#it's based off a picture of that one sculpture

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Another List of Art-Related Vocabulary

Portrait: A painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person or group of people that emphasizes the likeness of the subject, especially the face and its expressions.

Preparatory drawing: A full-sized drawing used by an artist to plan the design of an artwork before beginning the actual artwork. The work may be an easel painting, fresco, stained glass window, sculpture, or other object.

Relief: A sculptural composition that stands out from a flat surface, called a plane of relief, in a carved or molded work of art. There are varying degrees of relief—low, middle, and high—depending on the amount of projection from the sculptural surface.

Self-portrait: A pictorial or literary portrait of oneself, created by the artist or author.

Site plan: A technical drawing for the development and intended use of a particular piece of land.

Socle [SOCK-el]: Base or pedestal supporting a column, vase, or statue.

Space: The area between and around objects. The space around objects is often called negative space. Space can also refer to the feeling or illusion of depth.

Squared: A method for transferring a drawing to another, usually larger, surface. Both surfaces are first ruled off into an equal number of squares. The lines within each square are then transferred freehand to the larger, corresponding squares.

Stele [STEEL-lee]: An upright stone slab or pillar that displays an inscription or design and serves as a monument, marker, or commemorative tablet.

Stereograph: A pair of photographs made from two slightly different points of view. When inserted into an instrument called a stereoscope, the images produce a three-dimensional effect.

Stump: A coil of leather, felt, or paper with blunt points at both ends, used for rubbing on chalk, pencil, pastel, and charcoal drawings in order to produce a softer appearance.

Symbol: Something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; an emblem, token, or sign. The practice of representing things by symbols or of investing objects with a symbolic meaning or character is called symbolism.

Tableau: Short for the French term tableau vivant (living picture), this term refers to a group of people arranged as if in a work of art.

Terracotta: Italian for “baked earth.” This term is used to describe objects created out of reddish brown clay fired at a low temperature and left unglazed. Terracotta is used to make pottery, sculpture, architectural decorations, and tiles.

Transfer: The process of transmitting a design from one surface to another.

Veneer: A decorative technique/process in which slender slices of wood or other suitable material are attached onto other pieces of wood, particleboard, or fiberboard panels to produce decorative doors, tops, and panels for cabinets, parquet floors, and other furniture parts.

Wash: A diluted watercolor or ink applied with a brush to a paper surface in a thin, transparent layer. The term usually refers to a uniform area of transparent color covered quickly with a broad brush.

Source ⚜ More: Art Vocabulary pt. 1 2 3 ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[fluff-and-such]

Hi I started drawing this instead of doing any of the things that I needed to today.

Inarius and Lilith are my trash-ship tho so it's okay.

[scrapplesims]

U-Haul Trailer

My own story screenshots required a U-Haul trailer and I was driven to the brink trying to find a CC equivalent to no avail, so I made one! Why did this not exist already?

Sometimes our Sims aren't fancy enough to hire a full moving van, or they need something a bit more secure than an open pickup truck, or maybe they just had a really great first date with someone and they are ready to move in ASAP, who knows, anyway here you go

Original mesh: TS3 moving truck conversion by enure-style, additional U-Haul texture edit by bunnytears96, mesh and texture further edited by me

Trailer hitch (pictured) not included, it's RV There Yet Trailer Base by Ravasheen (TSR link)

3 swatches

Located in Decorations > Sculptures

Metal texture from @myshunosun's resources

DOWNLOAD (SFS) 🧡

Disclaimer: Any issues? Makes your game explode? Hate it? Don't tell me please. I'm fucking tired

Enjoy!!

EDIT: Just realized that the file I downloaded and worked off of is an additional texture edit of enure-style's mesh done by bunnytears96 so I must give credit for her base U-Haul texture as well! Thank you!

[giuseppe-yuki]

gladiator

gladiator!ollie bearman x goddess of victory!reader

w.c.: 1.7k

warnings: slightly graphic descriptions of gore, angst

summary: yet another young gladiator prays to you in your temple

a/n: very unedited + there might be glaring historical inaccuracies :(

picture credits from pinterest :)

he’s young, not unlike all the ones before him. with tousled brown locks that ruffle as he darts along the marble floor, eyes that glow the colour of syrupy ambrosia in the dim flickering of the torches, and perfect muscled body, he reminds you of venus’ adonis in a way. your gleaming statue, wings outstretched, robes flowing, and holding your iconic laurel wreath, gazes upon him knowingly as he hesitantantly approaches your altar at the base of sculpture. your priests barely spare him a glance- they are too busy preparing a new sacrifice that lays neatly on your stone altar- a once-magnificent bull. its mouth is open in a silent scream and its eyes are glossy as the priests collect its crimson blood in a decorated jar and shave off selective portions of its raw flesh to burn as offerings. he watches as the head priest raises his glistening knife, sticky with blood, and brings it down into the bull’s rough hide with a rough thwack, and he thinks he is going to be sick.

still, he falls into a kneel in front of your statue, like a lowly subject in front of an emperor, and like the ones before him, prays for victory.

you sit near the emperor’s viewing box, in a seat only the highest generals could afford. your appearance flickers to those around you- sometimes appearing as a beautiful maiden or a wizened old man. the crowds don’t notice your wavering form, instead focusing all their attention to the sandy center of the amphitheater, where the boy cowers with a silver sword and flat-planed shield, awaiting his opponent. above you, the emperor lounges lazily on a plush couch and inhales grapes from the vine. when he gives a signal- a mere flick of his hand- the gates of the amphitheater rumble open to reveal a snorting bear, prompting the audience to roar in approval. it was obvious- they were here to see blood, and that was what the emperor would give them. 

within the first minutes, the beast had already batted away the boy’s flimsy shield and raked his sharp claws against the length of the boy’s leg. rivulets of red, like rubies against his pale skin, flow down from the wound, satiating a fraction of the crowd’s hunger. you can see how he grips his sword tight enough that his knuckles turn white and the fear in his eyes as he tries to limp away from the bear. you can also see the hesitance in his swings that open up deep cuts that flow vermillion along the animal’s hide like the wound on his leg. you help the best that you can. a miscalculated stumble of the bear, a slight push away from the path of the beast’s paw, a guide of the sword towards a critical artery. but, when he finally plunges his bloodied sword into the throat of the exhausted animal, like a knife through butter, it is all his doing. it reminds you of the first fight of another young champion of the past, sebastian, and the roar of the lion that he had fought with a spear. when the animal lies, dying, in its own pool of blood, does the boy finally collapse onto the sandy ground, exhausted in his own sense. before he passes out from blood loss, he raises his head, and it’s like he looks directly at you. 

you come to him in the form of a young medici, a bag of bandages, ointments, and herbs in one hand. ollie, is what he says his name is, and he gives you a small smile even as he lay pale and bleeding on the rough cot in the newly assigned private sleeping quarters for victors. he’s prettier up close, even when his brown eyes blink at you hazily and his cheeks are colorless from the lack of blood. 

he first opens his mouth to break the silence when you are spreading your magical nector salve on his wounds.

“i’m glad they sent someone as beautiful as you to come patch me up,” he says in a lilting tone, eyes trained on your profile.

you can easily strike him down like you always do with unwanted advances from mortals, but instead, you laugh, a twinkling sound that ollie swears is the prettiest thing he’s ever heard. 

“you flatter me,” you reply, a rare smile gracing your face.

although you are not aesculapius, the god of medicine, your hands make quick work in firmly wrapping the soft bandage expertly around the openings on his leg. after all, it would be pretty pathetic if a champion with the blessing of the goddess of victory herself didn’t last a full day after his win.

when you are done, you wave your hand subtly over the top of his wounds, willing the greater parts of his pain away. he visibly relaxes, like a weight had lifted from his shoulders. 

his eyes track you silently as you throw your materials back into your brown medici bag. it triggers the memory of a certain eerily quiet champion you had blessed before- kimi- whose bright blue eyes you can remember skittering across your figure when you had bandaged his wounds. 

when you are done packing up your bag, you tread lightly to the door. before you can pull it open, ollie calls out to you. 

“wait,” he says, voice pleading.

you hesitate, but turn back to him, your tunic swishing. 

ollie looks at you with wide eyes, as if he didn’t believe that he had spoken out loud. 

“can you- can you stay for a bit?” he asks apprehensively. 

there are a million things to tend to, like overseeing minor battles, ensuring triumph in campaigns, and granting the prayers of the mortals that knelt in your temples, but you can’t help but concede to his request. 

you neglect your duties for far too long in the damp room with ollie. it was laughable in a way, to see the great goddess of victory pliant under the wiles of a young mortal.

he talks about his parents, about his younger brother, and his little sister, and about how he dragged away one fateful evening from his family to become a gladiator, unlike the multitude of other bloodthirsty gladiators from rich families that wanted fame and fortune. but, when he comes to the topic of his actions in the arena, he suddenly goes still. 

