#i was so lazy for good water texture and the background

[morarenga]

(Ignore the yellow one. he loves swimmign)

[abronzeagegod]

Writing prompt: a flower in a garden wakes up one day, in a red dress.

[Thanks for the ask and the prompt! I know it took a while to get done but work has been kicking my ass lately. Also this one got away from me, as most of these things do! If anyone has any more prompts feel free to send them my way, i might not get to them in a timely fashion though.]

Well, she thought, this is not right.

One minute she was standing in the dirt, trees and sky overhead anxiously awaiting the dawning of the sun, of the warmth, the light, the energy all around her.

Now she's laying in the dirt, looking up at the trees and the sky and the bright sun of the early morning and instead of feeling alive and invigorated and bright and happy, she feels alive and warm, and kind of sticky and that's not very comfortable.

"DA!" came a sudden and loud voice from nearby. Before such a voice from the family that lived in the nearby cottage would be mere background noise, but now it was loud, screeching, and demanding attention. "There's a weird lady laying in the dirt outside!"

There was a pause of blessed silence before a new voice yelled from nearby.

"JONATHAN I'M FIXIN TA GROUND YA FER A YEAR!"

Immediately following this new declaration there was the sound of something loud and clanging, as the one in trouble tried to make good an escape.

A few moments later there came a cloud that covered the sun.

"Ok, up ya get," said the voice.

Standing over her was a man, dark skin, lovely looking, but tired.

The woman shook her head. She just kind of instinctively knew that it meant 'no'.

"Ya likely ta burn out here, let me fix ya something ta eat n drink and we'll fix ya right up."

"I can't move. My root are in the ground. I get my nourishment from the sun and the rain."

"Ya, that mighta been the case, but my daft son emptied the potion vat on ya pretty head and now yer a woman and not a plant. So up ya git. Come in the house, we'll fix ya up in a bit."

She knew her body was wrong, she knew that it had changed and was different, but she didn't want to acknowledge it until this moment. She wanted to still be a plant.

"Come on now."

Reluctantly, she tried to get the body to move correctly. It was hard and odd and getting used to having a body full of blood and muscle, sinew and bone, was not something that came easily. Coordination was tricky.

"Like trickin' a drunk to come home with a biscuit," muttered the man.

Getting into the small cottage and sitting down took entirely too long.

"Samuel," the father said to his youngest, "fetch some water and make our guest sommin ta eat. I hafta fix this mess."

The young boy ran off to fetch some water from the nearby well.

The woman sat (sitting was decidedly a strange sensation, so many things had to bend in just the right ways and they only bend in certain ways) at the table, and with a glass of water in front of her, was delighted. She needed water, she loved water. She stuck her hand in the glass and sat there contented.

"Ya don't absorb water like that," the father said as he worked over a small cauldron. "Ya hafta use yer mouth."

The youngest son had to then help the woman learn to use this stupid mouth appendage thing to consume water. How inefficient and gross.

"I must apologize fer my son," the father said. "His chores taday were to clean up after our business. We make n sell potions. Magic n such in the form of liquid. Tha other day, ya see, we had an order fer some potions of polymorph, tha magic of turnin things inta other things. Insteada disposin of it all proper like, my idiot spawn Jon was a wee bit lazy, an dumped it all out in ta garten, which had the unfortunate side affect of turning you from a lovely lil rose bush into this her young woman ya are now."

The youngest child also tried to show the woman how to eat some of the bread that they had made the day before. It was a bit of a challenge to be sure, but there was also something so special and delicious and amazing about the texture, the feel, and the taste of the bread that she had never before experienced.

"Right. This here potion to put ya back is going ta take a few hours or so. Wanna make good use of those legs yer got there and see the world outside tha garten?"

The woman who was once a flower was intrigued by the idea of the world beyond what her limited perceptions could see in her normal form. She agreed, and following the older man she followed him out of the house and beyond the realm of the garden that she had spent all of her life in.

The world outside the house and the garden was vast and strange and so deeply interesting. The trees were all different and interesting! There were more birds and squirrels and other things that she never could have imagined existing outside after she walked for just a little bit.

There was a small river with fish! They walked across a waterfall! They saw things of so many different colors! They even saw the man's neighbor who spoke loudly and with a strange accent that the woman could barely understand. The man had a horse with him that was so large and beautiful that if she was still a flower she would have been terrified of being trampled.

"The world is so beautiful," she remarked to the man as they walked back towards the cottage.

"Aye, it is. But it's also dangerous and strange and violent sumtimes. There's a great beauty out there. But also great pain."

"What if I didn't want to go back to being a flower?"

The man sighed, resting his hands in his pockets. "Aye. Well we could leave ya be. Teach ya how to live, to survive. Bein a human is hard. Ya can't just feed off tha sun, live off tha rain. There's work ya gotta do to live. It's hard."

He paused for a long time.

"The longer ya stay a human or a bird or whatever ya like, the harder it is ta go back. After a time ya can't go back. Ya saw more than you would have as a plant, aye, that's true. But with all tha good comes all tha bad. You love tha people you love, sometimes they leave, sometimes you leave. Sometimes nothing much happens but change occurs and ya aren't the same person they loved so much. With tha heat comes tha burning. With tha cold comes tha freezing. Ya grow, ya age, ya eventually die. It's not something I wanna put on you, just because ya saw some pretty nature outside yer little plot. Bein human ain't nothing I wanna put on another bein if they got a choice in the matter."

"So what is going to happen to me?"

"I think... I think... we're gonna put ya back. I think it's fer the best. And if ya still dream of bein a person, the next time we make some potion we'll save some fer ya and turn ya back." There was a long silence as they approached the house and the familiar garden. "It's always easy to see tha new and tha excitin as the best thing, but I wouldn't wantta ta make the choice without knowin how good yer old life will feel when ya return to the dirt."

"Yes, I can see how that would be nice."

"If ya'd like I can put ya in the house, so you can be close by and watch er whatever ya do."

"I think I'd like that. Thank you for everything. You didn't have to do any of this to help me. But I appreciate it."

"Of course," the man said. "Now let's get ya back."

"I hope it won't be too long before I see you again."

"If you come back, we'll be happy ta have ya again."

After the potion was administered and the woman returned to being a rose bush once more, the man worked on replanting her in a large pot.

"If you come back and fall in love wit either of me sons I'm gonna have ta turn ya right back inta a plant. Can't have this nonsense happenin again."

i have a kofi

[butterfrogmantis]

what brush do you use to draw?

What brush DON'T I use /lh

Depends on the drawing! For sketches I like to use Clip studio paint's tapered pencil.

It doesn't hold bucket tool's very well though so I tend to use thin gouache brush to colour.

But if I'm linearting and shading? I use Paint tool SAI because I'm inconsistent. I do the lineart on their lineart layers, then use a bucket tool to fill colour, then airbrush & blend for blending.

Now If I'm doing lineartless? Back over to CSP, atm I'm using an imported pen & gouache blender.

Also big fan of dry gouache, gouache pens are some of my most used.

Now for backgrounds and all that good stuff? All over the place. I generally map out what I need with a pen or airbrush, then use texture / foliage brushes to slowly build up layers.

But surprise!! I have a secret THIRD programme - Krita. This one I know how to make my own brushes on. And it has a very nice water brush that csp doesn't

(Technically I could do ALL my art on csp but. I'm difficult like that /j)

Krita brushes I've made in the past include bees, freckles and musical notes

I have a freckle brush on csp but I don't like it as much, I tend to use it if I'm too lazy to transfer to krita (for shitposts and doodles instead of full drawings)

And finally I have a library of custom brushes on csp!

This contains things that are just sorta easier to use brushes for rather than draw individually such as foliage, sweat drops, fences, clouds (which I always do on screen layers) hair highlights, rope, banners, and whatever random brushes I downloaded from the asset store to only use once. Saves time and all that so I can put more time into the character art. Unless it's fire. I draw fire from scratch using dry gouache bcuz it's so much fun.

I draw all my backgrounds from scratch + brushes unless it's a shitpost I use an empty smurf bg for.

[tryingtolearnartsob]

okay all I have to say today was super insane???? wtf…..

—uhhhh so from yesterday, i just thought after a while id continue drawing…….. and you know i looked at my prev art stuff and saw how I’ve been drawing srda… especially her eyes and i just wanted to try that again…. also since i saw I used to draw in that water brush i thought why don’t I try again you know… and yknow. the first srda was…….fine……. but not really a fan ITS ONLY WHEN I TEIED COLOUR!!!! THAT WOW….. IT REALLY GOT<3 I think i did try colour in this brush before but i didn’t intially like it PROPERLY BECAUSE I DIDNT FULLY DO SOMETHJH IN IT!!!! anyways this was the start of something<3 i went ham ahahah. like the second srda wasn’t the best either (man i need to work on my face angles) but MY GOSH the third srda is fave 💞💞💞 (seriously i want to forever draw like her like this!!!!!) (it’s so perfect…..her hair…. expression just. Yes) I also didn’t want to go out of prac with figures so i just drew in a redraw of panel and pleasantly surprised at how she came out….? hehe…. <3 I did realise I see figure small lmaoo…. I wanted her face to be bigger but oh well and of course as soon as as I be drawing her I get the urge to draw the two… srda + chou… I wanted a lil peck idea… and man it was kind of hard to get profile and also wondering how to draw her from side profile and to keep the chubbiness…. but yeshhhhh it was a good prac. speaking of the eyes, i meant like before i used to had in some lower eyelash or whatever and it looked so nice i gotta had to add it back in also lmaooo the side profile one i was drawing (the peck) got a lot skewed since i wasn’t really putting in a lot of effort anyways and lol her eye turned out really big than i wanted it to be…. anyways yeah.

—anyways after that… I wanted to draw more 🦋 and uhhhhhh this one wasn’t really going well… I botched up her face and tried to fix it anyway cuz of that im really meh over also lol I tried to make her arm do diff lol… or smth since I just keep the arms straight in bust shots… I really need to practice bust shots lol… btw heh the blue background was a homage to my old drawings… I always tended to just add a blue background (if you can’t tell, it’s my go to colour for a lot of things) (honestly my fav colour at this point but I wouldn’t really say fav… it’s like a Homebase fav. that n pink/purples I like to really draw in…) (once I discovered drawing in purple I was a goner ahahaha)

—anyways of course I had to see how 🌸 looked in this brush…..! wait… didn’t I do juv first…? man this is why I liked to do a write up on thoughts as I do it but I was lazy… I have terrible memory lmao. anyways right I did do juv to see her and then skkr… idk if I liked the juv so when I tried to compare her to the normal procreate pencil brush I use… I actually liked that better than the pencil brush lmaooooo. also did other juv in diff brushes just to comapeee… and just to draw her lol… I do like her in more textured brushes….

—and then!!!!! 🌸 I had to get her in…. And im really liking it….? the first one was skewed as obvs… im bad at trying to get her hair right lmaooooo…. but then I wanted to do a redraw of manga from gaiden just to see and cuz I wanna get her more right and I do really like it….? def one of the best skkr I’ve drawn….. but hmmm at the same time it’s not really the type of skkr I want to draw I guess… but I’ve been thinking I wanted to draw that type of skkr but I guess I realised I don’t …. anyways these came out well and did make me very happy in realising that i can draw her in a way that I do like…. :’ I guess major thing that helped was the eyes since I looked at prev art that I drew with srda i realised that I didn’t used to draw the eyes in one line go… and makes sense since when I’d try to draw eyes in one ago… it didn’t really look good… also what’s so hard about skkr was her damn pupils… it’s hard to draw pupils as dots without it looking scary after all or super off but I think im getting hang of it now… it helps to have a good brush too…

—I wasn’t going to draw anymore and take a break but I guess I am just on a roll this morning lmao …. the urge to draw is Real… anyways so since I was playing homage to some of my old drawings I THOUGHT I HAD TO DRAW SOME ⏳!!!! since SEEIOUSLY!!!! I drew like a bunch of him in Feb I think.. 2022 let me check.. no it was in 2024!!!! seriously I think it was the most I drew a character in a freakin day… got obessed with his design and needed to draw him and now kinda sad that I got over that…!!!!! but seriously!!!!! drawing him was what made me discover some of my fav brushes ever…..!!!!! and since it’s his bday month i had to draw him in…. i really was liking the diff colour drawing for each character so i wanted to get that in too…

—and hello????? why is that one so good…???? I’m seriously shocked!!! I don’t really like the first one I drew like lol why his face look like that lmaooo but second one….?! since I had especially just scribbled in his clothes…?! I think it’s cuz the face was so fun to draw in… and I made it more intense than the anime screencap I ref’ing… in comparison the third I drew was so disappointing lmaoooo. it didn’t even turn out to look like him… but I do think it looked more like him before I ended up trying to shade in some colour… also this red colour is super fun to colour him in…….

—anyways I decided to colour in that one…. and hey….?! it’s coming to look really nicely….?! what the…?! I tried to add some shading too but intially didn’t like it and remembered from that colouring session like days ago… that this artist used some diff colouring for the shading like teal/green and I went with green to see how it’d work and tried to make sure it was darker than the skin so it’d be shading but I think it’s when I used the multiply layer and lowered the opacity that it went YOOOOO. I’m really liking it!!!! the colours look super fun together…. im not completely satisfied with it… maybe if i darkened the overall picture… hey wait let me try that now… (20.10) yeah………No. even when I changed the blue to be green multiply. nah didn’t work

—-anyways that ⏳ drawing REALLY MOTIVATED ME… To Want to draw a proper piece for him but honestly I had like no ideas and then remembered I could borrowse through stuff to get ideas but I haven’t…. Really…. I don’t think my browsing was the best and it’s still on my mind but oh well. I do hope I draw something since it seems like a waist not to…

—I did get around to doing daily figure pracs….! this session kinda sucked though lmaoooooo. like I didn’t really have a general idea of what I really wanted and it was kinda boring… I worked on shoulders since I figured it’s something I needed to work on and did some hands (which uhhhh I think I need to study back hands properly urgh…..) and I was kinda basically all of the place and lol I attempted doing figure prac in that water brush and uh yeah. Didn’t like. Anyways wasn’t feeling it really after filling this page so I didn’t…. But I do like with some of the arm prac I tried to add on face later and that was kinda fun even if portions was sometimes skewed… since it got to doing poses that I don’t usually do if I start with torso and stuff

—this is making me wanna do an exercise where I draw the hand first….. hmmmm. that would be fun and I do want to get a gist of how things are portioned to each other and work in relation so I can jump around in my drawing and draw things from different places and ahahah anyways this session making me realise how weak I am honestly in just everything in knowledge and stuff and I think it’s best to practice the bones and urgh the leg especially since while I have a gist. a lot of my figure drawings feel like guess work which I don’t is working that much for me

—-after this!!!! I did so much video !!!!! watching!!!! found this good in depth anatomy stuff too… that I just watchedddddd. a lot. and I think honestly I just want to watch a lot of anatomy videos to just see and get more in depth and then more closely study the bones in a general way so I have more awareness of them and then try to apply knowledge in my figure pracs….

—-one thing I have to say it’s a shame!!!! I didn’t draw ssk today!!!!!!!!!!!’ :/ I wanna draw him but also I really can’t be bothered right now………. Hopefully before day ends (now:20.22) I will get to doodle him and get some idea for a ⏳ drawing….. I do have some ideas but it gets in other characters and honestly can’t be bothered trying to learn how to draw his sibs too… for a drawing but I make it make it an idea for me to draw hmmm. anyways yeah. I think I will just go into more videos right now and just. get myself immersed in everything….!!!!!

—ah well I didn’t do anyhhhbg else today but I was getting more immersed in trying to study poses/figures and I think I got an exercise that will help… I really want to learn how to get angles right and the relation of pelvis n ribcage so I think it’s good to study poses and try to get how the pelvis would look like in that angle and help using 3D model of a pelvis that I can move around… cuz I really need to study tilt and shit… want to get more in depth study of knowledge so that all left is the drawing part…. Ah well didn’t explain this well but who cares

[burgeonmeraki]

My Current Skincare Routine

I believe in investing in your skin because it's going to represent you for a very long time. As much as I love wearing makeup, I’d still wanna look natural on the outside. But I also want to go out in public and not wear that much makeup. That’s why I'm a big believer that if you focus on your skincare, you really won't need a lot of makeup. Skincare is self-care.

