciation once he had earned the right to a name again in the Scholastica Psykana. Now, the two syllables mingling in her voice elicited a memory of a better time, of home, of soft blankets and sweet buns, of green valleys and snow-capped mountains.

I also am a much more comfortable writer describing food and taste, so Heinrix gets to embarrass himself a bit at the Lord Captain's dinner battling with a Foie Gras tartelet:

Heinrix clenched his teeth to keep his face from betraying his emotions. A line burned down his throat and lit a fire in his chest as if he had drained a glass of the Amasecus’ favourite promethium swill when the first course was served: impossibly small tartlets filled with a rich, almond-brown cream and garnished with slivers of nuts and dried fruit. He stabbed at the tiny thing, and it slithered over the plate until he speared it with his fork. His shoulders tensed. The pastry crumbled around the prongs and made a mess of the carefully arranged food. This was worse than torture. Finally, he scooped the destroyed tartlet on his fork and shoved it into his mouth as if he had never attended a formal dinner before and didn’t grasp the most basic table manners. He glanced at Lady Isha, the heat rising underneath his collar, but she conversed with Winterscale and paid him no heed.

I also had more fun expanding on these two scenes at the dinner table:

He emerged from his memories when a hand brushed against his. It jolted him upright, and he struck his knee on the table, jingling cutlery and clinking glasses into a discordant melody. Lady Isha bent down beside him into the space between their chairs. Diving after her, their foreheads almost touched. “Pardon, Lord Captain, may I?” He seized the napkin from the floor. “You are awfully formal today, Heinrix. Did I do something to earn your displeasure?” He clenched his fist around the piece of cloth in his hands as sweat collected in his palm before releasing his grip. He wished he were still wearing his gloves to hide this visible reaction to her presence. “Everything is fine, Your Ladyship. Your napkin.” Returning upright, she spread the cloth over her lap, smoothing the crinkles before picking up her wine glass. The liquid’s scarlet gleam paled against her glistening lips, and he couldn’t drag his gaze away from these sparkling rubies.

And here:

“It is sad to observe how you try to drown this amber heart of yours in the bottomless blue of duty, Master van Calox. As if your cold, fading grey colours don’t flare into the rosiest red around the Lord Captain.” A wave of scorching heat crested over his face, and he hoped the ground under him would open to swallow him. When he found a small stain on the tablecloth, he focused his attention there, his cheeks burning hot and twitching. It wasn't true if he didn’t acknowledge what the navigator had pronounced to the gathered. It couldn’t be true. But she had read him like an open book. He couldn’t remember sensations as intense as those the Lord Captain stirred in him. “Lady Isha, too. A delicate purple flower grows out of the dirt-green earth of hope. The heather aura hiding a cerulean blue child is outshone by the honey golden crown of kindness atop your head. How your colours mix around the Interrogator… Delicate cherry blossom hues bloom and intermingle with his rosy colours to form the most beguiling picture – the two of you together. Did you know that?” His head blazed with the force of a supernova. He didn’t dare to look up, to face her, to face the truth of his desires. Each word had been correct, and if the Lady Navigator was to be believed, Isha reciprocated his feelings — at least a little. He tensed as a hand brushed against his under the table. “I’m sorry, this evening is not going…” “Don’t worry about me. I have survived worse,” he mumbled, staring straight ahead, responding to her sweet gesture by linking his fingers with hers for the fraction of a second. She curled a fist around them before placing her hand back on the tablecloth. He glanced at her, her cheeks as flush with rubies as her lips. The colour suited her, and he didn’t know what to do with this observation. Three more courses…

[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.