“i didn’t want to kill it, you know,” he whispers quietly, as if he didn’t want to admit it. 

his bottom lip quivers, and it is now that you are reminded how young he really is. it is a reminder of another victor that you had championed, charles, and his unwillingness to kill, even as a successful gladiator. like charles, big fat tears slip from the corners of his eyes when he thinks back to the poor creature, most likely chained and beaten, being made a spectacle, and dying by the hands of another for entertainment. however, you knew they always toughened up after awhile- they always did. so, you brush a comforting hand through his curls, kiss him gently on the forehead, and it’s only when he falls into a deep sleep do you finally leave the room.

you see him again several days later, this time in the great roman amphitheater again. again, he stands with his flat-planed shield and silver sword in the dusty middle of the arena. a look of fierce intensity flashes across his helmeted features, unlike the last time he was in this position, making him look significantly more willing to slay whatever beast steps in his path. 

however, when the emperor waves his hands, commanding the gates to rumble open, and the crowd thunders in excitement, what steps out is a familiar man with thick black hair that seems to sway perfectly in the breeze, a hint of stubble, and pouty pink lips that you knew all too well. carlos, you remember his name was.  you remember too, the way he had knelt down in your temple all those years before like ollie had. he had made an offering of three silver coins- all that money he had- and begged for you to protect him in the arena. true to your word, you gave him your divine protection until he became the emperor’s champion gladiator, personally favored by the elite and the crowd. 

carlos makes the first move, taking advantage of ollie’s barely healed leg. his weapon of choice, an engraved dagger, hacks a deep line of red as it carves from the tip of ollie’s right shoulder to his hip. at the sight of the excess bright liquid cascading down the younger boy’s body, the crowd erupts in a frenzy. when ollie collapses, unmoving, on the ground, they seem to chant carlos’ name- our champion, our champion, they scream. it seems like ollie is just another easy opponent, another nobody that would ultimately make their way onto the carlos’ lengthy list of the vanquished. carlos turns away from ollie to face the crowd, a smile on his lips and arms open, embracing the crowd. he has not lost once for a year, so what makes it seem like he would lose now?

that’s what makes it all-too-surprising when ollie pushes himself up with god-given strength and hacks down on carlos’ neck as hard as he can, with his sword. it lands with a wet thwack the way the priest’s knife did in the bull back in your temple before.

when ollie is paraded through the town, a victor’s laurel wreath atop his pretty head, the crowds that once shouted carlos’ name now screams ollie’s, crowning him as victor. neverending bottles of wine, cornucopias overfilling with food, and precious jewelery are thrust into his arms from every direction. you know it feels good to be loved by the people. it’s a pity, because you know ultimately, your divine interventions would draw the attention of the three parcae who controlled peoples’ fate. the fate of a gladiator was to die; they always did. it was proven with all the past gladiators you championed-  the brave sebastian, quiet kimi, kind-hearted charles, and now, the resilient carlos. it was all a matter of time before they would take ollie. even worse, the crowd would probably move on just as quickly like they did with carlos. so, for now, you watch as he smiles his dimpled smile and let him bask in the glory of being victorious. 

[7s3ven]

TF 141 + THEIR FAV CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY W/ YOU.

( master list )

John Price - gift wrapping

Price has perfected the art of wrapping Christmas presents and although he loves you with all his heart… he can’t say the same about you. It’s easy to tell who wrapped whose gift based on whether the paper is neat or scrunched up.

You’ve never had the talent for gift wrapping, choosing to fold the paper in random directions instead. As long as it covers the gift itself, it’s good enough.

You know Price hates your wrapping technique so it’s no surprise that you find him downstairs on Christmas Eve, frantically rewrapping your gifts.

“John, honey, couldn’t this wait until tomorrow?” You rub your eyes as you stop at the top of the stairs. You see Price freeze before he slowly turns his head to face you.

“John? Never heard of him. I’m… Santa Claus?”

You send him a deadpan look. “John, get your ass back in bed now. I need something to hug.” You retreat back to your shared bed, waiting for your husband.

It takes him two minutes to rush back into the room, peel off his shirt, and climb back under the covers.

Peaceful silence engulfs the room until Price parts his lips. “Are you sure you don’t want to take that gift wrapping class?” He utters. You lightly slap his shoulder in response.

Simon Riley - decorating the tree and car

Simon has always preferred a more quiet atmosphere where he can tend to his thoughts. He knows how much you adore Christmas so he tries his best to enjoy the holiday without feeling overwhelmed. You quickly realized that Simon hated stepping out of his comfort zone, hence why you suggested Christmas activities that catered towards his silent personality.

This included decorating the tree. Simon was at peace for once as the fire crackled in the background while he effortlessly lifted you up, allowing you to place a few ornaments at the top of the tree.

He liked minimalistic designs, not a huge fan of chaos like Jonny was. That’s why your tree only had ornaments that represented a particular moment. There was a red jewelled sphere that Simon had bought for you two years ago and a small framed picture of the two of you cuddled up on a couch (taken by Kyle).

Strangely enough, Simon yearned to decorate something else after the tree was complete. Thus, he moved onto the car.

John (Johnny) Mctavish - building an army of snow men

Between decorating every surface of your shared house and having an endless supply of nutmeg, Johnny’s favourite activity is building snowmen. Or rather, snow creatures. He is the epitome of ‘do you wanna build a snowman?’. In fact, you’re sure he’s blasted that song enough during a cold winter day that it’ll be on his Spotify wrapped.

Sometimes Johnny creates cute snow sculptures, like the adorable bear you were sitting beside that almost felt like a pet. Other times, he’s building questionable ones. You watch as Johnny wraps a scarf around his newly made (and rather lopsided) snowman.

“Johnny, love, what is that?” You call out as you absentmindedly pick up a handful of snow.

Johnny grins as he sticks a carrot in the middle of its face, proudly showing you his newest snowman. “It looks like Simon, don’t you think?”

If you squint enough and tilt your head at a specific angle, the snowman doesn’t look as goofy. “Sure, whatever floats your boat.” You offer Johnny a reassuring smile to hide the fact that the snowman does not resemble Simon Riley in any way.

Kyle Garrick - baking

One thing Kyle loves more than eating your Christmas cookies is helping you make them. He has a soft spot for seeing you in an apron and focused on mixing the dough.

“Kyle, can you find the cookie cutters for me?” You ask, blinking up at him innocently. He sends you a charming grin, immediately opening every drawer he can get his hands on.

It takes him half an hour to actually find the cookie cutters and by then, you’re done with the dough.

“Took you long enough.” You laugh at him, pinching his muscled bicep. Kyle finds joy in using the cookie cutters to create different shapes; trees, snowflakes, reindeer. But his absolute favourite part is decorating.

He has a knack for adding too many sprinkles, leaving little to no cookie left. Nevertheless, when you plate the treats, you make sure to put his creations in the middle.

“They look cute, love.” You say as you softly kiss his nose. He knows you’re lying but he doesn’t really care, not when your hands are running through his hair and you’re peppering his face with smooches.

[max1461]

only tangentially related but sometimes I wonder if survivorship bias makes us view modern art as less than older art, that time and cultural memory acts as a natural bullshit filter, that actually people were just as vapid and pretentious back then, but none of the vapid and pretentious work had enough cultural value stick around to be examined now

I think it's partly this, but it's partly something else.

This is probably gonna piss a lot of people off, but I think in a particular sense, contemporary art is just... straightforwardly more advanced than older art. I know, I know, but hear me out: I don't mean that as a value judgement. What I mean is like...

Ok, take math as an example. Math started out talking about things that everybody's heard of: triangles, circles, whole numbers. But as those concepts were better understood, they got abstracted more and more. Symmetries of shapes where abstracted to symmetry groups, numbers abstracted to rings and fields, eventually it was all abstracted to category theory, and so on. And now if you look at major research topics in modern math, things like e.g. the Langlands program, as a non-expert, it often looks like a bunch of fucking nonsense about bullshit objects that don't have anything to do with the real world! But even though I don't understand the Langlands program itself, I know enough math to understand why all the levels of abstraction that I have understood are meaningful and valuable, and I can see why going even further would be too. And math is useful enough that the results often speak for themselves.