Just a background story of my skin lol.

This is me back in High School.

Back when I was in high school (the puberty period), I literally have no problem with my skin. I never had any kind of breakout the whole high school life, and for that, I considered myself lucky. I don’t know if it’s in our genes or what, but I think my irregular period explained why I don't break out? I'm not sure hehe.

But when I stepped into college, that’s when I started having cystic acne, just once every month. I noticed my skin reacts in a different environment than I’m used to. Like when I was in college, I was studying in Manila. Manila is known for its air pollution because of traffic congestion. I have also found out that the water in Manila has chlorine, and I feel like my skin gets irritated, and that causes acne or breakout.

My brother who lives in South Korea sent a lot of skin care products. ca. 2017

I started using skincare products when I was in college, but mostly it's just facial wash, toner, and moisturizer. Then 3 years ago, I started putting serum on my face, a sheet mask or clay mask, and my skin feels so good after. My face feels so hydrated and the product that I used which is Innisfree works for me.

April 2018

RECENT BREAKOUT STORY (2020)

Ever since this pandemic and lockdown happened, I started breaking out. My skin became super oily, I thought maybe it was just the heat because it was summer then. I update my skincare, and nothing seems to work on me. And then I thought, maybe it was a hormonal imbalance, so I started taking pills for two months, still not working. The worst part of it, my pimples are cystic. Before, whenever I get a pimple it was just once every month. But now, when one pimple heals, there's another one comes, and they're mostly on my T-zones, which is the oiliest part of my face. I was so stressed about it, so I decided to see a Dermatologist at Cutis Essentials. Take note: this is my first time seeing and consulting a Dermatologist.

In order for the Doctor to treat me, she asked me a bunch of questions like, what kind of product do I use, she asked about my skin history and family history, and if I am taking some medicines or vitamins, and so on. And from that, I have learned that too much Vitamin E, B6, and B12 can cause acne. I have never taken any kind of vitamins in my whole adult life because I hate drinking medicines, but since there's a virus spreading all over the world, killing millions of people, I started taking it to boost my immune system. She gave me an oral medicine called Doxycycline and Epiduo Gel that dries up my acne. I stopped taking my pills and multivitamins and just stick to Vitamin C. I also stopped using this cleanser St. Ives Apricot Scrub and switch to a more mild facial cleanser. And hurrah, I finally see a good result. My face started clearing up little by little, and the oiliness lessens a bit. All I need to do is to get rid of my dark spots, which takes time.

The thing with doing your skincare routine, you have to stick with it consistently. And I gotta admit, there are days that I'm so lazy to do it and just skip some steps. Like sometimes I just removed my makeup, washed it, then put some toner to clean the excess dirt, then I'm done. That's my slacky routine. Don't do it hehe.

I did a one week sheet mask challenge and my skin feels so good after. I definitely recommend this product that I got from BeautyMnl. It’s called Superfood Coconut Salad Mask Package from the brand Farm Skin.  Last pic on the lower right, that’s The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. 

A video of my skincare routine. Sorry if it’s a bit confusing LOL. I’ll make a better video next time hehe. 

MY CURRENT SKINCARE ROUTINE & HOW TO LAYER PRODUCTS:

I want to be clear, I am not a dermatologist or esthetician, but this method has worked for me. If your skin is irritated, I recommend hitting the reset button and start from scratch. Try introducing new products one at a time and use it consistently for a few days to see if it's working for you. Also, try to learn more about what your skin needs. Like if you have dry skin, moisturizer and hydrate i every day. If you have an oily skin like me, try to lessen the products that’s very greasy, and don’t use it during the day. Just stick with light moisturizer. It is a little bit of a process and takes time, but once you have it figured out, your skincare routine will be on autopilot, and your skin will look better and better.

Here are the products that I am currently using:

FACIAL CLEANSER

Brand: COSRX

AC Collection Foaming Cleanser

Cosrx is a Korean product. This gentle foam cleanser fights acne. It manages excess oil, without stripping skin of essential moisture. With BHA to exfoliate, lauric acid to provide antibacterial support, and centella ingredients to soothe, this creamy cleanser clears skin while keeping irritation at bay. | I have been using this for 3 months now and the brand works on me. My skin feels so soft after using this.

TONER

Brand: COSRX

AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner

Formulated with AHA, BHA and purifying botanical ingredients, the AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner works to soothe, refresh and soften the skin. It is effective for hydrating evening skin tone and texture, and it’s a mild exfoliation. | This toner for me is very gentle and it doesn’t sting and harsh like the other toner that I used before.

MOISTURIZER

Brand: COSRX

AC Collection Light Weight Soothing Moisturizer

This cream moisturizer provides light, non-sticky hydration for acne-prone skin. Made with asiatic acid, niacinamide, and zinc salt, it calms and strengthens skin’s moisture barrier while controlling excess oil. | I love this moisturizer! It’s not greasy so it’s okay to use it during the day because it’s fast-absorbing.

SERUM

Brand: THE ORDINARY

Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

The Ordinary comes from Canada. A high-strength vitamin- and mineral-packed formula to minimize the look of blemishes. Contains a high 10% concentration of niacinamide (vitamin B3); reduces the appearance of spots, marks, and congestion; supported by zinc salt of pyrrolidone carboxylic acid to balance visible aspects of sebum activity. | I’ve heard a lot of good reviews about this product so I tried it, and the brand works for me. It just really takes time to lighten up my dark spots but it works.

EXFOLIATION

Brand: THE ORDINARY

AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution

A 10-minute liquid mask treatment that exfoliates to visibly improve skin texture and tone. This product goal is to enhance brightness, even out skin, and decongest pores; exfoliates the topmost epidermal surface; helps fight visible blemishes for improved radiance; reduces the look of fine lines with continued use. | Take note: this peeling solution stings for a few sec, but it’s tolerable. Read the instruction first before using this product. When I first used this, I noticed my skin feels like a glass skin, like it looks healthy. I was expecting my face to peel,  but it didn’t. I only use this 2-3x a week or whenever my skin needs it. 

PROTECTION

Brand: THE ORDINARY

Vitamin C Suspension 30% in Silicone

Helps reverse multiple signs of skin aging with vitamin C, an effective antioxidant; naturally brightens and refines tone and texture; feels smooth on the skin thanks to very light silicones despite the suspension format of the formulation. | I just recently purchased this and I think it’s a great add for my skincare routine to reduce all the blemishes on my face and fights skin aging because well, I’m not getting any younger anymore. This one is a bit greasy so I only use this in the evening, and it has an off smell but fades away for a few sec.

CLAY MASK

Brand: INNISFREE

Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask 2X

Innisfree is a Korean product. Features 2x more powerful adherence to sebum for intensive pore care; provides triple exfoliation from encapsulated Jeju volcanic scoria, walnut shell powder, and AHA; enhanced deep cleansing formula removes away fine dust particles, pore-clogging dirt, and dead skin cells; provides powerful sebum-absorbing capacity as it washes away impurities while moisturizing and brightening skin; leaves a cooling sensation when applied that refreshes pores. | I have been using the 1.0 version of this for 3 years, which is the Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask without 2x. I super love this clay mask because this brighten up my dark spots so fast. I only use this 2-3x a week or whenever my face needs it. I recommend this product.

SHEET MASK

Brand: INNISFREE

My Real Squeeze Mask

These face masks are dew-licious skin treats that target your skin's unique concerns and bump your entire routine up a notch. | So Innisfree has a lot of sheet mask that can be tailored to your skin's daily needs. All I can say that whenever I use this sheet mask, my face feels so hydrated, and fresh. It’s an instant boost for my skin. So every time my face looks so dry and dull, I use this product. 

LASH BOOST

Brand: SKIN GENIE

Hair Growth Booster

Skin Genie is a Philippine product. This nourishing clear serum is the answer to fuller brows and lashes. It helps minimize hair loss, prevent breakage, and prime the strands for healthier regrowth. | This product smells so good and I noticed that my lashes became more stronger, longer, and a bit thicker. It will just take times but it works its magic. I put this if I’m about to sleep because the serum goes inside my eyes and kinda sting a little bit.

LIP CARE

Brand: VASELINE

Lip Therapy

A lip-healing jelly with a mouthwatering chocolate fragrance for silky, supple lips. Clinically proven to moisturize chapped lips; instantly softens and soothes dryness and flaking; locks in moisture to help lips recover from discomfort; leaves a healthy, glossy shine; non-sticky formula glides on smoothly. | My lips get dry very easily, and it always turned chapped. Before I go to sleep, I always make sure to put some of this and viola, the next morning my lips feel so soft and hydrated. I used cocoa butter at night, then I use rosy lips during the day whenever I put my makeup on, and they smell so good.

MOISTURIZER

Brand: NATURE REPUBLIC

Aloe Vera 92% Soothing Gel

A hydrating and cooling gel containing 92% pure aloe vera. Gently moisturizes all skin types, including sensitive skin; soothes and refreshes dry, dehydrated, inflamed, and sunburnt areas; firms skin and naturally protects with vitamins C, E, and other minerals; fast-absorbing gel won’t leave a greasy feel; can be used on hair, face, and body as a moisturizer, mask, and/or sleeping pack | I super love this product. I have been using this for more than 2 years now and it does wonder on my skin. I use it on my hair and body too.

ANTI-ACNE GEL

Brand: GALDERMA

Epiduo Gel (Adapalene and Benzoyl Peroxide) 0.1%/2.5%

Epiduo is a prescription medicine used to treat the symptoms of Acne Vulgaris. Epiduo may be used alone or with other medications. Epiduo belongs to a class of drugs called Acne Agents, Topical Combos. | This gel is pricey, and this was prescribed to me by my Dermatologist. I still use this whenever I have acne, and it dries up my acne fast. 

ACNE PATCH

Brand: COSRX

Acne Pimple Master Patch

This is the original set of hydrocolloid stickers that comes with three different sizes to spot-correct pimples. It heals intensively overnight, protecting problem areas from infection and brings out deep-rooted blemishes without leaving behind scars. Slap a patch on your breakouts for instant relief away from bacteria. This will stop the insane urge to pick at your skin and pop your pimples. It’s made with A.D.F. hydrocolloid dressing, a unique material that helps extract gunk from stubborn zits and speeds up their life cycle. | I absolutely love this patch. I use this in the evening whenever I have a very bad acne. TIP: I use the Epiduo Gel first, applied it on my acne, and then let it dry first before putting the patch. I promise, the next day your acne heals so fast! But sometimes, if it's cystic, it will take a few try like 2-3 patch every night.

ACNE PATCH

Brand: LUXE ORGANIX

Hydrocolloid Acne Spot Patch Night Time

When patched to acne; it increasingly absorbs the pus and oil to reduce inflammation and fasten the healing process. This brand is from Korea. | This product works well on me too, plus it contains more patches than Cosrx. Cosrx isn't available in most stores here in Bataan, so I have to order it online. I just go to Watson and buy this, which is very convenient for me. 

CLEANSER

Soft Silicone Facial Cleansing Brush

Gently scrub your face with this along with the Foaming Cleanser, it is easy to use. It is great for getting rid of dirt and clogged up skin. I noticed that after I wash my face with full on makeup, it get rids all the excess makeup and dirt that you have on your face because whenever I apply my toner, you can’t barely see any dirt. You better get one of this. I got mine from Watson, and it is very affordable. 

FACIAL MASSAGE

Brand: BE KIND

Jade Facial Roller + Guasha Set

This beauty tool duo will renew fatigued skin in just a few cooling strokes. Made from 100% authentic jade, each tool is uniquely designed for restorative facial massages. Not only do these tools boost product absorption, they also offer different types of massages. The roller stimulates lymphatic drainage that reduces puffiness, while the gua sha relieves tense facial muscles. When used together, they liven up dull skin for a fresh, well-rested look. | Sadly, I broke my jade roller, but I am getting one soon. Make sure that before you use this tool, put it first on the freezer for a few minutes, and it feels so good, I swear! I used the jade roller whenever I put on my sheet mask. While I used guasha whenever I put on my moisturizer because it glides really well when your skin is moisturize.

OIL CONTROL

Brand: THE FACE SHOP

Oil Blotting Films

Contains 50 silky-soft blotting sheets; made with excellent oil-absorbing 3M film; works to absorb excess sebum; leaves skin looking fresh and grease-free. | I read that if you have oily skin and you're wearing makeup, don't put on another layer of powder just to get rid of the oiliness on your face. Instead, use this oil-blotting film to remove all the oil before retouching your makeup. It's a helpful way not to clog your pores and for your makeup not to look cakey. 

More skincare products that works on me but I don’t use it anymore:

MOISTURIZER

Brand: DRUNK ELEPHANT

Protini™ Polypeptide Cream

Protini’s proprietary formula restores younger, revived-looking skin, almostfrom the first application. Lines, wrinkles, and signs of sun damage appearreduced, and skin feels strengthened and moisturized. | I only have the sample bottle of this because this brand is a little expensive but I heard a lot of good reviews on this. It’s a bit thick for my taste, so I make sure to wear this at night and not under my makeup, that’s only if you have oily skin. 

SHEET MASK

Brand: FARMSKIN

Superfood Coconut Salad Mask Package

A set of 7 sheet masks that leaves your skin brighter, hydrated, and more youthful. Nourish, moisturize, and illuminate skin with this set of sheet masks formulated with a combination of superfoods and colostrum ingredient. | First time using this product, and so far, it doesn't have any negative reaction on my skin since they used organic ingredients on their products. Farmskin has different kinds of sheet mask packages, and it is tailored depends on your skin's daily needs. This package is for brightening and hydrating my face since I need to get rid of my blemishes and dark spots.

FACIAL OIL

Brand: HERES B2UTY

Tea Tree Oil Serum

A multi-benefit serum that clarifies your complexion. Treats acne and soothes redness and swelling with tea tree oil; enriched with green tea, which contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory catechins to hydrate and regulate excess oil production; fades spots, eliminates acne scars, and protects against free radicals with chamomile, a powerhouse antioxidant; improves moisture levels as it minimizes the look of fine lines and wrinkles with rose hip oil; alleviates irritation as it tightens skin with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory witch hazel; draws moisture to skin with hyaluronic acid to revitalize skin’s outer layers; plumps, restores, and renews to instantly improve the appearance of fine lines. | When I started using this, I thought it was to prevent me from having acne. This oil doesn't work on my acne though, but it lessens the oiliness on my face. I just don't use it very often because I'm so lazy or sometimes I forgot. LOL

TONER

Brand: ESKINOL

Spotless White Classic Cleanser

Eskinol provides products which are specifically formulated for the Filipina skin. Its range of products is known to effectively solve oily skin problems and pimples. Removes deep-seated dirt, excess oil, and makeup with micro-cleanse anti-bacterial formula. Pure Calamansi extracts known to whiten skin. It has vitamin C derivatives to help lighten dark spots in as early as 1 week for an even skin tone. | This product is classic and very effective that's why until now it's still here, unlike other brands being discontinued in the market. I have been using this since college, but later on this particular calamansi formula is more effective on me, while the other formula doesn't work on me. 

BUYING THESE PRODUCT SOON:

PROTECTION

Brand: COSRX

Aloe Soothing Sun Cream SPF50 PA+++

An aloe-infused moisturizing sunscreen for dehydrated skin. Protects skin from ultraviolet rays and other environmental damages with SPF50 PA+++ | I’m reading a lot of good reviews about this product, so I am adding this to my cart now hehe. 

EYE CREAM

Brand: NEUTROGENA

Rapid Wrinkle Repair Eye Cream

Help improve the signs of skin aging with Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Eye Cream. Specially formulated for the delicate eye area, the fast-acting retinol cream helps fade the look of stubborn crow's feet, brightens and evens skin tone in the under-eye area, helps smooth fine lines and texture, and reduces the look of dark circles. This clinically proven retinol formula works quickly with visible results in just one week. | It says that this is the best eye cream for 2020 so let’s see if it’s going to work on my eyes hehe.