So I think contemporary art is much like this. If you read contemporary art theory, you will immediately see that it is all very meta. Art used to be made about very concrete things—people and nice looking vistas and so on—that anyone could understand. And then theorists came along and built up frameworks for thinking about art, because they wanted to understand why that art worked, why it was powerful and emotive. And then new, avant-garde artist came along and made art about the frameworks, pushing at their edge-cases or exploring their unintuitive implications. And then new frameworks were built up to understand that art, rinse and repeat. This account is, as I understand it, a little bit ahistorical—the building and the pushing of frameworks was often simultaneous and often not clearly articulated. Although, frankly, the same could be said for the history of math. But in retrospect I think a pretty undeniable picture emerges.

So, to put it bluntly, I think one of the reasons so much contemporary art looks vapid is that it isn't for you. It's about things you've never heard of, in the same way that category theory is about spaces and morphisms, and explaining that to someone who's never heard of groups or topological spaces is basically impossible. And I think there are some differences—art is obviously, you know, totally vibes based in a way that math isn't. If a big wire sculpture with styrofoam cups on it or whatever doesn't speak to you then it doesn't speak to you, no one can defend it on "objective" grounds. And art isn't useful in the way that math is, so it doesn't demonstrate its validity to people who don't get it in any way. But what I wish people understood is that there are people, who know a bunch of art theory and art history, who that wire sculpture with styrofoam cups on it does speak to. It makes them go "oh, I love how it plays off of X and contrasts with Y" etc. etc. And that isn't going to happen for you because, like, you don't know what X or Y even are! But that doesn't make it valueless, it just makes it insular. Which, you know, contemporary art really is! I think there are a lot of contemporary artists who claim to not be doing what I just described, who claim to be making art "for everybody", but I think if you read their artist statements and stuff it often becomes pretty clear that this is not the case. And this is a valid criticism of contemporary art! But "vapid" is mostly not.

Pretentious, definitely. It's pretentious as fuck.

[themculibrary]

Bucky/Clint Road Trip Fics Masterlist

Americana is for Lovers (ao3) - ccbytheseashore M, 8k

Summary: Please tell me you are still alive, read Steve's text.

In Virginia, Bucky replied.

The hell are you doing in Virginia?

Would you believe me if I said trying to find a foam sculpture of Stonehenge?

Tony said to make sure his car comes back in once piece. Please don't shoot each other.

Clint and Bucky set off on an adventure to find an infamous work of Americana history, but find literally everything else (including love) instead.

Aw, Blood, No (ao3) - Reremouse (TheBelfry) M, 19k

Summary: Being turned into a vampire was never part of Clint “Mr. Actual Ray of Human Sunshine (sometimes)” Barton’s life plan. But they say life is what happens while you’re making other plans, and when an Avengers mission to take out a Hydra base goes disastrously wrong, Clint comes out of the fray undead.

Unfortunately for Clint, SHIELD has guidelines to deal with agents who have been turned into vampires: bring them in, or take them out. Fortunately, Bucky is both well-versed in vampires (Hydra—what are you going to do?) and evading SHIELD. Fortunately, Bucky is both well-versed in vampires (Hydra—what are you going to do?) and evading SHIELD.

And sometimes “I’m your hostage. Get moving,” is the way Bucky says ���I love you.”

blank passivity (i'm hiding my shit-eating grin) (ao3) - WHYISEVERYNAMETAKEN T, 21k

Summary: Upon being handed a mission that includes a tiny car, a cross-country roadtrip, and also, oh yeah, the Winter Soldier, Clint can honestly say that he's not having a great time. Adding in the fact that Barnes doesn't even want to talk to him has Clint preparing himself for the longest drive of his life.

(Clint is also pretty sure that Captain America hates him, but that's neither here nor there.)

OR

If I had a nickel for every time [Bucky took a picture with a beaver], I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice -Dr. Doofenshmirtz

crying wolf out to the moon (ao3) - shatteredhourglass T, 3k

Summary: Clint decides it's a good idea to drag Bucky on a road trip on the day of the full moon. Bucky's too weak for Clint to deny him anything, even if it is in fact, a goddamn terrible idea.

drive ‘n whine (ao3) - hawksonfire G, 1k

Summary: Bucky’s been stuck in the Tower for too long, so Clint does something about it.

Liminal Spaces (ao3) - thepartyresponsible M, 20k

Summary: “Clint,” Steve says, and it’s that same no-bullshit, do-or-die, I really, really mean it voice he used to trot out in the last few innings of close games in high school. “Bucky’s not gonna fly. He’s not going to drive himself. He can’t— I need you to drive him here.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Clint says, and hangs up.

Runaways (ao3) - madetobeworthy G, 1k

Summary: Sometimes Bucky needs to be gone, and sometimes Clint goes with him. They don't need to speak, just listen to the radio as the car devours the miles ahead of them.

see the stars come out of the sky (ao3) - veryrach M, 11k

Summary: “Arrested, yeah, I remember. How the hell do you have ten grand in cash - no, you know what, don’t tell me, forget I asked,” Clint says resignedly. “So let me get this straight. You want me to drive all the way out to Niagara Falls, pick up what I’m sure is a totally legit random bag of cash from somewhere, use it to bail you out, and drive all the way back.”

In which Bucky helps Clint help Barney. There’s a road trip, slightly inept fumbling of the emotional and physical varieties, and a bit with a dog.

the search for clint (ao3) - pherryt G, 2k

Summary: It’s a long road Bucky’s on, and he can only hope Clint is at the end of it.

The Start of Something (ao3) - kookykoi T, 1k

Summary: Bucky had the bright idea of going on a road trip. Clint had the brighter idea of going with him.

worse than a motel 6 (ao3) - spiralsystem T, 7k

Summary: Nat and Clint are assigned to take down the remaining Hydra bases on the outskirts of civilization, the ones that the others clearly don’t have time for. Oh well, road trip for Clint! Until Nat, Clint, and the one person Clint Really wanted to avoid, run into each other at the shadiest motel Clint has ever seen.

you’re my best friend (ao3) - pherryt G, 9k

Summary: Clint and Bucky need to go on a road trip to get to their next mission which Clint figures is the best way to get to know Bucky even better. It goes better than planned!

[carniekisses]

Here's a long post that I really hope Tumblr will not flag as NSFW (please don't flag this), I remember back when I showed off the needlefelt Gomer sculpture I had made, someone asked if I had like a work process to show off for it. And I did not, because I had kept it all confined to a private account. I thought it'd be fun to have something to show for it for this one.

So I've been wanting to make a BJD for at least the past 15 years, back when I was a kid with no money to buy supplies with and also with a worry for symmetry, and also also I wasn't very skilled. It's 2024, and I vaguely know how to use Blender now

I've started this project on April 6th, as I've been documenting this on the above mentioned private account.

Of said model I (much) later ended up only being able to salvage the physical sculpts of the chest and torso parts as I messed up somewhat badly, see down below. I also ended up dropping the 'magnets in hands & feet' concept as it was just redundant, one can simply unhook them off the elastic if they are to swap them out.

At any rate, I 3D printed it all and got to sanding, and painting.

So far so good I guess, really not a fan of how the knee and elbow bean slots were just holes (I fixed that later don't worry)

So This was Not looking good lmao. I used acrylic paint, which was not necessarily the problem, the problem was that I'd applied it with a sponge brush which caused the surface to feel really sandpapery once dry. So don't do that I suppose, bad idea

On top of this, I realized that given the thickness of this doll I absolutely needed double joints in the legs, in order to have decent articulation. You can see in the above pics I *had* sculpted those, but I later fused the knee beans with the shins with apoxy resin, for some reason? I think it was because as I posed the legs the knee beans kept falling *into* the hollowed out shins/thighs, and I got tired of it.

The final blows for this model were me applying some 3D finish resin in a last ditch effort to smooth out the horrible texture, which rendered the pieces extremely shiny and smooth (disgusting), WHICH then prompted me to apply matte varnish to fix that bullshit. It absolutely did not work lmfao, and I have no pictures of that disaster because I became pretty discouraged about having to go back to like square two or three.

Some time passed (months really because I kept getting distracted for many a reason [sanding is so fucking boring, Blender was a mistake, I was feeling overwhelmed, I was too sad/tired to work that day, etc.]), I buckled down and finally retooled the pieces that needed it: everything But the chest and torso parts, off of which I managed to sand the varnish and smooth resin. I had fixed all the double joints too to actually be decently functional this time. The head was completely resculpted to better reflect the character's latest design iteration.

bean slots: Fixed

So after sanding (which was the part I was dreading the entire time, because it's so tedious and also it hurts after a while), I caved and got myself an airbrush to, hopefully, lay paint down good this time.

Very glad I did because the difference is kinda crazy. Please ignore my dirty ass desk, it's what happens when you craft. These pictures are from last week btw.

The blue base and the blush were airsprayed, the finer details like the dark shading and the pinker parts were done with both chalk and just acrylic paint. I miiight remake the eyeballs, or at least add more of a smooth finish. The shine to them is really nice

Here's she with lashes, wearing a shitty little scrap of fabric I cut in 10 minutes for fun (please DON'T flag th), and posing to test out the double joints too, they definitely could be better but they work Fine and I'm okay with that.

As of today I'm waiting for the fibres to deliver, for the wig, I already have the cap done. I guess I can update this when it happens, thanks for reading so far, I hope it was interesting, see you next time.......

[starmendotnet]

RETURN OF THE EARTHBOUND FUNKTASTIC GAMEPLAY SUMMER

Hello everyone! It is with GREAT ENTHUSIASM that we would like to announce the:

But first… what IS a Funktastic Gameplay Summer?

Us Starmen.Netters are bringing back a long-beloved sitewide tradition! The Earthbound Funktastic Gameplay Summer is an event that dates back to 2001, wherein the community collectively plays through EarthBound over the course of several “Gameplay Points” (GPPs). Everyone is encouraged to play along, and our team of stream hosts will be broadcasting their own gameplay on the StarmanClub Twitch channel. In addition, we will be celebrating MOTHER’s 35th and Earthbound’s 30th anniversary!

Maybe it’s been a minute since you’ve returned to the game. Maybe you’ve never played before! The idea is to get fans, new and old, engaging with Earthbound. With introduction out of the way, let’s move on to the deets:

THE SUBMISSIONS

An integral part of Starmen history is fan submissions, where the community creates fanart about the stream events, and just EB in general. As per usual, here are the categories:

Categories!

Writing: Stories, poems, theories… if you wrote it, it belongs here! Handart: Charcoal, paintings, sculptures… if you made it with your hands, it belongs here! Compart: Digital illustrations, 3D models, pixel art… if you made it with a computer, it belongs here! AudioViz: Music, videos, fangames… if it pertains to audio/visuals, it belongs here!

Prizes!

Winners will receive shiny badges on the forum to show off their mastery of Earthbound funk, as well as forum ranks and avatars!

Of course, opening up the floor to fanworks doesn’t come without its fair share of ground rules. Don’t worry though, it’s pretty simple stuff.

Rules!

Submissions must be related to Earthbound/the Funktastic Gameplay streams

If your submission contains content that would require a trigger warning (violence, sensitive subject matters, etc.) please put it in a spoiler box with a warning.

You may submit as many pieces to one category as you like, but only one can place

You may submit to as many categories as you like

Any submission must’ve been made for this event. No previous works!

THE STREAM SCHEDULE

Keep an eye out in our Event forum for the schedule drop, but livestreams won't be the only thing we've got going on!

THE ADDITIONAL EVENTS

If you can’t catch the streams, don’t worry! The streams are only a small part of our summer programming. In addition, there will be other events to keep the party goin’! These being:

Eagleland Scrapbook (July 15th – August 24th):

Get your cameras out and your bug spray on! This summer, we’re running a collaborative photo book! At the end of the event, your photos will be assembled into a digital booklet for your viewing pleasure. So, where to start? Well, we’re limiting subjects to four categories; birds, flora, fungi, and insects.

A couple notes; you’re more than free to submit multiple photos if you’d like, and there is no judgment on the quality of the photos. Just try your best to keep the camera as focused on the subject as possible. The event ends on August 24th, so get snapping! And most of all, have fun!

EB No Natsumatsuri (August 1st – August 24th):

Our highly calibrated MoonWatch Radar indicates that activity coming from the Annual Gift Man’s base is already approaching usual December levels, and climbing! That can only mean EB no Matsuri has come early, and that can only mean one thing: time to prepare a feast for the Gift Man’s arrival! The beloved Starmen.Net tradition returns, but in a brand new form! Instead of gift giving, we would like to encourage everyone to come up with or find a MOTHER-series themed recipe, make it, and share the recipe and pictures of your delicious dish with everyone! It’s a virtual potluck, and everyone’s invited. (Can’t think of what to make? Make Your Favorite Food, of course, whatever it is!)

And now for our final announcement at this time… prepare yourselves for something very special!

A NEW AND EXCITING OPPORTUNITY

This message is brought to you by PorcBanc™

The savvy investors over at PorcBanc™ have very graciously offered all Starmen.Net members EXCLUSIVE and PRIVILEGED access to a cutting edge, Earthbound-themed surprise to our Funktastic Gameplay Summer events! A special surprise will be released to the public on July 21st, 2024. Be sure to stay tuned for more details on all your favourite Starmen.Net media channels! Remember folks:

“With PorcBanc™, we guarantee profits HAM over fist!”

Guarantees or promises made by PorcBanc and its affiliated subsidiaries are intended for marketing purposes only and do not hold any legal value.

An event™ by PorcBanc™

[kmgkmg]

LOVE FOOL - CHOI SEUNGCHEOL

word count: 0.6k…

pairing: seungcheol x gn!reader

synopsis: you and your boyfriend are out and about being affectionate and just obnoxiously cute!

genre/s: fluff, non-idol!au, bf!seungcheol, established relationship, domestic

warnings: none!

rating: pg

a/n: title is taken from the song love fool by exo! the fic is largely based on this pic hehe <3 first seungcheol fic so hope yall enjoy it!

“Doesn’t that sculpture look like a bunch of grapes?” Seungcheol asks you, pointing to the abstract sculpture in the near distance. 

“It does!” You agree excitedly at his discovery, to which your boyfriend lights up.

He lets his eyes wander on the sculpture for a while more before continuing to walk. The two of you were out for another one of your sweet dates, walking around the city after watching a movie at the theaters. 

Still standing in front of the sculpture, you call out to him, “Let me take some pics of you in front of it.”

He turns back, seeing you motion him over with your hands. “In front of this?” 

“Yeah! It has its own artistic aesthetic, no? Perfect for Instagram.” You explain whilst enthusiastically pulling your phone out in preparation. There were several passersby, but you continued to be unaffected by their stares, solely focused on your boyfriend.  

Seungcheol sees how much you want to take his pictures and lightly jogs back over to you. He’s used to your antics, well aware of how much you enjoyed taking pictures to remember the events of the day.

“There it is, Cheol! Your perfect smile.” 

He notices that you’re grinning from ear to ear. Seungcheol always thought your smile was infectious, but today proved it once again. Unable to contain his own joy, his smile only grows wider at your happiness. He poses with great focus, starting to care less and less about the people around you. 

“Now silly poses!” You direct him, acting playful behind your phone’s camera. He covers his mouth slightly with his hand, trying his best to stifle his laughter. 

An elderly couple approaches you, undetected by you since you were determined to take the best photos of Seungcheol. Seungcheol’s smile falters slightly at the strangers walking to you, stopping his poses. 

“Young love,” the elderly man starts, “this is the best time. Let us take pictures of the two of you together! You resemble my partner and I when we first started dating.” 

You finally look away from Seungcheol, diverting your attention to the source of the words just spoken. An elderly man stood behind you, waiting for your reply to his offer with a small smile and a hint of nostalgia behind it. The couple were still linking arms, clearly in love with each other. Your gaze drifted to their hands, noticed the wrinkled state of them, but both were wearing well-kept rings around their ring fingers. 

“Aw, we would love that!” You answer warmly, carefully passing your phone to him. 

Having not been able to hear your conversation, Seungcheol is frozen in front of the sculpture. You head in his direction, an action that only confuses him more. The puzzlement on his face makes you smirk, before filling him in. Seungcheol nods, moving over so that both of you are centered in the photo. 

He glances over to you beside him, still beaming with a peace sign placed near your face. On the count of three, Seungcheol turns and places a quick peck on your cheek. He loved giving you wet kisses, so he ended the kiss with a loud smooch. Your head whips in his direction, putting your hand up to your face to feel the wetness he left. 

Faking disgust, you rub his spit off your face. “Gross!” 

“What can I say? You make me a fool, Y/N.” Seungcheol shrugs, looking back towards your phone. 

Without missing a beat, you reply to him. “A fool? Then, call me a love fool since I’m completely in love with you.” 

You look at each other adoringly, happy to have met.

“Say cheese!” The elderly man’s spouse instructs, making you both tense up, realizing how distracted you were. 

Seungcheol mumbles through his smile, “That makes two love fools.”

[aireia]

angst no comfort, nanami's dead. again. minor spoilers for ch 120. —masterlist

note: it started off as a shower thought. note #2: someone told me it was called a shower thought and it should stay in the shower (hi kida)

Thinking about…

Nanami x ceramist/ sculptor reader. 