Whew! That was a lot of information. I hope you find this helpful and give your skin the love it deserves. If you have any questions or suggestion please don’t be afraid to say it to me. Til next time!

Love Lots,  Jamie  ♡

[mssjynx]

If you’re still doing the prompt stuff can you do 20 for ohmtoonz? And if it’s possible can you make it a continuation of Tease???

alpha / beta / omega au

ohmtoonz drabble

20. I don’t think you realise how good at massages you are but I never want you to stop touching me, whether it’s messing up my hair or fixing my collar. Your touch gives me goosebumps and I think I’m addicted.

a/n; i kinda plan to write a specific continuation of tease but i dont want to do it in a drabble- also bc its not an a/b/o fic haha. but i hope you enjoy all the same!

im also somewhat assuming you wanted nsfw but because you didnt say it, ill make it a bit shteamy but not really shteamy ;)

- 

Luke had been staying at Ryan’s house for three days. He was in Chicago for his cousin’s wedding and instead of staying in a hotel like he’d planned, Ryan had offered his own place to stay. Of course, the alpha wasn’t about to refuse; he’d waited for the day he got to meet Ryan in person and he wasn’t about to give up possibly his only chance. 

So despite the nerves in his stomach, he packed up his stuff and got on a plane. The taxi to Ryan’s address was so nerve-wracking that the cab driver had to wind down all the windows in order to breathe fresh air. Luke gave the guy a hefty tip in apology before turning his attention to the house. 

He waited outside Ryan’s front door for ten minutes. Questions were flooding his head, second guesses; what if Ryan thought he was too brash in person? Was Ryan a beta like he’d assumed, or was he something else? Would he have a problem with Luke? What would happen if Luke went into rut unexpectedly?

Hearing Delirious’ voice shouting: “Just do it!” in his head, he sucked in a deep breath and knocked on the door. It was hard to hear anything other than his own heartbeat but as the door swung open, everything else around Luke disappeared. 

Because it was Ryan. Standing in the doorway, wide green eyes, messy brown hair; Ryan. And all of Luke’s fears flushed away as he took two steps forward and threw his arms around the man. 

Warmth exploded in his chest as Ryan’s arms came up to hook around his back, soft laughter pressing into his shoulder as the alpha buried his face in the side of Ryan’s neck. “Holy fuck,” he said as he breathed in deep. The scent of coffee filled his nose and the underlying spice of omega pheromones tickled at his senses. “You’re real!” He drew back, clutching Ryan by his shoulders as he beamed at the omega. He was shorter than Luke and lazy scruff decorated his jaw from where the man hadn’t shaved in a bit. He wore baggy bed-clothes and the hazy look in his eyes showed he must have only just woken up. 

But Luke couldn’t take the smile off his face if he wanted to. 

Over the following days, his fears, his worries, his concerns; none of them came back as he fit himself into Ryan’s schedule. The air between them was easy and comfortable, there was no weirdness between their second genders, there was no anxieties about meeting each other for the first time. They filmed two videos, playing together and messing around, and binge-watched the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. 

The best part of living with Ryan was undoubtedly the physical contact. 

The omega was more physical than Luke could have ever guessed. He’d touch Luke’s arm to get his attention, grab at his wrist to lead him to the living room when he wanted to watch TV, run his fingers through the alpha’s hair as he walked past, squeeze his forearm in thanks when presented with a cup of coffee; it was rare for him not to be touching Luke in someway and the alpha found every excuse to explain why he enjoyed it so. 

It was the third night that they both fell asleep on the couch, Netflix turning off after some time of them not responding to its reminders. Throughout the night they’d tangled themselves together and when Luke awoke to movement against his chest, he found himself laying down on the couch with Ryan planted on top of him, cuddling down and snoring softly into his neck. 

There was nothing weird, nothing uncomfortable; nothing but a twinge of happiness in Luke’s lower belly that the alpha hadn’t ever felt before. When Ryan woke, he blinked up at Luke with a lazy smile and laughed off the fact that they’d both fallen asleep mid-episode. He complained about losing their place while hopping off Luke so the older man could go fetch them cups of coffee. 

The rest of the day was like addictive torture because Ryan just couldn’t keep his hands to himself. Luke was recording a video for his channel but it ended up being too short because Ryan had dawdled in to watch. Eventually, watching was too boring and the omega had stood beside Luke, humming happily as he kneaded the tense muscles of his shoulders. 

When Ryan had left, Luke practically collapsed against the desk, nerves alight with fire as he tucked his hand beneath his legs. He didn’t know why he was turned on but he couldn’t help it when Ryan was leaning up against his back and touching him like that. 

The omega showed no sign of being aware when Luke emerged for dinner and when Ryan yanked Luke to the omega’s bedroom, he didn’t find any hesitance in pulling the alpha onto his bed where they could sit and watch a few more episodes. 

By the time the third was starting, Ryan was tucked up against Luke’s side, Luke’s arm wrapped around his side and his weight leaning into the alpha. He shifted occasionally, stretching and squirming closer, laughing into Luke’s shoulder. Eventually he pulled Luke’s free hand into his lap and the alpha found it extremely difficult to focus on the TV as Ryan began playing and fiddling with his fingers. 

He nearly exploded when the omega placed their palms together and revealed that Ryan’s fingertips only reached up to the third knuckle of Luke’s fingers. With the TV forgotten, the alpha watched Ryan and when Ryan glanced up at him, their faces were closer than he’d expected. A flush of rosy red doused the omega’s cheeks and Luke felt the sensible side of his brain urge him to laugh it off and turn back to the TV. 

He didn’t. Instead, he found himself encapsulated by the soft shape of Ryan’s mouth, his lips full and pink. When the omega pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, Luke couldn’t stop himself. 

He lifted a hand, his thumb running over that lip and pulling it back out from between his teeth. Shiny and red, there was no going back; Luke tilted his head and dipped forward, watching as Ryan’s lashes fluttered down before he brushed his lips against Ryan’s mouth. He closed his eyes, feeling Ryan’s shaky exhale roll over his lips before he closed the space between them and kissed the omega.

The arm around Ryan’s back tightened as Luke turned into the kiss. The fire itching at his nerves bloomed across his skin as he kept his hand on Ryan’s cheek, holding the man close as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. 

A shiver rolled down his spine when Ryan’s hands crept up his chest, the omega melting against him as Game of Thrones remained forgotten in the background. A soft sigh pressed against the seam of Luke’s lips before the tip of Ryan’s tongue was sliding along Luke’s bottom lip; memorising the texture, the taste. 

It was that touch that did it for Luke. He gathered both arms around Ryan’s waist, pulling him flush to his chest and hauling him onto his lap. Ryan all but scrambled on top of him, not wanting to take his time as he seated himself on Luke’s thighs and buried both of his hands in the alpha’s hair. When Luke moved to dip his tongue into the omega’s mouth, Ryan’s lips were already soft and pliant, welcoming him closer, moaning against the contact. 

In seconds, Luke was feeling lightheaded. There was something about Ryan’s touch that drugged him; drove him wild. The omega kissed with a fire Luke hadn’t experienced with any of his exes in the past, and when Luke lured Ryan’s tongue into his mouth, licking the underside of it and grazing his teeth over it, the omega moved into the kiss. He slid his arms around Luke’s neck, pulling lightly on his hair as he sighed into Luke’s mouth and rocked his hips forward. 

They went from light, nervous kissing, to heated making out in what felt both like two seconds and two hours, and when Ryan began rhythmically rutting his hips down against Luke, the alpha believed he really was in heaven. He tightened his grip on Ryan’s waist, pulling back from the kiss to draw in a lungful of oxygen and met the lust that swirled in Ryan’s eyes with a stern look. 

“Ryan-” Before he could say something sensible, something like “We can’t rush this,” or “I don’t want to push you,” or anything respectful and deliberately reassuring, Ryan was biting his lip and gyrating his hips down. 

“I want you to touch me,” he breathed and as he spread his knees wider on the bed to close all the space between their crotches, Luke was hit with the scent of coffee and slick. His mouth watered and his spine curled and the limited self control he maintained was only growing weaker. 

The omega let out a whimper as he ground his hips down again. He leaned in and pressed another kiss to Luke’s lips before catching the alpha’s face with his hand and leaning their foreheads together. 

With a deep breath, he visibly collected himself. “I want you,” he told Luke, straining to keep the desperation out of his voice. “I’ve wanted you for so long and I want you now. Please- Please say you want me too.” 

And with such honest words and such a vulnerable heart, Luke had no other option. Grateful for his own strength, he gave Ryan a careful shove and sent him onto his back on the mattress before he followed. He fit himself between the omega’s thighs and pressed down against his chest, rolling his hips against him, grinding his arousal into the heat between Ryan’s legs. 

“I want you just as bad,” he promised the man and with the grin Ryan wore, Luke couldn’t stop himself from dropping down and sealing their mouths. They’d waited long enough. 

[vegeta897]

I have finally completed the animation I started 9 months ago. It’s about my friend being stranded in the woods. It’s almost based on a true story and the audio comes from actual videos of his ordeal.

Notice I said “started 9 months ago ” and not “worked on for 9 months.” There were long periods of inactivity. But I did know the whole time that I would finish it eventually. Unlike many projects of mine! I am very excited to premier this to my friends (and some family!) tonight and feeling very fulfilled.

It started with my friend Milly (Mills) posting several short videos he recorded while waiting for a towtruck to pick him up when he got his motorcycle stuck in the mud.

Something about the videos and his monologue made me want to create an animation based on them. So I cut and stitched various parts together in Renoise, and came up with the whole audio track.

The principle of my workflow is to get the entire audio track, including music, finalized before ever picking up my pen. Timing and pacing scenes by audio only is a good way to get it right, I think. If I can make something that flows just by listening to it, it’s a good bet the final animation will flow too.

With the audio track exported, my first step was storyboarding. A quick sketch for every scene or cut, sometimes with arrows or rudimentary animation to illustrate the intent. It’s during this storyboarding that most of the ideas were established. I really enjoy how I have to be creative to come up with visuals to match an audio track that was created without much regard for what it would all look like.

Here’s a rendering of the animation with the storyboards overlaid on top:

Holy heck are there a lot of cuts in this animation. It feels like a shot is rarely held for more than 5 seconds. I could go and count exactly how many shots there are but I’m lazy.

So I had the storyboard and audio track for an animation that weighed in at about 4.5 minutes, spanning almost 4000 frames. My New Years animation was longer, but that was barely animated. This was definitely going to be up there in terms of work required.

My next step was drawing in very angular outlines for the backgrounds. The triangular/polygonal style in the final product didn’t come until much later. I really didn’t know what I wanted the backgrounds to look like, and this loomed over me for almost the entire time I spent doing everything else.

I was itching to get down to the raw animation work, so I began taking on scene after scene of character animation.

The flat-color-with-no-outlines style was a choice I made quickly when I considered how much extra work it would be to give it my usual treatment. It was also refreshing to try something new.

The animation is 15 frames per second, but many parts were done at 1/2 or 1/3 rate (twos and threes, in animation lingo). Sometimes the decision came down to how "in the mood” I was to animate at the time.

Guides are important. A lot of scenes were free-handed though. When you draw a character enough times you get pretty good at it.

When I crack open a Rockstar, you know it’s time for some serious animating. 

With most of the character art done, I moved on to the motorcycle. Oh, that friggin’ bike. A Benelli TnT135. Even after studying literally dozens of photos and videos of it, it’s still a tricky 3D shape to grasp at some angles, particularly the tail end of the seat.

And then I had to animate it in that penultimate shot of our hero driving away. I shamelessly took as many shortcuts as I could to avoid as much redrawing as possible. The end result is okay. I hope the significance of what the bike is doing means the viewer isn’t focused on how realistic it looks.

At last I had to face the backgrounds. My first attempts failed miserably.

So, Adobe Animate does not really have great tools for coloring (by hand, anyway). Trying and failing to come up with a workable style was discouraging. Forests have a lot of variety in texture, all around. There’s all kinds of colors and shapes. How could I convey all that?

Go abstract. 

No, Adobe Animate does not have some cool 3D mesh feature or fractal generator. These triangles were drawn line by line, fill by fill. That includes the animated water.

I managed to re-use some backgrounds in many of the simpler shots, but some locations, like the bike and road, had angles too varied to copy and paste.

I had determination, though, because working on these backgrounds was part of the final stretch of getting this thing done. I could see the finish line.

When the backgrounds were done, I made pretty quick work of drawing and animating the various props. Basically anything that wasn’t the character or bike, like the log, the can, the foil cup, and so on.

The last few days were spent creating the title and credits, as well as polishing stuff like the color correction used to illustrate times of day. Yesterday I sent a preview of the whole video to my good friend Viper, whose critical yet supportive feedback I value the most. I must say, his generally positive response helped me sleep that night. The night before, I was tossing and turning, stuck in a mind loop of drawing triangles in my imagination. That is not a joke.

Thanks for reading! After keeping this mostly-secret for so long, it’s nice to get it all out there.

[ravens-rambling]

14, 19, 22 for angst prompts? Prinxiety please? Thank you!

A/N: Me continuing something? More likely then you think. And it being crappy? Even more likely. 

Continuation of this https://ravens-rambling.tumblr.com/post/180322931633/if-you-are-still-doing-the-prompt-thing-merman and this https://ravens-rambling.tumblr.com/post/180712095043/snow-day

WC: 1,844

ships: Romantic Prinxiety

warnings: Yelling, Passing out, Mentions of Hypothermia, nightmares, abuse, slight panic

Tag List: @punsterterry  @stormcrawler75 @frostedlover @mycatshuman@mutechild @panicattheeverywhere15 @thewinterbookqueen@analogical-mess @saddestlittlebabe

(Au Tag List:) @vampy-personal @fandersxhale @shreckolas-cage@nasayeepo @royally-anxious @youre-lazy-and-youre-gay0-0@ishoulddyemyhairthatcolour@missblueberry5@changeling-ash @shadowjag @vir-gull@beyondthestacks

Why did everything sound fuzzy? It almost felt like he was in some sort of dream. Or that he was down a long tunnel and he couldn’t find his way out. Maybe he was…

Maybe that’s also why he couldn’t see anything. Everything was black. Even more black than the night sky, as if there were no stars or moon in the sky to illuminate the darkness.

Even more disturbing was the fact that he couldn’t seem to move. Or maybe he was moving but it certainly didn’t feel like he was doing so, at least. Was there something wrong with him? The last thing he remembers was laying on the shore feeling weirdly warm as if the sun was licking his scales. Maybe he died… Maybe this is the afterlife for mer’s that he’s heard so much about… Maybe-

“Wake up, please! Wake up! No, no, no don’t do this to me!”

Who’s voice was that? Why did it sound oddly familiar? Did he know this voice? It didn’t sound like a mer’s why did it sound humanoid? His kind wasn’t supposed to interact with humans right? Was he captured? Why did this human sound so worried then?

There were no answers to his questions. And he didn’t have enough strength to go searching for those answers. But one thing came to his mind.

His mate. His pod. His love…

Was that who that voice belonged to? His mate? No that can’t be right he can’t have a human as his mate.. He must be wrong…

“Please… Wake up…”

Okay, now that voice is definitely crying. And was there another voice he could pick up? In the background… Another voice… Definitely human… It sounded more leveled out than the previous one but he could trace the hint of franticness behind it.

He wanted to comfort the strange human-like voices to tell them that he was alright. But he couldn’t move. Couldn’t even open up his mouth. Couldn’t move his fingers or fins. All he could do was float in the ever-lasting darkness.

Now he was tired, ever so tired, he wasn’t sure from what or why but he felt his mind slip away. Ever so slowly he let himself fall to his dreams unable to reassure the voices that he was okay. Hopefully, he’ll be able to once he wakes up….

Once again there was darkness when he finally woke up, but this time the said darkness was suffocating. It felt like it was pressing up against him, and was pressing up against his gills making it close and harder to breathe. He couldn’t move once again but this time it felt like something was wrapped around him keeping him in place and dragging him down to the inky depths below him.

“Why would you do this?! Betray your own kind like this?! You freak!”