Where the both of you moved into a brand new apartment after a few years of being together. The house was mostly empty aside from the furniture, so Nanami loved it when you would make cups and plates and teacups, and eventually, the cabinets were filled with your creations, each piece different from the last in some way. 

Somehow, in the middle of his busy schedule, he had found a way to turn an unused room into your own mini factory whenever you didn’t feel like going out. Most of the shelves were filled with air dry or water based clay so that you wouldn’t need heat for it to dry, letting you practice your hobbies more than you could before. 

Sometimes at night when you’re unable to sleep, he’d sit in the corner reading a book while you worked on different pieces, peeking from his book every now and then to silently observe the way your hands moved. Once it struck a specific time, he’d get up and gently ask you to go back to bed with him.

Now, you’re staring down at the clay stuck in between your nails and fingers with blurry vision. You look up at your sculpture, and there’s something wrong about it. Just like it has been for the last few. 

You keep pressing your fingers down on the clay to make adjustments, maybe a little to the left? Or the right? You don’t realise how long it’s been since you’ve started, but it dries at one point, and you aren’t able to make any more corrections to it, and you’re telling yourself this is wrong. 

Nanami doesn’t look like this. 

And then you move onto the next sculpture, and the process repeats itself over and over and over again, and each time you think there’s more mistakes than the last. Is it his eyes? His facial structure? His smile? 

You look at the pictures you had together. You’d stare at them for hours on end, but yet, it never worked. It isn’t him, it isn’t him, this isn’t your Kento. 

Your eyes go back to the first sculpture you’ve made of him since the 1st of November, and you gently touch the face you’ve sculpted, and you’re waiting for something. When you carved his face, you didn’t etch a smile into the clay. And now, you desperately want to hold his face in your hands again, and you’re waiting for the slab of clay to smile as he did when you did this to him when he was still with you. 

You flick your eyes back to your current piece and then to everything around you, and then you realise you haven’t spent nearly enough time for you to be able to engrave his smile into your mind. Hell, he’s already beginning to slip out of your mind, and you aren’t sure how to stop it. 

Again, and again… You’re sure your studio’s going to be filled with him soon.

by user @ aireia, do not plagiarize and/or translate.

[poisonousroxstar]

Short Imagine

Rita Wheeler

Contains: a passing mention of intercourse.

Rita is a calm and simple woman who just wants to live the good life with her darling, as much as she can in Night City.

At work she has to put on a tough exterior, which may extend towards you, but only in a playful manner. If you're ever with her, she probably keeps you inside Lizzie's where she and the girls can keep a careful eye on you - Night City's a dangerous place, and no one would be dumb enough to ruffle the feathers of the Mox at their own club. Plus, she'll know what you're up to while she isn't there to keep an eye on you.

Off work, Rita peels that rough skin off and acts herself again. After a long day hauling out drunkards and beating up grabby clients, she just wants some way to unwind with you, usually that involves home-based things, such as cooking, silently listening to music, some casual, intimate sex, ect.

Her favourite pastime is making clay sculptures with you. There's something intimate about it, especially when she can help you - her hands over yours, guiding you with firm, knowing hands. Even if the statue is horrible to look at, she'll treat it like something special - with a bit of playful banter here and there. Rita likes making little clay sculptures of you and her together, and just... daydreams about the life you two could have - she honestly can't picture herself with anyone else but you anymore.

She just wants a simple life with you, where she can look out her window one morning and see a bird or something, with you by her side to share that small intimate moment with. In an ideal world, that wouldn't be something so demanding to have.

Rita may tease you or playfully push you around sometimes, especially if she's on the clock, but her love for you is deep and fierce. She loves you from the bottom of her heart, don't ever forget that.

[gojo-mochi]

Making Snowmen in The Shape of You

SYN: The winter blues been increasing the levels of curses lately and you finally found some time alone to yourself. You decided to take this time to build a funny little snowman totally not in the shape of your crush

CW: A bit of dirty talk at the end, Gojo being Gojo, Mostly Fluff.

WC: 1.4k

A/N: Was supposed to be apart of a bigger series but shush its ok.... My actual Gojo bday fic will be out tomorrow!

You had a free hour away from your students and paperwork. Well, technically, you made a deal with Gojo to shove all your paperwork on him in exchange for some special, limited-edition mochi you managed to snatch on one of your work trips. You were 99% sure that Gojo would still try to pawn off his paperwork to Ichiji or some other poor sap. Curse activity has been through the roof lately due to seasonal depression. You roll your shoulders, trying to loosen some of the tension and stress you've been feeling lately due to the increasing number of missions you've been assigned.

You packed the snow tightly on the miniature snowman you were making as these thoughts crossed your mind. While you were grateful to have a momentary break, you couldn’t lie and say that you didn’t miss the company of the boisterous students and a certain white-haired coworker of yours. Blood ran to your face as you thought about Gojo, and you blamed it on the cold weather instead, pushing down any inappropriate thoughts you had. Your hands moved on their own as it finished building the base of the snowman, picking up some of the fallen leaves nearby and placing them sticking up on top.

By the time you were done giving the snowman a hairdo, taking a step back, you realized that it oddly resembled Gojo in some sort of hilarious way. Your hands found their way in your pocket as you were thinking of what to do for its eyes, remembering that on one of your missions you came across a small toy shop. Selling buckets full of marbles that you used to play with as a kid, one of them caught your eye as you were walking by it—a shiny and bright blue. As you picked it up to peer in closer, you were faced with an endless blue ocean. No matter which side you were peering in from, the endless blue in the marble always seemed to shift endlessly. 

A cough pulled you out of your trance. The shopkeeper was eyeing you warily. You coughed and embarrassingly smiled back at them, asking if they had another marble with the same color. They gave you another look, grunted that if they were one, it would be somewhere in the bin, and told you to find it yourself. The click-clacking of marbles running into each other still haunts your dreams even to this day, but you held your head high as you found an exact match to the marble that caught your eye. As your fingers roll the two marbles together in your hands now, you wonder what possessed you to go to such lengths to get these marbles anyway. 

A certain annoying laugh invaded your mind as these thoughts passed. You sigh, bending down to your tiny snowman and poking in eye holes so you could place the marbles in. Backing away a bit to look at your sculpture, The sun shining down made the marble almost seem to glow with an intense blue fire. You squinted your eyes to make sure you were thinking right, laughing a little at how much it resembled Gojo. ‘It only needs that dumb blindfold he always wears now.’, you absentmindedly tug at your black scarf, thinking silently. You pull it off in the next moment, being careful as you wrap it around the snowman’s head.

The marbles were hidden away now, like precious gems. You stood proudly in front of the Gojo snowman, puffing out your chest proudly at the silly resemblance. Taking out your phone, you decided to take pictures of it to send to your students, knowing that some of them would get a kick out of seeing it. Only to get spooked by cold hands suddenly appearing on your neck, you screamed and dropped your phone on the snowy ground. Turning around to find a snowy man with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Scared, ya?” Gojo laughed at the expression on your face, his infinity blocking the snowball you threw at him while bending down to get your phone. Dusting off the snow on your screen, Gojo took this lean over your shoulder, squishing his cheek next to yours and placing a hand delicately on your waist.

His long fingers just barely pressed down on your uniform, like he was afraid that he applied any more pressure that you would break. “Is that supposed to be me?” He points at the mini-Snowgojo with his other hand. You swat at his outstretched hand but made no move to get away from his hold, fighting down the blush that was threatening to come up from being so close to your not-so-crush crush. “Kinda, it definitely doesn’t capture your annoying aura, though.” You murmur, and Gojo faked a dramatic gasp and pretended to faint on you, making you catch him in your arms.

 He didn’t put all of his weight on you, but it was still enough to make you struggle a bit. "Gojo, get off of me!” “I told you to call me Satoruuuuuu.” Gojo pouted and crossed his arms, not making a move to get up. “Fine, Satoruuuuuuu~ Can you please get off of me?” You mimicked his whiny voice, making him pout those pretty lips of his even more, but he did eventually get back off of you. Crouching down to look at this mini-me, “You used your scarf for my blindfold?” He tugged at the makeshift blindfold on the snowman, accidentally pulling it too hard and pulling it loose.

“Whoops.”  

As the scarf fell loose, the marbles also fell off with it. You scrambled to get them before Gojo could, but his reflexes were much quicker than yours. Scooping up the marbles in his hand and bringing one near to his face, he lifted up his blindfold to take a closer look. “You know… These marbles have a very striking similarity to my eyes. Did you miss me so much that you went out of your way to build this?” He clutched at his heart and pretended to wipe away a tear. “If I knew that my absence would affect you like this, I would have taken you on my missions with me!" 

The blush went on full force this time as Gojo continued to tease you, “Satoru, I’m not a special grade like you; I wouldn’t survive if I went on your missions.” Gojo draped an arm around your shoulder, resting his chin on top of your head. “Now, when did I say that you'd be fighting alongside me?” His arm goes down to rest on the small of your back now. “Now, when did I say that I’ve put you on the front lines with me, hmm? You would just be resting back at the hotel, all nice and cozy, waiting for me to come home to you, like the good girl I know you are~."

Gojo whispered the last part directly next to your ear, making you shiver like crazy. “Did you really think I didn’t notice all those looks you would give me all the time? Hmm~? Especially when it was training day, your eyes were glued on me, weren’t they?” He pulls you in closer, his lips brushing against your earlobe now. “Naughty girl, you should have been focusing on teaching and not trying to eye-fuck me.” “I-I wasn’t-ah!” You let out a strangled yelp as Gojo bit down on your earlobe gently, but the surprise and the warmth of his tongue were enough to make you start melting even in the winter weather.

 He suddenly lets you go and walks back, still holding up the marbles in one hand, taking off his blindfold fully now to take a good look at you and your adorable, flustered expression. You had to suppress a whine at the loss of contact, "Satoru-"

“SATORU GOJO, COME BACK HERE AND FINISH YOUR PAPERWORK!”

“Principal Yaga?!”  

You turned around to see Yaga stomping his way towards you and Gojo, but before you could say another word, Gojo took your hand in his and started running away, laughing maniacally as he did. “Satoru! Let me go! You’re going to get me in trouble with Yaga too!” He pauses for a bit, making you stumble at the sudden stop, only for Gojo to scoop you up in his arms and start running away faster. “Sorry, cutie, I waited too long for you to finally make a move, and I’m not about to let anyone ruin this for me.” He winks down at you. “What do you say we head over to that new cafe and you could stare at me all you want there~?"

[crashing-all-modes]

UPDATE ON THE RAVEN CYCLE SCULPTURE!!

Sorry for such a long wait for the update. It was my last two weeks of school, and MAN, OH MAN, was it stressful for homework!!

Okay, so first of all, this is a long update with lots of pictures!!! (I’m going to make a TLDR version for anybody who doesn’t want to hear me yap, LOL)!

Once again, no spoilers if you have thoughts please!

As some of you may know, I had a project for my 3D design class where we had to pick a book and then create a sculpture out of the book (it can be anything, a scene from the book, a feeling you got while reading it, symbolism and so on). The one rule of the assignment is the pages of the book have to be the most prominent part of the design. So I was allowed to paint it, draw on it, and use whatever I saw fit as long as the pages of the book were included and the most prominent!!

For my project I decided to do the raven boys as tarot cards using the major arcana.

I’m gonna break this up into sections so it's easy to navigate!

Making the Hand

So funny story, I thought this project was due two weeks ago and spent all night (stayed up till 6am) working on it, only to wake up at 8am to find out it was due the following week. AH. So here’s what I did that night:

Dw, the hand looks way better after I had more time to work on it; I used about… 4 jumbo sticks of hot glue to attach it to the board? You can pick this up by the hand and use it as a weapon, and it will stay attached.

Building The Base Tarot Card

I made all 5 cards with 2 pieces: one large piece, which would be the back of the card, and another smaller piece, which would act as the part for the character to be on. I made them out of cardboard, so there’s definition.

Back Piece

I carved into the cardboard these small little triangles which was for the gold foil I planned on using! To cover the back pieces, I ripped up pages into uneven pieces and mod-podged them on there (because glue itself made the pages translucent).

Front Piece

The smaller pieces were very important when creating the cards because I used full pages from the book. I picked very specific moments in the book that helped to relate both the character and their card!

Ronan

This is the page where Ronan first "finds" Chainsaw. His card is The Moon, which deals with supernatural elements and visions, so I figured it would be a perfect page to use. Plus, it was one of my favourite Ronan moments!

Gansey

Originally, I wanted to use the page where Gansey recounted his near-death experience with the bees, but I must've used the page by accident because I couldn't find it ANYWHERE?? I opted for this page instead, because this is another instance where Gansey looked death in the eye and scared it off (his card is The Hanged Man).

Blue

I decided to use Blue for The Lovers card because I felt the irony of it was too fitting. I used the page where the reader learns about Blue's fate to kill her true love just by kissing him. The design for her card is so evil (if you keep reading, you'll see it), but it's good.

Noah

(Spoilers) If you've gotten this far, I'm hoping you've at least read the first book. Noah's card is Death, which is... very fitting for obvious reasons AND for the context of the card!! I decided to go with one of the craziest moments in the book when they find out Noah's a ghost. It's perfect for the Death card... and IT EVEN MENTIONS THE DEATH CARD ON THIS PAGE, WHICH I DIDN'T REALIZE UNTIL I WAS GLUING IT ONTO THE CARDBOARD!!

Adam

Adam is my favourite in the book and I had so many moments to pick from for his tarot card. Ultimately, I picked the scene where he and Whelk are having a face-off, and all MAGIC IS BREAKING LOSE BECAUSE HE'S THE MAGICIAN (as I've been told by many sources, I still have only read the first book)!!

After I glued all of the pages onto the smaller pieces of cardboard, I dyed them with food coloring!! I had no idea this would work, but thanks to YouTube, it worked so much better than trying to paint, and the colours turned out amazing!!

From left to right on the top row: Ronan, Noah (before tea wash), Adam, Gansey and the bottom one is Blue's!

Here's Noah's after being tea stained, I wanted his to look like it was old and worn, like it was lost in the earth. To make it blotchy, I used the actual tea bag and blotted it on the card like crazy.

I then went on to dye WAY MORE PAGES. It's surprisingly fun.

The Tarot Cards (Roughs)

So, for each tarot card, I created designs, trying to implement the original while making it my own in relation to the character. All of these are sketches, and I honestly might make them real pieces in the future!!

Blue

UGH. I think hers and Noah's might be my favourite designs (I'm very biased tho because I love skulls lol). Each card has an earthy theme, I included lots of flowers and branches!

Adam

Adam's is the closest to the OG tarot card, because I felt like it was so iconic I couldn't change much to the design. That's probably why his is my least favourite design LOL.

Gansey

Ngl, I really like the symbolism on this one. If you were to pull it in reverse it would be Gansey with the crown floating above his head, like it's his and he's close to reaching his goal.

Noah

OKAY, BUT LIKE GUYS, THIS IS AHGSSGSGHSH. Like???? I love him so much. I put him in a saint pose, like those you see sculptures in churches posing in or paintings of saints. But I love him so much.

Ronan

I love the vibe his card gives off. It's very contemplative and moody, just like him.

I love how all of the designs turned out, but I unfortunately only had time to make one, Ronan's!

Ronan's Card

To make Ronan's cutout, I cut pieces of different stained pages into the shapes I needed (like his shirt and his head), and I then drew on it with an ink pen. It was really difficult to make everything the correct size because of the way I did his card, so this alone took me an hour to do. Think of him like a paper dress-up doll, LOL.

THE FINAL

FINALLY HOLY CRAP. I'm running out of photo room for the post, so I'll make it brief here but post more on a different thread!!

Anyway, I'm going to make all of them into cards now that school's over, and I'll update y'all when I'm done!!

I just wanna give a really big shoutout to everyone who helped me decide which tarot cards to give to each character, especially @screechin-outloud! They went into so much depth without spoiling the book, and I APPRECIATE YOU!! I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU!!!

And if you made it down this far, thank you for reading all of this!! :)

[gotjacobian]

Travel journal-type posting, just describing some of the stuff I've gotten to do in Japan.

Day 1: Got off the plane, got through passport control and customs with minimum issues (I fucked up my entry date bc time zones and had to hold up the line while I fixed it whoops). Took the subway to Yokohama, also screwed that up because I was hopped up on benadryl and still only managed to sleep for 2 hours at a time max on the plane. Unscrewed it up with the help of a very patient attendant, made it to the hotel. I bought takoyaki and a highball from a place across the street from the hotel, which reminded me that I don’t actually like takoyaki. It’s too mushy. Then passed out.

Day 2: This was my full day in Yokohama before the conference. I beelined for a 7-11 to get the canned coffee I like and can only get here (and some pastries), then went to a park by the baseball stadium to eat it. Then I took off to try and at least see the (closed :( ) gundam factory exhibit. There was a triathalon in the way, so I spent awhile wandering through parks to get around it and get close enough for a picture. There were tons of beautiful gardens, and lots of people taking photos of their costumed dogs there? Like, 3 dog photoshoots for every presumed child/romantic partner photoshoot. They all seemed very happy to chill in the flowers and get fussed over.