He winched at that voice, it sounded..familiar…

“Mother, please! He’s my mate, isn’t that enough?”

That’s his voice, but he wasn’t saying anything. He couldn’t open his mouth to say anything. And every moment that ticked by it was getting harder to breathe. He tried to struggle and kick his tail but it was pointless.

“No! No, it isn’t! That thing is human! Don’t you know what we had to go through to get the humans to leave us alone? I-”

“Yes, mother but-”

“Don’t interrupt me!”

The next thing he knew he felt pain erupt on his face making him cry out.

“I thought I raised my son better than this! You are not going to endanger our species for one of your stupid fantasies.”

“But mother… I love him…”

“No, you don’t. That’s final, Roman. Now, we are moving for the winter maybe time away from this shore will make you see reason.”

“No.”

“What did you just say?”

“I said, No! I’m not going to abandon him cause of what happened hundreds of years ago! He wasn’t around back then! You never know maybe humans have changed, mother! We certainly have!”

“Humans. Don’t. Change. They never will. If you’re so confident in your choices then leave. But know this, if you ever come near this pod again we’ll be serving you to the sharks got it?”

His breath picked up as a spike of fear raced through his heart. Even the blackness was getting blurry now. He could barely breathe.

“Fine! I don’t need any of you! I never did! I will show you that humans can change! This human will never hurt me! I’ll prove it to you!”

“Have fun, Roman. Don’t blame us if you end up as a slave or in one of those exhibits. We don’t want to see your face ever again.”

With that the voices left, leaving him surrounded in the inky darkness alone. He tried to thrash his tail about but all his strength has left him by now so all he could do was gasp for air. Minutes ticked by and just when he could feel his eyes start to close he was suddenly blasted by cold water. Crying in pain he felt it latch onto his skin, he felt it chip away at his fins and hair.

“No, please! Don’t leave me like this! Where did you go, mother? Come back, please! Come back for me!” He finally managed to cry out with the last bit of his energy before his breath came to a halt and his eyes went back.

The first thing Roman noticed was that he was warm. The second thing was that his skin and fins hurt as he if he had burned them. The third was that he couldn’t seem to stretch out, his tail kept hitting something solid.

Blinking his blotchy sore eyes he glanced around him and was confused at what he saw.

He definitely wasn’t in the ocean anymore that’s for sure.

Currently, he was in something that looked like a clear white stone which luckily had water in it. The stone was rough and weird textured which he didn’t like at all. His tail was against a shiny grey metal that hurt every time he rubbed up against it.

There were white walls everywhere around him and even more of the white stone but these looked smoother not far away from him that stretched out to the far wall. His breathing picked up.

Are these the exhibits his mother warned him about?! Were there human eyes peering at him just beyond those walls?! Is this going to be his cage? Just a simple square box that he could barely move in?! His mother was right then, his mate did betray him! Now he couldn’t escape and nobody would even care enough to look for him and-

“Virgil, I don’t think he’ll be awake by now we should let him rest.”

“It’s been hours, Lo. What if he never wakes up?! Or if he does he’ll wake up alone, I can’t have him waking up alone Logan.”

His mate! So he didn’t betray him after all! Or.. He did and he’s just making sure he’s happy in his new ‘home’.

In any case, he started flopping his tail against the white stone frantic clicks came from his throat as he tried to get out. And that’s when one of the walls moved then swung inwards and his breath caught when he saw him.

His lover… His mate… His pod…

Tears came to his eyes as he called for him, his arms raised up in a poor attempt to reach out for him but all he could do was barely get them upwards. His love had tears in his eyes as well but he looked relieved and glad to see him, even more so then he was.

“Oh… You’re okay… You’re okay!”

Roman hiccuped and suddenly he had human arms wrapped around his neck. The scent of his mate engulfed him and made him take deep shaky breaths in. Though what made him concerned was that he felt the other shaking in his arms.

“V..?”

He knew it was pointless in attempting communication on his part, Virgil isn’t able to understand him but he had to at least try something to make him calm down. Ever so slowly he nuzzled his face against Virgil’s forehead producing calming clicks and coos as if he was calming down a guppy. He even began humming a soft tone of a song that his own mother sang to him when he was little in hopes that would calm him down further.

Ever so slowly he felt his love stop shaking so much, but he was still crying not nearly as bad however now. They stayed cuddling into each other like that for several moments neither one of them wanting to move out the others embrace. Until a clear of a throat made both of them jump and scramble to tear the other away.

Roman’s red eyes looked up to see a human he’s never seen before staring at him from behind a transparent glass. Those dark blue eyes stared deeply down at him and Roman couldn’t find a single expression on his face… And that only sent a shiver down his spine.

Is this some scientist that Virgil has summoned to dissect him or something?!

Frantically he turned to Virgil and clicked a few times in distress but immediately Virgil placed a hand on his arm. Virgil was smiling faintly at him his eyes soft. He didn’t look like he had any evil intent but he couldn’t be sure…

“Hey, hey it’s okay. This is Logan, he’s a good friend of mine. He helped me save you.”

His head tilted to the side. Save…? Save from what?

“You don’t remember?”

He shook his head, intrigued by how he got here in the first place.

“I found you nearly frozen to death in our cave. Your gills were frozen together and you were barely breathing…”

Oh… Oh yeah… He looked down to the water and nodded slowly.

“What happened?”

“Virgil, I think we should let him rest. He is still remembering what happened and forcing him to do so would only cause him emotional distress. We shouldn’t push him.”

“Oh.. Yeah… Right… Sorry..”

Roman looked up to see Virgil not looking at him at all, his gaze was to the corner. He couldn’t see a single thing on his face thanks to his bangs now covering it. He gulped thickly.

And Romans’ heart broke.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I’m never going to do it again, Virgil!”

Slowly Virgil turned back towards him, but he didn’t uncover his bangs. His voice was quiet and emotionless as he mumbled, “I’m glad you’re awake. Rest now. We’ll be back soon.”

With that, he got up and left. Roman frantically watched him walk away and he had never felt more torn up when he didn’t even look back at him once. Logan simply stared at him for a moment then followed him out without a word closing the wall and leaving him in his own thoughts and world.

[strandedhaze]

ONE : MEET NAOMI

FULL NAME: naomi june cheng-bradshaw. PREFERRED NAME: naomi. NICKNAME(S): most people call her nomi, noms, nao, nai and similar variations, elijah calls her nana. DATE OF BIRTH: may 3rd, 1994. GENDER: cis female. PREFERRED PRONOUNS: she/her/hers. ORIENTATION: heterosexual. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single in main verse. RELIGION: she’s not a particularly religious person. OCCUPATION: press manager for honda racing corporation. CURRENT RESIDENCE: madrid, spain ; she owns a house in the prestigious la finca neighbourhood.

TWO : NAOMI’S BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: marina bay, singapore. NATIONALITY: singaporean. LINGUISTICS: english is her native language but, asides from it, she speaks spanish, portuguese, italian, french, mandarin chinese and japanese. in some languages, she’s more proficient than others. for instance, she speaks spanish just as well as she speaks english. her spoken japanese is nearly flawless and though she can read and comprehend the language, she can’t write. she’s still getting around to dive deeper into mandarin chinese.  EDUCATION: she attended the massachusetts institute of technology - also known as MIT - and she has a double degree in business analytics and management. CRIMINAL RECORD: clean. BIRTH ORDER: first. FATHER: charles bradshaw was born on february 23rd, 1971 in windsor, england. he is an investment banker who resides in between hong kong and dubai.   MOTHER: sonoya cheng was born on july 5th, 1971 in sentosa island, singapore. she is a real estate tycoon who resides in between toronto, abu dhabi and singapore.  SISTER(S): none. BROTHER(S): edward cheng-bradshaw was born on january 15th, 1997 in marina bay, singapore. he is a software developer manager and resides in san francisco, california. OTHER RELEVANT FAMILY: constance mizuno, sister-in-law. SIGNIFICANT OTHER: naomi is single. CHILDREN: none so far. FRIENDS: to be done. EXES: andrea pagani, marco ricci and aleix martin. PETS: none so far.

THREE : GET UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

HEIGHT: 5′7″ ( 174 cm ). WEIGHT: her weight oscillates between 127 lbs ( 57.6 kg ) and 134 lbs ( 61 kg ). BODY TYPE AND BUILD: she is naturally slim - courtesy of genetics and her fast metabolism - but, despite that fact, she still has a willowy frame. by no means, does she have a hourglass shape with a big bust, tiny waist and thick thighs but with a good, healthy diet and a workout plan ( that she, often, forgets to follow ) consisting of some weight training and fun classes, naomi has still managed to achieve a shape she’s comfortable with. she has particularly long legs and, thanks to all the hot yoga and pilates classes, she holds a rather toned overall body. EYE COLOR: brown. EYESIGHT: she has perfect eyesight though when the work load increases, you’ll find her reaching for her glasses in order to give her eyes a break. she also wears blue light blocking glasses whenever she’s working on a computer. HAIR COLOR: dark brown. HAIR STYLE: her hair is, has always been - and will always be, according to her - long, hitting the middle of her back, at worst, when she goes for a trim to keep its healthy condition and it has a natural wavy texture which naomi has learned to love. styling wise, it rarely gets too eventful... during the season, she’ll throw it on a ponytail or a bun for the race weekends and allow it to dry into its natural texture on the remaining work days. if she’s attending an event of sorts or going out to celebrate, she’ll straighten it or go for a nice blowout. DOMINANT HAND: right. NOTABLE PHYSICAL TRAITS: her lips or, possibly, their plumpness, her legs that often seem endless, her tan complexion and how it makes her dark eyes and hair standout, and for the rare occasions when it makes an appearance, her smile. SCARS AND MARKS: nothing outstanding - she has your average scars and marks here and there. TATTOOS: she has a lotus mandala on the inside of her right wrist, a symbol of enlightenment for her, as well as a way to symbolize all the growth she achieved throughout her life.  PIERCINGS: regular lobes. VOICECLAIM: nicole elise. ACCENT AND INTENSITY: having moved out and grown up in london, naomi developed a thick london accent which she never knew how intense it was up until she found herself in massachusetts. the four years spent there, softened the intensity of the british accent and the nearly six years in spain also played a part when washing away what once was a proper londoner accent so, these days, it’s hard to identify what accent she has exactly. it’s more of a mixture than anything specific.  ALLERGIES: cherries and insect stings, particularly bee stings. PHOBIAS AND FEARS: extremely deep waters and though it’s not a phobia, she gets really nervous when she’s driving over bridges. MENTAL ILLNESSES: none so far. PHYSICAL ILLNESSES: none so far. SCENT THEY WEAR: it varies depending on a lot of factors, such as season of the year, time of the day, occasion and, above all, her personal mood. during summer, you’ll often catch her wearing soleil blanc by tom ford or replica beach walk by maison margiela, and during summer nights, she'll wear sundaze by byredo. for fancy events, her go-to is bewitching yasmine by penhaligon’s, same way her go-to for nights out with friends is slow dance by byredo. whenever she has an important business meeting, she’ll wear cuir celeste by ex nihilo, simply because in naomi’s opinion, the scent is the definition of boss bitch and throughout race weekends, she’ll go for rose of no man’s land by byredo. le labo’s patchouli 24 and maison margiela’s replica by the fireplace are generally the scents she wears through winter. for date nights where she actually cares to put some effort in and is actually interested in the person, she’ll specifically wear reine de nuit by byredo or santal 33 by le labo. ALCOHOL USE: socially, she does. SMOKING: she doesn’t smoke. OTHER NARCOTICS USE: no. INDULGENT FOOD: she prefers to eat healthy but there’s no denying that every once in a while, she needs to indulge in some soul food.  SPLURGE SPENDING: it happens every now and again, but she’s mostly a responsible buyer. GAMBLING: no. ADDICTIONS AND VICES: none.

FOUR : DIG DEEPER

CAN THEY DRIVE? yes, she can drive. CAN THEY COOK AND BAKE? yes and yes. CAN THEY CHANGE A FLAT TIRE? yes. CAN THEY TIE A TIE? yes. CAN THEY SWIM? yes. CAN THEY RIDE A BICYCLE? yes. CAN THEY JUMP START A CAR? yes. CAN THEY BRAID HAIR? yes. CAN THEY PICK A LOCK? yes. EXTROVERTED OR INTROVERTED? extroverted. DISORGANIZED OR ORGANIZED? organized, and she hates when things get messy. CLOSE OR OPEN MINDED? open minded. CALM OR ANXIOUS? calm. PATIENT OR IMPATIENT? healthy in-between and always depends on the situation. OUTSPOKEN OR RESERVED? outspoken. LEADER OR FOLLOWER? she's a leader, all through and through. OPTIMISTIC OR PESSIMISTIC? optimistic, mostly. TRADITIONAL OR MODERN? modern. HARD-WORKING OR LAZY? hard-working. CULTURED OR UNCULTURED? cultured. LOYAL OR DISLOYAL? loyal. FAITHFUL OR UNFAITHFUL? faithful. NIGHT OWL OR EARLY BIRD? honestly, it all depends on the time of the year. HEAVY OR LIGHT SLEEPER? light sleeper. COFFEE OR TEA? tea over coffee, these days. DAY OR NIGHT? night. TAKING BATHS OR SHOWERS? baths. COCA COLA OR PEPSI? none. CATS OR DOGS? both. NETFLIX OR CINEMA? netflix. SHOWS OR MOVIES? both. LAPTOP OR GAMING CONSOLE? laptop. HEALTHY OR JUNK FOOD? healthy. ICE CREAM OR FROZEN YOGURT? ice cream. PIZZA OR HAMBURGER? pizza. LOLLIPOPS OR GUMMY WORMS? gummy worms. BEACH OR POOL? beach. SNOWBALLS FIGHTING OR ICESKATING? iceskating. LITERATURE OR SCIENCE? science. HISTORY OR ART? art. CHOCOLATE BARS OR COTTON CANDY? chocolate bars. XBOX OR PLAYSTATION? playstation. FACE-TO-FACE OR PHONE INTERACTIONS? face-to-face interactions. DRAMA OR SCI-FI? sci-fi. HORROR OR COMEDY? horror.

FIVE : NAOMI’S LIKES & DISLIKES

FAVORITE ACTIVITY: yoga. FAVORITE ANIMAL: giraffe. FAVORITE BOOK: everything i know about love by dolly alderton. FAVORITE QUOTE: ❝ when you’re tired, go slowly. go quietly. go timidly. but do not stop. ❞ — heidi priebe. FAVORITE COLOR(S): it’s a very specific beige/tan colour, a champagne type of shade.  FAVORITE DESIGNER: maison christian dior and acne studios. FAVORITE CUISINE: singaporean cuisine, all through and through. there are little things she’s more passionate about than her national cuisine, she often says no one does food like singapore.  FAVORITE DISH(ES): hainanese chicken rice, laksa, hokkien fried mee and dumplings. FAVORITE DRINK: matcha ginger latte and bubble tea.  FAVORITE FLOWER(S): lotus flower. FAVORITE GEM: diamond. FAVORITE HOLIDAY: new years. FAVORITE MOVIE: currently, it must be parasite by bong joon-ho.  FAVORITE MUSIC GENRE: she doesn’t have a favorite music genre. naomi listens to a little bit of everything because for her, it’s more about the songs and artists than the genre itself. FAVORITE SONG(S): xo by beyoncé. GO TO KARAOKE SONG: kiss it better by rihanna. FAVORITE SCENT(S): the scent of gasoline, melting chocolate and freshly baked goods. FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOW(S): la casa de papel. FAVORITE SPORTS: motogp, formula1 and football. SPORTS TEAM THEY SUPPORT: real madrid. FAVORITE EMOJI: probably the 💅🏽 though it’s not what she uses the most. FAVORITE WEATHER: she likes that type of weather at the end of a summer day, when it’s warm but not too much and you walk around the beach feeling that soft breeze of air hitting you, and the day is settling down and all that remains is a wash of what the weather was throughout the day. FAVORITE SEASON OF THE YEAR: summer. FAVORITE PLACE(S): a close tie between her childhood home in marina bay, singapore and her current home in madrid. she loves the memories and how much singapore grounds her, how it freshens up her ties to the culture and reminds her of better days. at the same time, she also loves madrid. the people, the culture and everything in between. both bring her a sense of peace she’s very fond of. SUPERPOWER THEY WISH THEY HAD: teleportation.  VACATION DESTINATION: if she was forced to choose, coppenhagen or amsterdam for a solo, self-reflection trip and anywhere in japan or thailand just to unwind.

[scribblescrabblebabble]

RoyEd Week 2k19 Day 2!

Title: Seven(?) Days

Rating: T+

Relationships: Roy Mustang/ Edward Elric

Chapter: Day 2- Colorless (Photographers/ wartime Au)

Cross- Posted on AO3 and Fanfic.net links- Fanfic.net   AO3

Best quality reading will be through the links, not on Tumblr itself because I’m too lazy to do italics and shit right now. For @royedweek2019 ‘s RoyEd Week!

......................................................................................................................

Ed sighed in frustration, "Okay, which of you can tell me a single technical aspect of this photo?" He clicked to another picture on the Smartboard, seemingly the hundredth that period. His students' last assignment had gone so poorly he felt that they all needed a class-long review before he could trust them with another.

'11th grade my ass.' He internally seethed. At least his punishment was working- they all looked as miserable as he felt.

His question was met with silence, and Ed wanted to be allowed to punch school property, "Tell me or you all fail the project."

Half of the class readily shouted, "Rule of thirds!" Whilst others guessed very valiantly.

"Good. This one?" He clicked and was met with several "umm"s, but no real answers. Even Chelsea Jones, his star pupil, looked glassy-eyed with boredom! And her project had actually been okay! Apparently, none of these kids were afraid of an F in Photography.

He decided to be generous with this one, as it was a trickier piece, "I see a good use of texture and natural framing with the branches and the model, yeah?"

The class agreed unenthusiastically.

"Listen, if you guys didn't want this, you should have given half of a damn about your work! I know most of you just want the art credit, but you actually have to pass the class to receive the credit, you know.

A few weak, "Yes Sir"s, and Ed forged ahead.

He clicked to the next piece, and almost didn't hear the varied shouts of "diagonal lines" and "shallow depth of field", as the photo in question caught Ed off guard.

It was one of Roy's photos.

An older one, back when he was journaling some strange commune in the Eastern region of Amestris.

Ed must have been silent for longer than he'd have liked, as Ella Swindell in the back of the classroom tentatively asked, "Mr. Elric?"

He snapped his attention back to his class and coughed, "Yes, good answers. Another good element here is the choice of black and white. In this scenario, it really adds some good drama to the piece."

Black and White photography was a favorite of Roy's. Not only because of its homage to printed papers but because of his ever-present flair for the dramatic. Roy left for a month on that job, and right after his return he'd proposed to Ed. At the time it had been their longest work-related time apart. How long had it been since he'd seen Roy? Five months? Or had half a year really already passed? Would he see-

Ed stopped his train of thought right there, violently jabbing his trackpad to move the PowerPoint along. To Ed's dismay, it was another of his husband's works taken of their late cat, kindly named Pissface. This particular shot had been on their cat's supposed birthday, and she wore a little birthday hat and a confused expression.

Roy had cried when Pissface died. She was old, but it had still seemed too sudden the morning they found her. Ed had cried watching Roy cry, and it was all just a big mess of tears. Al had even teared up audibly over the phone when Ed broke the sad news. It was an all-over tear-filled day. If Roy died, Ed didn't know what…

'Nope, stop it!' Ed willed his mind away from death, 'He hasn't called because there is a fucking war falling out around him, idiot brain!'

A few students "aww"ed at Pissface's cuteness, and others scanned the photo quickly for an answer to their teacher's impending question. Ed decided to throw them a curveball, "Improve this photo for me. Tell me where it falls short."

One kid, Ed thought Jason Matthews, but he wasn't paying much attention, suggested, "Maybe make the depth of field shallower so that the cat was more in focus?"

Ed hummed in thought and let a few more students ramble out some stunted ideas. He clicked to the final slide as the classroom door behind him opened. Assuming this to be Mordecai Fitzgerald, who had been out of class finishing a test, as per the teacher's email, Ed didn't bother with a glance.

He droned, "take a seat and don't be a nuisance." And to all, he said, "Well, give me some ways to improve this one!"

They continued, embarrassed silence would have sent Ed up a wall, had a noticeably deep, very Roy voice not interjected, "You could make it black and white. It would take away from the busy background and add a nice bit of drama to the subject.

He whipped his head around to meet the merrily amused gaze of his husband. As per Ed's command upon entering the classroom, Roy had taken a seat in a further back desk. Several students looked between him and their shocked teacher confusedly.

Ed smiled brightly. "What did I say about being a nuisance, you ass!" His reprimand meant little, as he had already stood and hastened to his husband's side. He only just remembered not to pounce him in front of the dozen seventeen-year-olds in the room, so he settled on a tight embrace and a regrettably chaste kiss. The class murmured, and a few let out joking "oooooo"s.

Ed, still with Roy's arm around his middle, turned to his class to snap, "Shut it!" After a short admonishing look from his husband, Ed sighed, "Class, this is Roy, a photojournalist. He's been out of the country for a while doing work journaling the war effort up North."

Eric Headley, the son-of-a-bitch, called out, "D'ya kiss a lot of photojournalists, Mr. Elric?"

"Only the one I'm married to, Eric. Now, everyone, go fix your pathetic excuses of projects until the bell rings. And if I see a phone, we all get to stay in class for fifteen extra minutes after the bell, got it?"

The students, now far more interested in their teacher and his husband than their work, reluctantly slouched to their respective computers to work the class away, keeping a curious eye on the two men now talking quietly together behind Mr. Elric's desk, wide smiles on both of their faces. If Ed discreetly rubbed away some water building in his eye, nobody commented.

Back at home, after their kisses had turned far less chaste and after Roy had barely had the time to set his luggage down properly before Ed practically attacked him, they lay in their bed together, Ed's head on Roy's chest and Roy's laptop on his stomach, clicking through many photographs detailing his journeys with the war effort.

"NatGeo's gonna go fucking ballistic over that one." Ed commented on the current picture on display of a soldier playing some kind of ball game with some civilian children.

Roy laughed, the sound a deep rumble to Ed, pressed against the other man as he was, "Just you wait till I get to the shoot of these kind, elderly weaving-women. It's got dusty lighting and everything."

Ed hummed, "Perfect. I'll have to show 'em to my class the next time I need to re-teach them shit."

"I'm honored my work'll be put to such good use. Did they take well to my others?"

Ed leaned his head back to catch Roy's amused gaze, "I knew you added those! Last time I share a PowerPoint with you."

The photojournalist grinned, "I wanted to give them something other than Ansel Adams to critique."

"Hey, I had more than just Ansel on there! I wouldn't want to make it too easy for them."

Roy smiled and lifted his hand from the trackpad of the laptop to stroke Ed's loose hair, "Of course not."

Before Ed could pick up Roy's job of clicking through the photos, the hand left his hair and closed the laptop. The blonde whines as Roy turned away to set the computer over the side of the bed, "I wanted to see the weaving women!"

Roy turned back, and Ed latched back onto his chest to hear the rumble of his light laughter her again, "We have all the time in the world tomorrow to look at the rest. Let's get some sleep, love."

Ed grumbled about the pet name but settled into Roy's side all the same, not about to let a half year's worth of waiting go to waste.

They slept, and if Ed gripped his husband a little tighter in his sleep, well, Roy definitely wasn't complaining.

~End~

[amurr-reha]

RP Profile: A’murr Reha

«BASIC ⋅ » ──────»

Name: A’murr Reha. (Traditional tribe name)

Age: 27.

Birthday: 11th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon

Race: Miqo’te - Seeker of the Sun

Gender: Female.

Sexuality: Poly-Bi.

Marital Status: Single.

Server: Balmung.  

«PHYSICAL APPEARANCE ⋅ » ──────»

Hair: Thickly textured aubergine hair, generally always up in in a pony tail with at minimum 3 braids weaved in various spots.

Eyes: Coral.

Height: 4'11.9"

Build: Lean and toned. Focus area being legs.

Distinguishing Marks: She has a deep scar over her right shoulder blade. Indigo eye shadow that’s actually tattooed on.

Common Accessories: Beads with feathers interwoven and/or flowers weaved into her hair. Multiple soft material ankle and wrist bracelets.

 «PERSONALITY ⋅ » ──────»

She is fairly outgoing and handles things with an ease about her that can border playful given the situation. She is fairly tenacious and straightforward and can sometimes forget to heed personal space as she’s unaccustomed to social graces outside of her tribe. She is a naturally curious and quick-witted person who can never seem to quell it, always having to be moving or keeping busy. Despite her fair looks, she does not present herself as a damsel or overly feminine in demeanor and has no real concept of her beauty. Due to her upbringing in a secluded nomad tribe, she is naturally tuned into the more traditional side of her race including the more feral aspects (and sounds).

 «BACKGROUND ⋅ » ──────»

A'murr originates from a small group of tribe nomads, born and raised in a very secluded region of Ala Ghiri (The Peaks). Her tribe consisted of a branch of the A-tribe; the acting Nuhn of old had not wanted to go against their traditions to the extent of creating another alphabetical branch and thus they remained nomads of an established tribe, however now dissociated. When she was 18, a tragedy caused by what she concluded as betrayal from her lover at the time befell her home and her tribe was all but wiped out by invading Garlean soldiers. With the sting of that betrayal heavy in her heart, her ex-lover was the last image she remembers before falling into the hands of Garlean soldiers, all but fatally wounded. (But was it betrayal?)

She was subjected to slave traders/smugglers transporting her out on the sea who sought pleasure in hurting her, including mocking her pretty face and feral nature. It was during that time she came to learn of other races that inhabited the continent both in the smugglers and other prisoners. At age 22, an unknown buyer located and purchased her and she was shipped off to the coastal city-state of Limsa Lominsa where she found herself alone in a quaint cottage on the beach supposedly owned by her benefactor. Through time, she learned to heal as her tenacity to live on was strong. Her mysterious buyer however, never shows their face to her and only communicates through letters and messengers.

«PERSONAL ⋅ » ──────»

Profession: Delivery and odd jobs around La Noscea.

Hobbies: Trading/gathering intel at the shipyards; Running/ climbing;  Archer;. Making bundles of flowering tea.  

Languages: Eorzean Common

Residence: Limsa Lominsa

Birthplace: Ala Ghiri (Peaks)

Fears: Drowning; Silence; Guns; Garleans + tech

 «FAMILY/RELATIONS ⋅ » ──────»

Father: A’reha Nuhn (Father)  -  Deceased.

Mother: A’thsyia Reha (Mother) - Deceased.

Brother(s): (NPC) A’kyshe Tia (Brother) - Unconfirmed Deceased.

Sister(s): Unnamed sisters born from differing mothers - Deceased.

Other: (NPC) A’shyn Tia - MIA

«TRAITS ⋅ » ──────»

Extroverted/ In Between / Introverted

Disorganized /In Between/ Organized

Calm /In Between/ Anxious

Disagreeable /In Between/ Agreeable

Cautious / In Between /Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken /In Between/ Reserved

Leader /In Between/ Follower

Traditional/ In Between / Modern

Hard-working/ In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between /Uncultured

Loyal/ In Between / Disloyal

Faithful/ In Between / Unfaithful                              

«HABITS ⋅ » ──────»

Smoking Habit: No.

Drugs: No.

Alcohol: Rarely.

«CHARACTER HOOKS ⋅ » ──────»

Ticket out of here:

A’murr IC is “semi-locked” to Limsa and La Noscea due to NPC interference. But she has a strong desire to leave, whether it be for adventure, sightseeing or to make her way back home to Ala Ghiri. Could you be her ticket out of there? Unfortunately leaving won’t be as easy… she will need to be taken, smuggled out or receive unspoken permission from her secret NPC captors (actual interaction from the NPCs not needed of course).

Marksmanship:

A’murr loves competition and tussling. It reminds her of her life back home where she tried to keep up with the Tia’s. She’s very adept to using hand-to-hand style combat as well as short-bow archery but is always looking to grow (or get a good throw down).

OPEN: Head-canons! CLOSED: In game RP

She has an aversion to Garleans. Open to conflict or otherwise!

She used to be a ceremonial dancer in her tribe (Fire dancing/Poi) so you may catch a rare show on the beach. Open to joining or sneaking up on a show!

She loves to exercise, climb and (basically) parkour and can be found scaling cliffs out in La Noscea. Open to join or catch her dumb butt if she falls!

She actually can’t swim and has lingering PTSD of the sea/open water. She will go in the water however but only up to a certain point. Open to being taught!

Her tribe was very open to skin-ship and things like personal space and nudity wasn’t anything to be shocked about. While she won’t just take off her clothes in front of someone randomly, she can lack social appropriateness and cues.

«OOC ⋅ » ──────»

I like lore but am not hardcore about it, I just enjoy keeping to the FFXIV universe itself. 

I’m not great at in game RP and prefer to throw stuff into Discord. Please PM if you’d like my handle to head-canon!

I will not ERP either of my muses right off the bat.

I work full time on top of having responsibilities so I am busy a lot which will cause me to lag on any interactions. Patience is all I can ask for. ;o;

The mun has ADD and a short attention span so please brick me with a shoe, I’m actually super “memey” as a person so please don’t feel shy!

This is a sensitive topic but I do not partake or abide by rules piggy-backed from D&D and will not include it in my interactions. It is not something I am interested in nor do I have anything against it, it’s just not for me. 

[alittledizzy]

we got the north lights rating: e word count: 1k summary: Sex by the pool in Australia.

[read on ao3]

There's warm sun on Phil's back, the smell of nature fresh with every breath he takes, the sound of the water in the pool rippling against the breeze and birds cawing in the trees, the pleasant texture of life all faded into the background as he fucks Dan on a poolside chair too small for two people.

"Yeah," Dan says, sighing out a breath. He's on his side, one arm stretched up and back to sink into Phil's hair while the other is pressed between his own body and the chair under them. He rocks back and forth with a lazy need.

Sometimes Phil just stops and stays there until Dan moves again. Phil's got patience where it counts, and Dan's desperation is a delicious motivator.

"Asshole," Dan says, leaning his head back against Phil's shoulder.

Phil reaches between them and drags two fingers up from the spot behind Dan's balls all the way to where Phil is buried inside. His finger catches and smears in the extra lube there, and he uses it to slick the way back down.

Dan lifts one leg to give him more room. The angle is awkward enough that Phil can't do too much for too long, but he cups his palm around Dan's balls and presses flat up until the length of his fingers pin Dan's dick to his stomach as he thrusts inside a little harder than before.

It jars a pleasant noise out of Dan. Phil moves his hand from between them back up to Dan's thigh, stroking down and around and taking Dan's cock in a loose grip for a few slow tugs. He likes the dry weight of it in his hand. Because it’s Dan, but also because - he just does. He squeezes and keeps his fingers tight until Dan moves into the touch, urging more.

"How long?" Phil asks.

There's a time limit on solitude and paradise; his brother and Cornelia will be back by five. They've got dinner plans.

"An hour," Dan says, picking up his phone. "Maybe less, if we need to shower."

They'll need to shower. There's sweat along the backs of Phil's knees and along his hairline, and the too-pricey lube that always gets everywhere.

And he wants to come inside Dan. He gets a little shivery at the thought of it, like he always does. He drops his head and rocks in and out.

Phil doesn't notice that Dan doesn't put the phone back down right away. He doesn't notice how Dan tilts his head and purses his lips and he doesn't hear the click of the side camera button being pressed. He's too busy with his eyes closed, sinking in the feeling of Dan's ass flush against his hips and his cock buried deep in Dan.

"How close are you?" Phil asks.

Dan covers Phil's hand with his own, urging Phil to wank a little faster. "I could get there."

Phil could, too. He's just not been in a hurry, but now it's building.