In general Yokohama is really well suited to my kind of travel wandering - going along the harbor coast takes you through a couple different gorgeous parks and past a few museums, and also gives you a great view of the water. I ended up going into the doll museum, and immediately learned I had vastly overestimated the amount of english they’d have on the exhibits based on their website. I speak basically no Japanese, so used an image translate app a lot. That’s wasn’t an option the last time I was in Japan in 2019 - it was really useful! I drained my battery using it on basically every single plaque in the museum. The style of the exhibit captions felt different than I’d expect from a US museum. They were often more anecdotes from an artist or curator than they were descriptions. I’m curious to what extent that was cultural or was something lost in translation? The translations I got definitely weren’t perfect, and seemed to get worse the more anecdotal or conversational the material was.

The exhibit that attracted me to the doll museum was called “Why do we create objects that look like humans?”. It had exhibits of historical dolls and sculptures, as well as installations from modern artist and dollmakers. A lot of it touched on an inherent alienation in recreating the human in the nonhuman, and the ways all depictions of the human form are exaggerated in ways we sort after the fact into “beautiful” or “grotesque.” I liked it, but honestly wanted it to be more like, embodiment philosophy-y. Very much a me problem.

On the way back, I stopped by Yokohama’s Chinatown. I feel like it was much more of a tourist attraction than the equivalent in Boston or SF - lots of street food stands and people hawking specific restaurants or palm-reading services. Lots of panda-themed merch. It was VERY crowded. I bought a single pork bun for lunch, wandered through a few stores, and then ditched to try and find somewhere calmer.

A friend recommended that I check out Kaganecho, the arts district about a half an hour walk along the canal from where I was staying, so I went that way. I immediately saw a lot of signs advertising an “Art Bazaar” that was supposed to be happening in the area. There were people wandering around with tickets and brochures. It took me an hour to figure out how to get one - I was saved by stumbling on a performance piece that was part of the exhibit, a woman playing a song by hitting a series of bowls with wooden mallets, that just happened to be scheduled right then. It was right under the train line, so you got the loud rumbling drowning her out every few minutes, and also the ambient city sounds of bikes and children and wind under her playing. When she finished, I stalked some people who were watching with me and finally found the office that could sell me a ticket.

The “art bazaar” is a yearly exhibition in a series of apartments converted into studios in the few blocks around a particular train station. You’re given a ticket and a map where some of the buildings were marked. You wander around to find them, go in, and there’s Art there. I’ll probably post separately about this, honestly. It was one of the coolest gallery experiences I’ve ever had. The theme of the exhibits was “The world through no art”, and a lot of the material directly engaged with the history of the area - a neighborhood that housed a lot of bars, brothels, etc starting from the US occupation in the city post WWII, which were forcibly evicted in the 2000s, then later replaced with the studios as part of a city initiative to ‘rejuvenate’ the area. I went to every single exhibit that was open and stayed until I was about to pass out from the combination of walking and art feelings. I chickened out of going to a restaurant alone when I was already exhausted, and instead grabbed a katsu sandwich from 7-11 to eat in my hotel room.

Day 3: Start of the conference. It was raining horribly, and I have big fears about walking in the rain with my laptop, so I skipped the first couple hours until it calmed enough that I felt okay buying and using an umbrella. The conference was in this giant exhibition hall on a peninsula in the city that was all fancy hotels, shopping centers, and an amusement park. My maps app kept trying to get me to walk THROUGH the amusement park to get there, which was a kind of ominous experience when it was empty and raining. I met with some friends and labmates, we got Singaporean food for lunch (chicken and rice), and went to some of the afternoon talks. There was a welcome banquet where a guy performed with Kendamas (japanese toy/prop with a wooden ball attached to a wooden thing with cups and a spike). He did a bunch of poi tricks with them, and seemed to be having the time of his life. They also opened the expo, where I discovered they did at least have the gundam head from the gundam factory exhibit left over (still cannot believe they would close it a month before the robotics conference). Me and one of my former labmates got dinner at a katsu place that claimed to be the oldest in the city. We had to split from the group to get it, since there weren’t any vegetarian options there, but it was really good. I discovered that my hotel is like 1/10th as fancy as any of the other conference hotels, idk what happened. Very jealous of the main venue hotel people who had a room overlooking the harbor.

Day 4: Got there in the morning, did some conference stuff. We got sushi for lunch in this giant mall right next to the venue. I ditched for half an hour in the afternoon to wander through a different park by the harbor, which was also very pretty. All the greenery is very green and the water is very blue. I took another break to try and work some on my paper, since I feel bad for not doing more of that, but finding a place with decent wifi is hard. I meet back up with my labmates to get dinner, at a nearby ramen place with vegan options. I got their signature yuzu shio ramen, which was good, but I still prefer the pork-based styles.

Day 5: Is the day I’m helping present. I go to my coauthor’s presentation and then stand with him at the poster session, and get to talk to a few people. I’m surprised how fast the paper comes back to me, even though I haven’t really thought about it for at least a year at this point. I get lunch with another labmate at a milk-themed restaurant in the mall. I’m weirdly charmed that in Japan, “milk” is a flavor? And that there are prefectures proud of their local milk? The restaurant has both western-style food with cheese or cream as ingredients, and a milk and cheese bar where you can get bread, spreadable cheese, and toppings. I run back to the hotel before the conference banquet, get lost in the other hotel the banquet is in, finally arrive and realize all my labmates are either ditching or got a different banquet venue, so I sit with a very nice person from the university of edinburgh I met at the poster earlier that day. I talk about firespinning and mugs because I’m incapable of not doing so. Every one of the venues has a different style of food and performance - ours performance is actually a lion dance, which is notably… not japanese, put on by students from a school in the local chinatown. It’s still really impressive, especially given that they did it between the tables people were eating at. Like, I’ve attempted to be a base for a cheerleading toss once, and it was hard for 3 people to hold one up - these performers were jumping on each other’s shoulders the whole time, while puppeting the giant lion. They kept having it pretend to eat the heads of the people it walked past, it was a good time.

I spend an hour or two that night on my Quest, which is that I saw some kind of peach jelly drink in exactly one vending machine early in the trip and didn’t buy it. Now I want it, so I’ve been wandering through the city inspecting vending machines to try and find it again. Tonight I wander up and down this shopping center street that has a lot of them, in the rain, but no dice. I buy peach flavored ice cream at the 7-11 instead and reaffirm my mission.

Day 6: I wake up feeling bad, in both a stress and a physical way. I stay at the hotel and work on my paper, then go to a nearby cafe and try to work on my paper, but they don’t have wifi. I go back and end up sleeping, which I feel bad about, but probably needed - I can get disconnected from my own tiredness levels when I’m doing extended crunch time for a project, and I’m trying to be more aware of that. I don’t go to any of the conference stuff, but do leave at one point to get the local kind of ramen from a place I saw recommended online. The style is called ie-kei, and is an emulsified mix of pork broth and shoyu with chicken oil, served with pork, seaweed, short noodles, and spinach on top. I redeem myself by ordering and eating in the restaurant alone. It’s good in a comfort food way. I go back to the hotel and alternate working and sleeping, and end up skipping dinner with my labmates because I still feel gross.

Day 7: I feel better when I wake up, but have already committed to skipping this day of the conference because I’m going to Osaka. I find another cafe that actually has wifi, and eat there to do some work in the morning. Tangent - people really go nuts for the egg salad sandwiches here, and I don’t get it. I tried one and thought it was tasteless and had that bad cooked egg yolk texture. Super not for me.

I check out of the hotel and take the subway to Tokyo station. I get there an hour early because I forgot when my train was, so wander around the station for a while. It is SO crowded and there are SO MANY stores selling train bento, souvenirs, boxes of desserts to give as gifts, etc, and every single one has a designated salesperson shouting into the void. It is the most sensory-overloading, maze-like place I have been in my entire life. I take great pride in managing to eventually actually find the internet-recommended places to get ekibento for the train. I buy one with more traditional food, and one kids one that comes in a fake JR train freight container, because I really want the fake freight container. I also get an apple-custard pastry and a crepe with cream and melon ball topping. And then I am exhausted, and still too early for my train, so I stand by the platform and am extremely confused when someone asks me for directions (correctly assigned english-speaking person who knows where the ekibento are at the tokyo shinkansen station, I guess).