Dan leans over and puts his phone on the ground, then turns and braces himself against the chair with the arm that had been under him. Phil's fingers let go of Dan's cock, leaving Dan to do that work himself, and curl around his hip instead. Dan doesn't argue; Dan likes it harder when he comes. He grunts at Phil's first solid thrust in, and Phil knows he's more or less got the spot. There still aren't any acrobatics; the chair is sturdy but he doesn't want to test it until it breaks. But it builds fast, gets more intense quickly, both of them primed from almost an hour of lazy foreplay and lazier sex.

He hears the cap of the lube snap open. Phil would know that sound in his sleep. "Need me to use more?" He asks, kissing Dan's shoulder without stopping the rutting of his hips.

Dan shakes his head. "For me."

The sound of him wanking becomes a wetter slap of skin on skin. Dan flings his leg back further over Phil's thigh and whines and moves as much as he can with Phil's body half laying on him.

Dan comes first, a quiet stream of, "Yeah, yeah, yeah," and then a strangled sound of pleasure. Phil doesn't stop then either, just fucks in, in, in, solely focused on the orgasm he can feel building in his balls and the base of his spine and radiating out until it's punched out of him, pulsing pleasure spilling thick inside Dan's body. He pushes in and out slowly, come still pumping and mind a warm white noise blur until he starts to soften and pulls out.

He falls off Dan and back, one hand splayed across his own chest and the other on Dan's thigh just for a point of contact. His eyes are still shut but he listens to the sound of Dan moving around, probably grabbing for the towel they brought with them, maybe stretching or checking twitter or any of the things Dan likes to do immediately after sex while Phil just tries not to fall asleep immediately.

He's unsurprised when the warmth of Dan settles against his side. Reaching up is automatic; fingers in Dan's hair, pulling him closer.

"You can't sleep," Dan says, poking Phil in the side. "Your dick is out, and they'll be back soon."

"Fine," Phil says, and opens his eyes to the brilliant blue of the sky above him. The breeze feels even nicer now, cooling the sweat down. "Are you sure we can't just be nudists?"

"You live your truth, Phil," Dan says, kissing Phil's jaw and then sitting up. "But are you sure you want to start your nudist existence in a house you're sharing with your brother?"

"Fine," Phil says, sighing. He reaches for Dan and pulls him back down. "But five more minutes."

It's just so nice. It's nice and peaceful and Phil wants to enjoy this. He wants to have this moment to tuck away and remember the next time things feel busy. He wants to fall back on daydreams of him and Dan in the open air loving each other and making each other feel good. He wants... this. Forever. Or at least five more minutes.

Dan yawns and rests his head on Phil's shoulder. "Once your jizz starts leaking out of my ass, I'm done."

(Well, most of the moment, at least. Maybe that bit he can forget.)

[foolscapper]

Exploding Head Syndrome: A MCU Post-IW Fanfic | Ch. 1

(READ IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.)

It takes two years for them to right everything. Two long years — most of it spent in chaotic shades of tears, screaming, silent defeat, and a very unsuccessful five stages of grief for everyone involved. It's a world where billions of people have all had their candle wicks pinched in tandem between ugly purple fingers, their lights gone out in the pits of their mourning loved one's stomachs. There was not enough time in the day for funerals, not enough room or money for smoothed gravestones, and far too many people that will never, ever be identified as dead. Those people, the ones without families and friends, they simply never existed. Perhaps in the backgrounds of neighborhood photos they weren't meant to be a part of, but ultimately? They are vagabonds who just blew away in the wind.

And those who did have people left behind, who mourned and prayed for them?

They were just memories on walls.

Nobody from their team of heroes took their noses out of books or their eyes off screens, carving out new and old information on celestials, on resurrection, on righting the wrongs done by an arrogant bastard who decided to snap his fingers and purge the universe of any happiness; that same purple bastard had vanished without another word, and Thor had paced through the Avengers headquarters those first days with guilt etched into the lines of his weary face. His brown and blue set of eyes looked into Tony's, and his lips had pulled into something of a haunted grimace, and he said with no ounce of doubt, "This could have been over, had I aimed for the head."

The half of the Asgardians that Thanos had spared came to earth just a few months after; they filled in the broken pieces of a fractured glass Wakanda that had been devastated by the loss of their king. It was an intellectual gathering, more than anything, a concoction of mad sciences that would yield more together than apart. Steve Rogers kept in touch with them, eyes and ears waiting to be sated by something fruitful, about Thanos and his whereabouts.

They didn't need flip phones because they lived down the hallway from each other, and sometimes when Tony wasn't pouring through information with Bruce, he was letting the captain talk his ear off about world news that might matter if Tony would let it. With every passing day, the Sokovia Accords became a relic, something from the old world. The fight in Germany almost didn't feel real anymore. But it was, and it had been the catalyst in meeting a young man from Queens who loved Alt-J and Star Wars.

The scroll bar on the missing children's pages Tony's accrued is so tiny, he can barely see it on his screen. He sits there at the kitchen table while Morgan sits on his lap and slams blocks around like a tiny radioactive dinosaur. And he's tired and regretful as every face seems to blur and morph into Peter's (his goofy shirts, his awful Mets hat, the fifth Jansport backpack that month). Pepper makes Tony coffee, rubs his shoulders, makes breakfast for their daughter. He looks at both of them every day and reminds himself he doesn't deserve them.

Rhodey brings updates from Ross, as an exasperated courtesy more than anything.

Tony also cares very fucking little about that, too. Natasha is in full agreement.

Oh, and the raccoon stuck around, too. Two years, and Tony Stark made friends with a kleptomaniac trash panda who lost almost every person he's ever come to love, and the blue chick might as well be counted among the lost, because she hit the atmosphere running and never stopped (but if there's anyone Tony would bet on for killing Thanos through hate alone, Nebula might be able to accomplish it before supper). Rocket heads out from time to time to try and find clues in the deep reaches of space — "Where's Thanos? Have you seen where he ran off to? Where's that ugly son of a b—" And you know, it ends about as successfully as the last time the little garbage bear rolls back in. Truth be told, he likes Rocket a lot. Good eye for tech, familiar snark used to push people away, a raging hate-boner for a certain mass murderer...

Ah, yes. The bastard who sacrificed his daughter, go fucking figure. Tony looks at Morgan's freckled face as he changes the umpteenth diaper that day and can't fathom the concept of being her end. It's horror fiction, the pages ripped out of books conjured to be nothing more than a terrible daydream of a bored writer. 

It's the same horror fiction where Peter clings to him sobbing for help, falling when his legs disintegrate underneath him. 

Tony looks for that kid everywhere, despite knowing exactly where he is.

He waves the photograph in Pepper's face, inches from her, the sharp juts of his fingernails biting into the Polaroid like dog teeth — (retroware, a camera found in a dumpster, delicately and lovingly re-mantled into a working camera, pictures snapped in quiet labs on lazy Sundays where Tony pretends the kid shouldn't be there) — but Pepper just looks at him like he's a wild man, and maybe he is, with owlish imploring eyes and unkempt hair, but nobody is listening, they just talk about their day and nobody is looking at this kid in this photograph: the kid with the curvy brown hair and pinching, smiling eyes and thin lips, he's only a kid, he's missing, does nobody see that? But Pepper just puts her hands up at the sides of her head and shrugs like he's out of his mind, and she's talking about being behind schedule —

"Tony, honey, there's nothing there — I don't know what you want me to see." And she is getting progressively more furious at him, because there's nothing, but he can clearly see this teenaged boy's face looking back at him when he turns the image back to himself: he's in the lab, Tony took the picture (say cheese, and the kid said provolone, because he's a massive nerd, but Tony would have done it too, so what does that make him), and no, Peter's not in the lab, he's not anywhere. Not in the ground, not in an urn, not standing on his feet, not stuck to his hands.

"No. No no no, look at him, why - why are you not looking at him?" Tony asks, curled fingers pecking over the shirt on his chest, right where his blue heart used to be, and he's so fucking angry that Happy said it Pepper said it Steve said it Everyone says it, the same thing, different voices: "It's a black box, Tony. It's just a black box. The picture's not developed. Something got screwed up, sorry."

He looks at the photo again and wants to see a black box, wants this to just end, but he knows it can't. In the Polaroid, the kid is tied to a chair in sweltering heat in the middle east, under the shadow of cave walls, streaked with mud and blood and wet from torture, and Tony has it on good authority the human body was not made to live in the sea, not made to breathe the deep dark waters in a two-foot basin of murky water. But Pepper looks right through the photo every time and asks him if he's remembered to water the ugly office plant she put on his desk — he shoves it off and it smashes all over, dirt underfoot crunching with the same texture as Titan. The desk is covered in nothing but Polaroids of every waking fear he's had, but they all swear on their lives—

"They're all just black boxes."

He wakes up with a strangled sound of panic, the sheets ripped out from under Pepper's soft pale arms, and she darts awake alongside him with little choice in the matter. He isn't sure how to even begin to explain the nightmare, so he doesn't, which seems adequate enough for her at this point; she instead rakes kind fingernails over his scalp and he lets himself rest in his own sweat, until eventually it dries up with her ability to stay awake with him. But there's no sleeping now. Which is fine, because not an hour later Morgan's crying in a crib that Tony doesn't let leave their room. She's smart — not quite two yet, but she's got an eye for how to get what she wants. She slaps her hands on the bars like she's a chubby convict and says, "Juice!" like she hasn't already had enough juice in the day to turn into a berry.

"... I got her," he says with feigned exasperation, but more than anything, he just wants to hold onto the kid and remind himself she won't crumble into dust. He walks her through the hallways and stares out large windows, places where the memory of Peter Parker ghosts the halls in Tony's mind. He stands where Peter watched in boyish awe as the jets took off — where he'd lead him down a path towards reports and a new suit. Regrets dance like spots in his vision. Run along now, young buck. 

He misses the others, too. He thinks about them often, wants to get them back from the jaws of death.

But everyone knows Peter is a special case, for him. A special mission set aside to complete.

There's an aunt across the city that somehow manages to get up and go to work every day. She's all that's left of a family she'd married into — the last Parker, putting unopened Christmas and birthday presents in a room that hasn't been touched in two fucking years. Tony doesn't know how she does it, after the Parkers and her husband's death; perhaps it's not always the abundance of loss that breaks someone; perhaps it's the abundance of loss that helps steel them for the next blow.

Either way, he gives her as many promises as he can muster, and she just nods like she can actually trust him.

"If it isn't the terrible terror," Rocket slurs from the end of the walkway, as he rounds the bend. Tony can't believe his eyes; he's sure there must be some youtube video out there of a raccoon holding a vodka bottle, but seeing it in person is another thing altogether. The short-statured creature adds, "Not the gremlin baby, I mean you."

"Robbet!" Morgan says, gleeful and unaware of just how alike her and Rocket's walking performances would be toe-to-toe. 

Tony is less enthused.

"Did you — Did you fly back drunk?" And really, he's not one to talk after some of the stunts he pulled in his suits, but when he looks out the window there's a clearly tipped over spaceship on the front lawn of the headquarters, almost meeting the tarmac where the quinjet resides. 

Rocket wags a paw at him like he's nuts. "Seemed like the thing to do. You Terran nimrods are great at it."

"You could've hit the building, you jackass," he hisses, "There are people sleeping here you could've killed."

"Wouldn't be the worst way to go out on this stupid planet."

"You're so lucky I'm holding a toddler, or I'd kick you in the head."

"Bring it, old man." But the longer the squabbling goes, the more Rocket seems to completely lose whatever steam he has. They end up sitting right against the big glass windows, and Tony lets Morgan rub her grubby hands all over the panels, because he's pretty sure the cleaners here prefer her messes over the ones Tony leaves in the labs (you know, the ones that almost start fires). The kid eases something inside him, and he's not one to recommend having a kid as therapy (because it definitely didn't solve his panic over being a shit dad), but it at least keeps him grounded. Gives him perspective. Focus.

"Robbet," she commands, fidgeting with Rocket's ear. The raccoon's gotten used to the attention, so much so that he just lets it be, and Tony watches expectantly for words he knows are gonna come sooner or later. This isn't the first time Rocket's stumbled in like this, though he'd hesitate to say it's common enough for an AA meeting. 

"Nothin's out there, Stark," he says tiredly. "Thanos is in the wind after we pinned him in the rice terraces. Nebula's out there givin' her... I was gonna say blood, sweat, and tears, but I dunno how much of her is even left t'do that. But the universe is too damn big." He rubs his eyes tiredly in a way that is obscenely human. "We ain't ever gonna get the bastard, much less reverse the damage. I can't keep putting off..."

"Mourning?"

Rocket and Tony lock eyes for a moment, the billionaire's face unreadable.

Rocket looks away, and for once, he can't usher up a snarky, assholish retort. 

"Mourning."

And Tony could understand that much. The world has already been grieving and crying it out, but the Avengers? They haven't allowed themselves to do it. Scott's got his kid, and he's all his kid has now — the cops had found her wandering a park alone, crying for Ant-Man to save them, and Tony's paid for therapy but fuck if that always helps. Clint refuses funerals for the two children he and his wife lost, not until Tony can look him in the eye with complete certainty and say 'there's nothing else we can do'. And Tony is not gonna lie about that shit, not even for a moment. Steve always chases for Bucky, and Tony expects as much (both in a fond way, and in a resentful way that makes him wanna strangle the bastard; what, we can't all be perfect at making up)... He also talks about Wanda and Vision and Sam often, and the room always descends into pained silence by the time they both realize how many people they've lost.

"Sorry I called you a gremlin," Rocket suddenly says, and Tony's confused for a moment before he glances over and finds Morgan sitting between Rocket's legs, cupping his furry face in her hands like she's trying to figure out why his beard is so much more out of control than her father's. Suffice to say, the drunk raccoon eventually passes out against the window, and Natasha makes her cameo in the shaded moonlight long enough to click her tongue and heft the creature up. Usually it'd be a more violent affair, but he's so out cold, he doesn't even so much as twitch.

"I'll get him in the recovery position, I guess," she says with a quirk of her brow. 

One time he'd asked her in a moment of admittedly godawful anger how she managed to be a stone-faced robot in the wake of all of this; she had slammed him down onto a table and said it was the hardest thing someone can ever do.

"Could always throw him into a tree," is his reply, and she smirks — but tucks Rocket in, regardless.

They're all he's got now.

Two weeks later, Captain Marvel gives them the location of Thanos.

One week after, Thanos is dead and Bruce and Tony are staring at the melted, twisted remains of a gauntlet adorned with six stones.

It's a full month, when the snap is finally undone.

"W-what the flying fuck just happened?"

Probably not the most eloquent way Peter Jason Quill, Star-Lord and fearless leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, could have reclaimed his life and body, but that's the way it happened. One moment his sinking despair had been blown away in the wind with the rest of his crumbled body; the next, he's gasping for air like a newborn baby with his hands on his chest — unable to breathe, unable to think, unable to do anything but feel helpless and lost. Then his name comes back to him, his age, where he's from, followed by the first of many memories: his mother and him, making cookies with The Rolling Stones blaring on an old radio in the background. 

Then all of it follows like a stampede trampling over each other: the ravagers, Ego, celebrations full of booze and old 70's and 80's hits with his team; he groans pitifully and remembers too suddenly that his mother is dead, Yondu is dead, Gamora is dead — and then he cries like he's never cried before in his goddamn life. Like, full-bodied sobbing, harder than he's ever allowed himself in the last thirty years. His fingers curl in rough alien soil and every nerve in his body is alight with something he can't really explain, leaving him shivering. When all is said and done, it's cathartic, but his head is pounding and his eyes are red and wet and — and his legs don't want to work, exactly, so he drags himself into sitting and stares all around him with a helpless, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Where are the others? 

Drax crawls out from behind the rubble with a bit-back curse as if summoned by Peter's sheer will alone, and Strange floats down from god knows where. Both of them wipe their faces and breathe like they'd just run a marathon, one you'd sprint for — to try and escape the returning memories. The questions bubbling under the surface can wait (when, why, how, who, where; where the fuck is Thanos so I can kick his head in and ignore the aching guilt of the stupid shit I've done). Peter's lips curl into a relieved grin despite himself and he staggers to his feet, rushing to meet Drax before the lumbering warrior can collapse on his knees; he steadies the two of them, and between four colt-like legs, they make it work until they can move on their own. 

"Drax, holy shit. I'm so happy to see you right now, I saw you and — where's Mantis? And... Stark and the kid?" 

He's not gonna pretend the last two weren't cliff notes in his order of priorities, compared to Mantis. That's his sister, his family, and his heart is pounding at the thought of losing anyone else from his team... because Gamora's so fresh in his mind, an abrasion so new and raw and — don't think about it, Quill, don't think about it right now, not until you can make it to a ship and find somewhere to lick the wounds. It's so hard to breathe, so hard to keep his memories in check. Judging from the pinched expression Drax has, he can only imagine the miserable television show going on in that thick skull of his. He had family, he had a life, a home, and now it's all coming back in thunderous waves. 

Drax perks. "I hear her. This way!"

And like clockwork, Mantis sobs more loudly from over the hill of debris, and Peter is already leaping over and down it, displacing rubble in his wake. It claws him up as he goes, but what's one more injury if it means getting to his team sooner? Add another wound to the dozens lanced in his heart, whatever, he can take it. What he can't take is finding someone he loves gone again because he wasn't good enough—

("I love you, more than anything.")

"Mantis! Shit, dammit — hang on, we're coming, hang on!" He skids to a stop at the bottom with Drax hot on his heels, and it's only there that he's relieved to find she's unhurt, curled up and sitting on her legs; her back is trembling, hands poised in front of her — no, no, hands pressed to the temples of a crumpled figure with shaggy brown hair and a terribly youthful face. He swallows hard at the sight, guilt coiling in his guts, because he had made this kid a footnote in his concerns all but fifteen seconds ago.The other Peter.

("Peter, huh? Samesies!" the spider kid laughs.)

The kid is on his back, and his eyes are open, face lax under Mantis' shivering fingertips. Quill automatically assumes the worst: that he didn't make it, because even if his skin has a healthy color, he doesn't look alive. Why didn't... he come back, too? What went wrong? Crouching down beside his friend, he examines the boy and his listless gaze that looks right through him, right through everything. A death stare. He's seen so many in his life — from ravagers and enemy alike — that he doesn't question it further than that.

"... Mantis, it's okay," he says softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He's gone. We gotta move."

"No, no, Peter," she weeps, freezing him with her desperation, "You're wrong. He's still here. I can feel him. But th-there's so much pain — something is wrong, and it hurts."

"She's right," Strange says with a surprisingly soft voice, "He's still breathing."

Quill watches with wide eyes the rise and fall of the kid's chest, and then the surprising drip of tears into the shells of Peter's ears.

"It hurts," Mantis says again, black hair curtaining her pained expression. "He's further and further away. I can't do anything. He is so afraid."

Peter Parker's eyes are open, half-lidded, without any sign of life behind them. But Quill feels like every word Mantis sobs is a memory he can't quite bring into focus... like — like a dream he'd forgotten in the time he'd been nothing but ash. Like a beacon, scrambling all of his senses and blinding him just before he had burst back to life from under the current of death. He remembers a snippet of what it was like on the other side, rolling over and over like he's stuck in a sea — a sea of souls. He remembers it was the kid's voice, calling out from oblivion as they were hoisted back into their bodies.

He remembers hearing his own voice... remembers saying, thinking, screaming: Hang on, kid, I got you!

— it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—

He puts his hand gently on Peter Parker's cheek.

It's warm. His body breathes in steady rhythm.

So why isn't there any life behind those eyes?

The lab is quiet, save for the rambling of an excited high-schooler bragging about their odds at the new decathlon competition. Tony doesn't really mind so much, though he's not about to tell that to the kid sitting there in his old thrift shop sweater; the same kid whose hair is curling out of control now, escaping the prison of hair gel he adds in the early morning. Peter's always so animated with his hands, most of all — always fidgeting, always moving, always so eager to sign and gesture faster than Peter's mouth can move.  "And Ned's got a brand new video-game he's dying to try out, but I dunno if he can handle it; it's a horror game, you know? He's kind of a big softy — oh."

Tony glances at Peter with a scoff and a raised eyebrow, though his smirk fades a little at what has drawn the kid's already battered attention span from the conversation. Peter holds an old trophy in front of him that he had taken off the nearest shelf: a replica, actually, but still no less important. It's the arc reactor, etched with those intimate, familiar words that Pepper still whispers to him when they're alone and living in their own little world.

"Aaww, look at that," Peter says with a playful smile, pressing the trophy against his chest, where the reactor would've resided in Tony's.  "... Proof that Tony Stark has a heart."

Peter's smile softens painfully, his eyes reflecting a long and sad goodbye before he crumbles away into nothing.

[gmabaj]

Jeb’ël Skin Regimen

In the photos above, I did my morning regimen. Also wearing Maybelline eyeliner, Media W Eyebrow liner, a bit of lipstick, and absolutely no foundation. No filter either ;) it looks fuzzy bc I screenshot it from a video. 

After having taken a small break from IG (to maintain my sanity), IG got a new feature which allows friends and followers to anonymously ask a question to a page/person through their story. I obviously had to try it out. And one of my closest friends asked me what my skin regimen is “cause you’re always glowinggggg” and, like, I had to answer.

I immediately appreciated this question since I do care about my skin. Note that I didn’t say that I care about my skin being clear. If you see my stories and posts, and if you’re fortunate enough to see me in person, you know that I am not perfect. Sometimes my skin is really clear and other days I have cyst like pimples on my temples (like right now) or flaky skin or blackheads on my nose or just huge amaca sized bags under my eyes.

Stress is inevitable as an artist and most especially an anxiety-prone, perfection-driven, growing and glowing artist living in New York City, the eye of the vortex, we commonly know as capitalism. It’s hard not to be stressed when the world is literally melting and burning, all at the same time in different places, affecting us all. The stress is real so there is no doubt that the millions of tiny pores on your body and face will be affected by it all too. After all, your skin is literally alive and it needs to be taken care of and protected from harsh sun rays, pollution, harsh winds, pollution….

I try to be as gentle and patient with my skin as possible. If this week I have major pimples, well, my body knows best. I try my best to trust the processes in my body. If the process this week results in a whitehead gala on my forehead, so be it. I rather be patient then add another layer of makeup or stress because the person I’m going on a date with might be bothered by this pimple. If they are, I’d be bothered by their presence and let. their. trivial-asses. go. Respect, prioritize and learn about the processes of your body.

With that being said, I take care of my skin every day for my own inner peace. It’s less about looking good than it is a regimen to de-stress and de-toxify after a long day. A friend commented on my IG story saying that they used to be “that annoying person whod be like “my skincare routine is splashing water on my face🤷🏽‍♀️”” I used to be that person too; it was during the time when I could play 90+ minutes of futbol without taking a break between halves. A lot of things have changed.

At this point in my life, walking out of the house without anything on, not even sunscreen, is horrifying. I always have 50+ SPF sunscreen on when I leave the house. Even if I’m going out to the deli or to walk my shih tzu-child, I still make sure I have sunscreen on. Trust me, I love my brown skin and getting browner makes me binkey with joy but I will not go down from 50 SPF. I just don’t play with UV rays and skin cancer. Also, as you age, so does your skin. What worked when you were nineteen probably will not work for you (me) who is seven years older.

My type of skin:

Oily t-zone

Sometimes dry cheeks and dry laugh lines

Blackheads on nose and sometimes cheeks

Sometimes whiteheads on forehead

Tiny papules near sideburns

Very rare but sometimes get nodules on cheeks and temples (I go to my dermatologist for help for that)

Does not easily scar

Pretty sensitive (a little extra dirt can make my face irritated)

I’m going to start my skin care regimen by describing what I do at night time. This is the most important and enjoyable aspect of my routine. I low-key look forward to taking all the grime and slime off from that days schedule.

With that being said, my regimen may not work for everybody. If you do end up using a product I use and your skin reacts negatively to it, you should stop using it. Obviously people who have severe acne/skin condition should consult a dermatologist/doctor first. I ain't trying to get sued here.

Also, please keep in mind that I am using all products that can be bought. I do want to move towards more natural ways of taking care of my skin. This is just my process at the moment. Also, if you like more matte looking skin, this won’t be for you, tbh. 

FACE WIPES

I recently started using Yes to Tomatoes Detoxifying Charcoal wipes. The wipes are black so its kind of hard to tell if you’ve cleaned anything off. They’re also not soft wipes, they’ve got a bit of texture to them, which I like because I feel like I’m exfoliating a little bit. It’s been a few weeks so far and my skin hasn’t reacted negatively towards it. I use them every night to remove my make up.

FACE WASH

Cetaphil. Usually I get lazy and just move onto toner after the face wipes. Whenever I feel like my skin is a bit flaky I use a bit of Cetaphil and scrub gently with my loofa (which is an exfoliant). That’s all I do for exfoliating. Probably not the best way to go about it. I would probably suggest buying a small loofa for your face, only. But sometimes I’m just like fuck it.

TONER

As I said in my IG story, I used the Clinique Toner 1 for sensitive skin. Yes, it is a little pricey (15 bucks) but that shit works. Toner 1 is for sensitive skin and does not have any alcohol. I use a cotton ball and gently but firmly cleanse my cheeks, in an up and outward movement. Then I move to the temples, forehead, nose, chin, above the lips and, I never, ever forget, my neck, front and back and all around. I typically completely use one large cotton ball to get all the grime out, sometimes two.

NIGHT MOISTURIZERS

Yup. I use Clinique. It’s funny because I wasn’t going to Macys to buy this but dang those saleswomxn. They sold it to me BECAUSE THEY KNEW I’M IN LOVE WITH GLASS SKIN. I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO SAY IT. THEY JUST KNEW.

I must also say that I utterly love South Korean beauty trends. Many of the beauty products/trends that occur here in the US like BB / CC creams, glass skin, etc. were actually created in South Korea and popularized there first. Why do I love their stuff? Because they prioritize taking care of your skin and making it healthy, not just making it appear healthy.

Glass skin or mul-gwang is the type of skin that is smooth, flawless and poreless. Additionally, it has a glowy sheen which makes the skin appear dewy. I love this finish because it prioritizes a skin care regimen that works for you and does not focus on make up.

I honestly love eye makeup. Foundation on the other hand, I tend not to wear as much anymore since I feel like all the foundations I’ve tried clogs my pores. Clogged pores just leads to more acne.

Despite the acne, you can still achieve glass skin. Its all about figuring out what makes your skin react negatively to something and what you can use to moisturize to get that dewy look. When I realized that touching my face caused me to break out, you bet I halted my hands from ever reaching my face.  

Also, you don’t need to be light skinned to have glass skin. Pretty damn obvious. Literally any skin color can achieve that dewy look of glass skin, its just about figuring out what products and remedies work for you.

Back to Clinique. I bought the small jar of Moisture surge which came with Clinique All About Eyes cream and Moisture Surge overnight mask—all of which I praise. I take a quarter size amount and dot it on my face and spread it in an upward motion. I also dot the eye cream around my eyes. Lastly, once or twice a week, I place the Overnight mask. You should be left with your face looking pretty dewy. Maybe even to an excess. The key is to not touch your face. Just don’t. Let the product soak into your skin, not your dirty ass hand oil.

I then read a little, pray and fall asleep, without any technology around me to disturb me. Well, that’s on a good day. If I’m hella tired, I would just go straight for Cetaphil and toner. A little bit of Moisture surge and that’s it.

ONCE A WEEK ROUTINE ADD-ONS

So once a week I use:

Yes to Tomatoes Charcoal Paper Mask. Its mainly for acne prone skin but they also have face masks for other qualities like anti-aging, firming, etc (I haven’t tried those yet). Once you place it on your skin it starts to tingle which means that its working to detoxify your skin from impurities! I love me a face mask, especially when I have my de-stressor show playing in the background (I’m basic, I watch Friends. Ugh I know). I typically put on the face mask after I cleansed myself with the face wipe/face wash and toner. I do not remove the juices after I remove the face mask, I pat them into my skin with the backs of my fingers.

Occasionally I do use natural face masks that I make at home. If people wanna read about that, I can write about that in another post.

Also once a week, I use Earth Therapeautics Clari-T Pore Cleansing Strips to get rid of blackheads. It contains tea tree oil which to this day is one of my favorite oils besides Vitamin E oil, castor oil….They are paragon free and contain no mineral oil, no lauryl/laureth sulfate, and no artificial colors. They don’t do animal testing. I bought this at Whole Foods for like six bucks, which isn’t a bad price for 10 of them.

IN THE MORNING…

it’s pretty simple.

I wash my face with water. Sometimes I use the toner, if I feel like I didn’t get it all the night before. Sometimes I use Cetaphil. 

Then I use Nivea FROM THE BLUE TIN CAN. NOT PLASTIC. TIN. I remember the huge ass blue tin can, always in the bathroom of my families apartment in downtown Brooklyn back in the 90’s. And if you look at my families skin in family photos, they’re fucking flawless. 

MUL-GWANG BEFORE IT WAS MUL-GWANG.

I place a quarter size on my face IN AN UPWARD MOTION and then some sunscreen, usually between a button and dime size. I always put a bit extra on my nose because I have a flat face and my nose sticks out. I don’t want to get sunburned! And just because your skin isn’t red, does not mean its not sunburned. Again, I do not play with UV rays!

I don’t usually wear foundation but when I do, I use Smashbox Camera Ready BB cream. Let your skin and pimples breathe and just be. Don’t try to cover them up, it’ll only make it worse.

For my body, I don’t use lotion anymore. I just rub Vitamin E oil into my skin (thank you Sushana for that tip). Honestly, I haven’t seen my skin this naturally healthy and vibrant. There are a lot of brands in our local hood beauty stores; you just gotta try which one works best for you. So far, my skin has reacted lovely to Cococare. 

Eat healthy, lots of veggies. Drink water, lots of water—water is life, after all. Exercise (and make sure to wash your face with water after a good work out. Don’t let the sweat just dry, that will also irritate your face). And if your face gets a little too dewy, I just use Boscia Green Tea Blotting linens, to soak up the extra juicyness around my laughing lines, nose and forehead (thank you Kat for putting me on). 

And that’s it :) Jeb’ël* skin!

*beautiful in Kaqchikel

[theantibridezilla]

The DIY Silk Press

Today’s post is definitely skewed more towards a smaller segment of my audience. On the whole, I tend to focus on product reviews that would work for a broad audience, but I’m also a proud member of #teamnatural. And this is also why I usually don’t cover hair care products, unless it’s something so amazing that I think it would work for more than silky straight hair textures. But, I also don’t venture into hair care that often either because the natural hair niche within the blogger/influencer/guru space is quite saturated. With that being said though, today’s post covers products that can actually work for a wide range of textures from silky straight to kinky curly. And, they can do double duty to help naturalistas achieve a DIY silk press. As background for this post, I’m a 4a/4b texture and my hair is just below BSL (bra strap length).

Now, if you’re not familiar, a silk press is basically what a press & curl was back in the day—only it uses lighter products so your hair isn’t weighed down. Or, IMO, it’s more like a Dominican blowout. If you don’t want to DIY this (which is totally understandable), there are plenty of salons you can go to. The main takeaways you need to remember if you do want to DIY a silk press is this:

1. Your hair must be very clean. Do NOT attempt to do this on dirty hair because the results will be less than ideal. 

2. Do NOT use natural oils during the actual heat steps of the silk press. While natural oils are normally our best friends when wearing our hair curly, when you’re trying to flatiron or blowout your hair for a silk press, the high heat will actually make the oils “cook” your hair. That equals damage and can permanently alter your curl pattern.

So with that in mind, today’s review on these products will be focused from the perspective of a silk press. All but the Ion Silk Drops were gifted to me by the brand. For clarity, I’m reviewing these products as part of the silk press process which includes: Shampoo, condition, deep condition (optional) blow dry, flat iron.

Shampoo: Many Ethnicities Invigorating Shampoo & Palmer’s Natural Fusions Micellar Rose Water Cleanser

Normally I don’t do a double wash, but it’s recommended for silk presses if you’re concerned about product or dirt buildup of any kind, that you use a clarifying shampoo. Now Many Ethnicities Invigorating Shampoo is a new to me hair care brand that was created by a mom who’s children all ended up having different hair types because they are multi-ethnic. She got tired of littering her bathroom with tons of different shampoos to tackle the unique needs of each of her children’s different textures, so she made her own! I like that this is definitely a nourishing shampoo which is ideal for kinkier textures as it won’t strip hair of vital moisture. My hair still felt soft after using this shampoo.