I do get on the train eventually, and eat one of the bento (I save the second because I am worried the person sitting next to me is gonna judge me for eating 2 bento, one of which is definitely meant for children, but I will eat it eventually). I said I was gonna do work but instead I’m writing this and watching out the window of the train. I feel like everyone has their travel fixation - my grandparents laugh about how when my mom and brother would go on trips as kids, they’d get disposable cameras. And when they developed the photos, all of them were of ponds, lakes, coastlines, because they grew up in the west texas desert. I grew up in the flat, flat Texas plains, and now I’m like that about mountains. This train goes straight through them, and right past Mt Fuji. It gets to me how distinctive the landscape in japan is - I’ve looked at a lot of traditional japanese art as like, a precursor to modern styles in comics, because I find it interesting. And I feel like I looked at some elements of that style - atmospheric perspective, depth through stacking flat layers of scenery, the specific abstract-seeming way Mt Fuji gets drawn - and assumed it was entirely an artistic choice. But like… Mt Fuji just looks like that. The landscape just looks like that, with the fog and the layered mountains. The green is such a specific shade of green, and the blue is a specific shade of blue, and the buildings are all such a particular faded palette in a way I feel like must make Japan instantly recognizable on geoguessr, a game I am very bad at. I love looking at the cities and buildings, too - I wish I knew the words to describe the specifics of the style and design. I feel like I'm getting increasing city architecture obsessed these days, despite not having that language. Getting to see it is the bit of travel that really makes me feel like I'm experiencing something I couldn't anywhere else. I'm gonna find my hotel in Osaka once I get there, hunt down some food, then will probably try and do some more work before bed. Then tomorrow, in theory, Osaka castle and whatever else seems compelling.

[saintrocklee]

🌸 flower shop AU part three 🌸

masterlist

itachi stands precariously outside, hands in his pockets to hopefully hide the way his pulse fluttered just under the skin of his wrist. the door to the tattoo shop is shut and the sign is still flipped to close, but there are lights on and your car is in the parking lot, three spaces away from his.

it’d been three days since you’d given him the koi fish drawing and in those three days he’s somehow not seen you. regardless, you now invaded his thought process daily, something that was troublesome and a little annoying, but itachi finds himself unable to get rid of the drawing. in between business calls, placing orders, and further remodeling of his newly acquired space, itachi spent time wondering what to say when he saw you next. which was strange and out of character because… well…

he barely knew you.

before itachi can further overthink the decision he made last night he knocks, rapping his knuckles against the glass window. the door rattles and he sees shadows moving before your face comes into view, eyebrows creased in confusion. the expression fades from your face when you see it’s him and the bright, happy look that replaces it makes him pause. you unlock the door with a click and open it with a smile.

“hi there.” you breathe and itachi inclines his head.

“pardon the intrusion,” he begins, but you interrupt him with a nonchalant wave and step to the side, inviting him in.

“oh no, don’t worry about it! what’s up?”

itachi enters and takes in the space around him, eyes roving over the equipment and drawings. the shop was covered, wall to ceiling, with pictures and sketches of tattoos. he’s pleasantly surprised to see how clean the place is, and the smell of incense wafts over him as a breeze comes through the still open door. you close it behind him before gesturing to a chair at one of the stations. he makes his way over, hands leaving his pockets at he sits.

“i have a request of sorts.”

you furrow your brow at him and take a seat on a worn stool across from him. it’s on wheels, spotlessly clean like everything else, but fraying at the edges.

“oh?”

you’re fighting a smile, eyes dancing happily and itachi finds himself struggling not to match your energy. he wonders if it was because of him, or if you were usually this excitable.

something selfish in him hopes it’s solely because of him.

“my brother’s birthday is coming up. he seems to like this sort of thing and i thought,” itachi trails off and your mouth forms a small ‘o’ in realization.

“you want to buy him a tattoo?”

itachi nods and your smile stretches to show teeth, scrunching up the corners of your eyes just so. it’s endearing and comforting and itachi finds himself fighting a smile in return.

“okay! let’s see.” you spin in your wheel to face the computer sitting on your right and the break of eye contact has itachi scanning around the room again. he realizes then that it must be your station he’s sitting at, eyes taking in all the detail that he can. he’d been so distracted when he’d came in that he didn’t notice the flowers he’d left for you sitting on the table.

or the note he left, taped to the wall behind it.

your area was tidy but cluttered with personal items itachi can only describe as knick knacks. everything was a little mismatched, but somehow you, and he finds himself drawn a small clay sculpture of a cat curled up. it was clearly handmade and painted with an unsteady hand, but still clearly a cat sleeping. you start talking again, unaware of his perusal, and itachi turns his attention back to you.

“we don’t do gift cards, but i can create a certificate? or, like, a coupon? you’d just need to pick an amount and i can ring you up for it ahead of time. all i’d need to know is the approximate size and detail of what he’s wanting. we charge based off time here, but since you’re in the strip with us there’s a discount.”

you’re rambling, talking fast, and itachi can tell you’re excited. he clears this throat and you turn your head back to look at him.

“i’m afraid i’m not sure what he’d want.”

you hum for a moment, pulling your bottom lip into your mouth in thought. itachi glances at the way you hold your lip for a moment, only to look away when you blink as another idea hits you.

“how about this? i can print something off for you to give him, and then you come with him to the appointment. by then he’d be able to let whoever’s doing the tattoo know what he wants and how big, so we’d have a price for it.”

itachi hums in agreement and catches your eye.

“i’d like you to do it.”

your lips part in surprise and the movement once again draws him in. there’s a shift in the air around you, or maybe it’s just him, and you nod in agreement.

“okay, yeah. here,” you roll yourself to a shelf and open it, pulling out a book. it was covered in stickers and the bind was coming apart, but you held it with such fragility that itachi is sure it’s a prized possession.

“these are some of my favorites i’ve done. feel free to, uh, look at them. take pictures even, so he can see if he likes my style. i’ll get a certificate printed.”

itachi takes the book gently and rests it in his lap. he opens it carefully and is met with a collage. every page is covered, whether it was a polaroid picture of a fresh tattoo on a client or just a sketch. some were colorful and bold, while others were just black. itachi senses a pattern in your design almost immediately, the same eye for detail that he saw with the koi fish in his office is apparent in every tattoo. it was obvious you were an expert in your craft and took your time with each one, much like itachi did with his arrangements. some designs weren’t his cup of tea, but he finds himself pausing at the floral sketches you’d done. at a glance some even looked real, and itachi knows he doesn’t need to take any pictures to show his brother. you interrupt his thoughts with a cough and quirk your lips when he looks up.

“what’s your brother’s name?”

itachi tells you, and then spells it, watching you type out SASUKE UCHIHA on the computer screen. you then zoom out to show him the final product and itachi hums his approval. it looked like any other certificate he’d ever seen, just with the tattoo shop’s logo on it. you press the print button and reach back into the shelf to pull out a small card.

“here’s my business card. it’s got my email and cellphone number on it, so he can text or email me his ideas and i can send him sketches for approval.”

itachi takes the thicker piece of paper from you and glances down at it. he flips it over, feeling the raised texture of writing on the pads of his fingers, and lets out an honest chuckle at what it said.

what a godless place! zero out of five stars!

you notice what he was looking at and snort, meeting his eyes with a lopsided grin and helpless shrug.

“our first bad review. tsunade has it framed in her office.”

itachi finds himself more amused than he should be and stands, pocketing your card carefully. you walk to the printer near the front of the shop and pull out sasuke’s certificate. he takes it from you and neatly folds it in half, then again. itachi planned on sticking it in sasuke’s card, knowing that his brother was always weird about gifts so sneaking it into his card was his best option. he couldn’t wait to watch this younger man scoff and roll his eyes at the show of affection.

itachi always prided himself on getting under his brother’s skin.

“you’re all set! anything else i can do for you?”

itachi considers you for a moment, the card holding your contact info burning a hole in his pocket. he wants to ask you something but he’s not sure what, his intentions not even fully formed. itachi was not spontaneous, he did not succumb to whims or fleeting thoughts, so he bites his tongue and shakes his head. you scrunch your nose in response and hold out your hand. he takes it, making sure to keep his grip firm while he shakes it, and then slides his fingers across the inside of your palm. something in your gaze flickers and itachi feels a sense of triumph.

“see you later.” you say, your voice wavering just barely and itachi nods once before turning to leave, sliding his hand into his pocket to fiddle with your business card. he pauses at the door, holding it open before cocking his head back.

“thank you, by the way. for the drawing.”

you visibly brighten, once again letting a wide grin stretch across your face, and itachi leaves, feeling a tad bit more full of himself than he did before.