However, I knew that my hair and scalp were VERY dirty since I had just taken out the braids I’d been sporting for the last two months. So, that’s why I also used the Palmer’s Natural Fusions Micellar Rose Water Cleanser. It’s actually billed as a clarifying shampoo and leverages the concept of traditional micellar water to attract dirt and literally leave your hair squeaky clean. Normally, I would not want my hair to squeak. But in this instance, it was a good thing. I’ve used this shampoo in the past just for a regular wash day and it’s pretty hydrating and will not give you a squeaky clean result. The only reason it did this time is because I did a double wash.

Condition: Many Ethnicities Moisturizing Conditioner

Now, since a silk press meant I couldn’t use the moisturizers I normally would like Argan or Coconut oil, that meant I needed to find other ways to infuse moisture into my hair. This time I opted for the Many Ethnicities Moisturizing Conditioner. This conditioner emphasizes moisture because kinkier textures tend to be naturally drier and need the added moisture. And although it does have oils in it, it’s balanced in a way that doesn’t leave residue or weigh your hair down like a traditional pure oil would do. I definitely want to try this conditioner again when I’m not trying to do a silk press because it would be the type that I wouldn’t fully rinse out. Note: the emphasis on clean means you cannot leave any residual product in your hair leading up to the heat tools steps.

Deep Condition: Steel Mclean Fortify Mask

If you’re concerned at all about the risk of heat damage or feel like your hair might need some added protection, a deep condition is in order. But again, you can’t use natural oils like you might normally want to do. So, I opted for the Steel Mclean Fortify Mask because it also includes Keratin as a primary ingredient. And when you’re talking about using the amount of heat that a silk press requires, you want to give your hair as much added protection as possible. I definitely liked that my hair still felt soft after I rinsed this out. But I most definitely want to try this product again when I’m wearing my hair normally rather than straightened.

Blow Dry & Flat Iron: Ion Silk Drops

The real key to a silk press is to blow dry your hair thoroughly before you flat iron it. Although people may have personal preferences for products to use, pretty much every stylist I’ve talked to—including the lady I consulted with at the Sally’s Beauty Supply—have said that you can use any kind of heat protectant serum during the heat tools steps. It’s more about technique in these stages.

And this is where the silk press diverges from my normal flat iron routine. Normally, I wash my hair on one day, set it on small two-strand twists, and then flat iron my hair the next day. I mainly do this because heat damage is real and I’m lazy and hate blow drying my hair. But the goal is still the same—my hair is being stretched through a no-heat low manipulation style versus using a blow dryer.

Now, if you don’t use a good heat protectant, you can really damage your hair if you use a high heat for blow drying and then follow up with a high heat for flat ironing. And usually for naturals, heat damage means a jacked up patches of hair that no longer naturally curl when you wet it and can only be corrected but cutting the damaged hair. To be honest, the rest of this section is more about technique than the Silk Drops. However, I do think the Silk Drops were great but it’s pretty comparable to Biosilk or IC Fantasia Heat Protector Straightening Serum.

The Blow Dry:

So, like I said, I hate blow drying my hair because my hair in it’s most natural state is super curly, and holds on to water forever. But this time, I divided my hair in 4 big sections. Then I divided each quarter into 3 to 6 smaller sections before then dividing those sections into small thirds. It was time consuming but it definitely stretched my hair, which made the flat ironing step easier. Just keep in mind, you’re blow drying much smaller individual sections so:

1. It’s not necessary to use the highest heat. In fact stylists recommend you don’t because in the next and final stage, you will be using a very high heat. If you use too much heat at this stage,  it’ll encourage heat damage. I used a medium heat on medium speed throughout my entire hair.

2. For best results use the chase method. Use a paddle brush to maintain tension and keep hair stretched as you dry.

3. Focus on straightening the roots. However, (of course) do dry the entire length of hair in each section.

Flat Ironing:

There’s an optional step that some people do between the blow dry and flat iron step which is to trim your hair if it needs to be. I found that my ends still weren’t super straight so I waited until after I flat ironed my hair to trim it.

Anywho, like I mentioned before, this is the high heat stage. Now most stylists will recommend that you use heat between 400-450F. I opted for 419F using my Conair Infiniti PRO 1″ Tourmaline Ceramic Straightener. I’ve had this thing forever and I love it because I can curl and straighten with it, plus it comes with a heat cover. Much like with the blow drying stage, you need to work with small thin sections to ensure that you get as close to your roots as possible and are evenly heating each section. And again, you’re encouraged to use the chase method. A lot of stylists recommend using a fine tooth comb but I found I had horrible control so I swapped it for my paddle brush.

After finishing, my hair was definitely straight, but compared to a lot of the videos that I saw where people had that “I just got my hair relaxed” level straightness, I didn’t have those results. However, the main reason I straightened my hair was because I needed to trim it—so mission accomplished.

My Thoughts:

So, these pics are from the day after I attempted a silk press. I set my hair on bantus.

1. As much as I hate blow drying, I do have to agree that it made a difference in my ability to get my roots straight and to make the whole flat ironing process a bit quicker.

2. Seeing as how I didn’t get that super straight relaxed look, I’m not sure if it’s because I opted not to set my flat iron to the hottest setting (455F) or if it’s where I needed something like a Marcel iron. However, like I mentioned earlier, I’m not a fan of heat damage because once you ruin your curl pattern, there’s no remedy besides a pair of scissors.

3. The fact that it took me almost 2 hours to blow dry my hair means I would never do my own silk press again. Although it would be a huge markup (I spent a total of $15 on the Ion Silk Drops and the IC Fantasia Heat Protector Straightening Serum vs a salon visit that can be upwards of $125), I’m still sore from the process.

So, I would definitely attempt a silk press again, but I would want a pro to do it. My wash day this time was out of control. What normally takes me 2 - 3 hours with a max of 5 over two days if I choose to straighten, took me all day to do. I know part of that was because I had to take down my Poetic Justice braids and detangle, but that blow dry step is out of control for me!

For more info on the brands I listed visit:

www.manyethnicities.com or follow on IG: @manyethnicities www.palmers.com or follow on IG: @palmers www.steelmclean.com or follow on IG: @steelmclean www.sallybeauty.com

[drev-the-ambassador]

EDIT: I don’t know if it’s just me, but the pictures in this post didn’t seem to be working properly on the mobile app at first. If the pictures are all over the place and don’t seem to be getting back to normal, you might have better luck trying the web page version!

So, in case no one noticed, I haven’t made a post in a looong time. That is due to a combination of a crappy computer, lack of time and also a bit of laziness. Originally I wanted to make this post the first post on the blog, but that didn’t end up happening. While trying to answer one sports-related ask I, seeing as the post was taking forever since I had to do a lot of research and on top of that, I had to write in proper sentences, I decided it would probably be for the best to make a quick post, a list perhaps, of some basic things about Finland. So I did. It’s this post. The reason it has taken me so long to get this done is that originally I also had a history portion, but it ended up making the post too long. I then decided it would be better to make that into its own post, so I settled on making a condensed version on this one. 

Turns out, condensing 800 years of history into one post and keeping it at a reasonable length is not such an easy task. Huh, who would’ve thought? That means that you’ll be getting THREE separate posts about general Finnish history! Awesome right?

Anyway, this is not that post. This is just some basic stuff, and pictures. So, without further ado:

Some basic things about Finland

Name of the country: Suomen tasavalta (the Republic of Finland)

Location: Fennoscandia (not Scandinavia!!), Northern Europe

Edit made by me (as you can see from the top notch quality), but the map is from here Neighboring countries: Norway to the north, Sweden to the west, Estonia to the south on the other side of the Gulf of Finland, Russia to the east.

Official languages: Finnish and Swedish (technically Finland Swedish) Minority languages (mentioned in the law): Karelian, Northern Sami, Skolt Sami, Inari Sami, Finnish Romani, Finnish Sign Language and Finland Swedish Sign Language.

Languages with the most speakers: 1st: Finnish (4 865 628 people/88,7% of total population[as of 2015]) 2nd: Swedish (290 161/5,3%[2015]) 3rd: Russian (~75 000[as of March of 2017, same with the ones below]) 4th: Estonian (~49 500) 5th: Arabic (~21 700) 6th: Somali (~19 000) 7th: English (~18 500)

President: Sauli Niinistö, 12th president of Finland. in 2018 there’ll be a new presidential election, but he’s running for president again, and there’s quite a good chance he’ll get elected again.

Here’s our current president with his wife Jenni Haukio and their dog, Lennu, the first dog of Finland.

Currency: Euro since 2002. From 1860 until 2002 Finland had it’s own currency, markka. 1 euro is approximately 6 markkas.

Population: 5 503 297 as of 2016

Population density: 16/km2

Size: Area: 338 424 km2 Length: ~ 1 200 km Width: ~ 550 km

Number of lakes: 187 888

Number of islands: 179 584

Religion: 72,0 % Evangelical Lutheran 1,1 % Orthodox Christian 1,6 % other 25,3 % none

Important holidays: Vappu 1.5. Juhannus 20.6.-26.6. on a Saturday Itsenäisyyspäivä (Independence day) 6.12. Joulu (Christmas) 24.12. is celebrated more than 25.12. Uudenvuodenaatto (New Year’s eve) 31.12.

Other holidays: Laskiainen (Shrove Tuesday) Seven weeks before Easter. Pyhäinmiestenpäivä (All Saints’ Day) 31.10.-6.11. on a Saturday, NOT Halloween, we don’t celebrate it here. Pääsiäinen (Easter) The same time it’s celebrated elsewhere. Ruotsalaisuuden päivä (Finnish Swedish Heritage Day) 6.11. Äitienpäivä (Mother’s day) Celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Isänpäivä (Father’s day) Celebrated on the second Sunday of November, exactly half a year after Mother’s day.

Can you drink the tap water: Yes.

Number of saunas: 2 million - 3,2 million

Number of dogs: around 500 000 pure breeds, mixed breeds not included

Finland’s national

...anthem: Maamme, Vårt land in Swedish, Our Land in English. Composed by Fredrik Pacius, words written (first in Swedish) by J. L. Runeberg. It was performed for the first time in 1846. The Finnish translation is what made it become the national anthem, even though for a long time Finnish wasn’t even an official language in Finland. 

...flag: A blue Nordic cross on a white background, the State flag also has the Coat of Arms of Finland in the middle. 

...Coat of Arms: A golden crowned lion on a red background, standing on it’s hind legs, with it’s other armored front leg holding a sword, trampling a saber, with nine silver roses just kinda floating around. See for yourself.

...day: 6th of December, our Independence day.

...epic: Kalevala, published in 1835, made by Elias Lönnrot, who collected old poems and songs from Karjala (Karelia) and compiled them into one book. Kalevala has inspired many artists in Finland and abroad, one example being J.R.R. Tolkien. Kalevala has been translated into 61 languages, so you can probably give it a read if you’d like. (source)

...instrument: Kantele. (source)

...personification: Suomi-neito, the Finnish Maiden. Yes, we have an official personification as well.

...animal: A bear. It was a holy animal in Finnish paganism, so much so that it was forbidden to say its name out loud. To this day, we don’t know what the real, original word for bear in Finnish was. It had a lot of names that were used instead. The word we use today, karhu, comes from the word “karhea”, which means like, rough? It’s because of the texture of the bear’s fur. (source)

...fish: Ahven, European perch. Beautiful, isn’t it? (source)

....bird: Laulujoutsen, which is by the way a much prettier name than whooper swan (sorry English). Laulujoutsen literally means “song swan”. (source)

...bug: Leppäkerttu, a ladybug. Funny thing, you know how it’s called like a God’s cow in some languages? Well, the Finnish name, leppäkerttu OR the more specific species seitsenpistepirkko, are literally translated as “alder-Kerttu” and “seven-dotted- Pirkko”, Kerttu and Pirkko being Finnish names for women. What a weird name. ALSO, one of the gods pagan Finns worshipped was called Ukko, and it is commonly believed that he was the highest of all the Finnish gods. A ladybug, back then, was called ukonlehmä. You know what that means? Ukko’s cow. (source)

...horse: Suomenhevonen, Finnhorse, literally “horse of Finland”. It was, for a long time, the only horse breed in Finland. It’s apparently considered one of the fastest and most versatile coldblood breeds in the world. During WWII, the Finnish army did not have many cars, so suomenhevoset were very important back then. 7 200 horses died or went missing during the Winter War, and the horses that did survive had their minds as broken as the men they’d stayed beside. There are quite a few memorials for the horses, after all, they helped to carry the wounded when no other vehicle could. We owe them a lot. 

This is one of those memorials. It’s called Suomenhevonen - Sotahevonen, which means basically “the Finnhorse - a war horse”. (no relation to the movie)

....dog: Suomenpystykorva, the Finnish Spitz, yes, we did need our national dog, who doesn’t??? Written mentions of a barking hunting dogs with red fur have survived from the end of the 19th century, but dogs very closely resembling the breed have been used for hunting in Finland for hundreds of years. (source)

...tree: Rauduskoivu, silver birch. (picture by me)

...flower: Kielo, Lily of the valley. (source)

...stone: Graniitti, granite. It’s the most common type of stone in Finland, and it’s been mined here even to be exported. For example, the pillars of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg were made of Finnish granite. And, of course, so was Finland’s Parliament House in Helsinki. There’s even a type of granite that has a Finnish name, rapakivi granite.

...poet: Johan Ludwig Runeberg (1804-1877). The words of our national anthem were made by him, and he wrote a collection of poems, called Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat, The Tales of Ensign Stål, an epic poem about the Finnish War of 1808-1809, a work of literature second to only Kalevala. He was already considered a great man (suurmies) before his death, and Runebergin päivä, Runeberg day, is celebrated on February 5th. 

...composer: Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Composed such little pieces as Finlandia (which was once suggested as the anthem for the whole world), the Karelia Suite, his seven symphonies, Valse triste, and many more. Finlandia is perhaps the best known out of all of them, especially the Finlandia Hymn. It is very beautiful, I agree. Here’s a link, go have a listen if you have time.

...author: Aleksis Kivi. He was the first professional Finnish author. He is the best known for his novel Seitsemän veljestä, Seven Brothers. He also wrote plays and poetry. Oh, yes, I should probably mention that this first professional Finnish author lived in 1834-1872. No, we haven’t been writing books here for very long. There are no photos of him, but there’s this drawing by Albert Edelfelt.

...saint: Piispa Henrik, or Henry, Bishop of Finland. He was murdered here in 1156. Maybe. He might’ve not existed, no one knows for sure.

...satu: See, the word “satu” technically means a fairytale, but some stories that are called a satu in Finnish don’t actually have that much magic stuff, you know? For example this one, that I swear I saw being called Finland’s national “fairytale”, but if it’s not, that’s fine, because it’s still a very well known tale in Finland. It’s called Koivu ja tähti, which means the Birch and the Star. It’s about two children, who were taken from their parents and from their home to Russia during the Russian occupation of Finland called “Isoviha”, or the Great Hatred. A lot of people died, okay, I’ll talk about it later in the history post. Anyway, the siblings, a boy and a girl, who want to return back home to Finland. However, the only thing they remember of their home is the big birch tree growing outside, and how a star always shone through the branches in the evening. They start making their way home, with only two birds leading their way, and after a year find their home and their parents, still alive. However, their two sisters had died while they were away, so the children realize that the two birds were actually the souls of their siblings leading them back home. This was based on the story of the author’s, Sakari Topelius’, great-grandfather Kristoffer Toppelius’ life, as he was taken to Russia as a slave, but after escaping and following the sunset he eventually found his way to Southern Finland. 

But yeah, that’s about it. In our brand new series (that I came up with while making this post), “Some basic stuff about Finland”, the next part will be about the years Finland was a part of Sweden! Material for tons of fanfics y’all

I hope you enjoyed the read! Sorry that it took so long!