#keeping the second image because it's kind of iconic

[onepiecebdays]

august 15th - bentham

debut chapter: 129

recent chapter: 666 (cover story)

epithet: bentham of the wild

current age: 32

affiliation: impel down level 5.5

former bounty: 32,000,000

[kitconnor]

recently, a lot of people have been losing their gifs to reposters, whether that be a whole set stolen or just one gif taken for a textpost. which leads to a lot of us turning towards watermarks to not lose our work. it's not everyone's first choice, particularly because of aesthetics, but it's the best way to keep what you own.

of course, it might seem silly to do a whole "tutorial" on watermarks, but there's a lot of different ways to watermark in a subtle way that still protects your work. i've also seen a lot of people incredibly hesitant to move to watermarks because they believe it marrs their work, which may be true, but there are definitely ways around that. anyway, let's begin !

WATERMARK 1: URL/TRACKED TAG

the most common watermark for people is usually 'thisismyurl.tumblr.com', 'thisismyurl | tumblr', 'thisismyurl' - at least, this is assumed for most people as the best way to watermark.

but if you're like me and constantly want to change your url, you know that there's a good chance a watermark on a gif 3 months ago could be completely different to one now. this is why people are turning to tracking tags.

tracked tags change less frequently, if at all. it's smaller, which makes it more subtle. if you want to go the extra mile like me, you can create a blog under your tracked tag (eg. i track tuserlucie) which means you can reblog anything with your watermark to the blog, showing that it is yours.

placement is key though ! here's 3 different ways you can place it.

NOTE: opacity has not been altered on any of these. depending on how it looks with your gif, opacity looks best at 10-30%.

Font settings: Momcake, thin, 10pt, #ededed.

each of these placements have different advantages.

the first placement (top left) is the one i personally use. it's centered right on the middle but not too high up.

the second placement (top right) is probably the most popular. corners mean people can kind of tuck the watermark away where it doesn't seem obvious. the fourth (bottom right) effectively does the same.

the third placement (bottom left) is 100% the most effective. it sits in a point exactly where it's noticeable, making it less desirable for reposters. on the right opacity too, you hardly notice it.

WATERMARK 2: ICONS/SIGILS

this is an idea that i've seen used mostly by nik @cal-kestis , but is a great and creative way to do it !

an icon or sigil makes your gif totally unique to you. and it's something cute on there which is different to having to put text on there.

(i've put it in orange for the purpose of seeing it)

but you can see here, it doesn't need to be anything special. i've just used an oval shape plus the initials of my url and that's it !

but a sigil can be anything. it doesn't need to have text; it could just be an image. it could just be your icon. either way, it's a cute little alternative to using text.

here's the different options that i preference in action.

SIGIL - bottom right corner

URL - bottom middle

TRACKED TAG - face/body

RESOURCES

here's some resources to use if you want to start watermarking !

FONTS:

Momcake (this one was used throughout all the text watermarks !) Cocogoose Lemon milk Bebas Quicksand PSD

you can access a psd of editable watermarks here.

[yangqism]

eternal sunshine | a wayv series

– six men. one iconic drama. the world is captivated by their stellar performance in eternal sunshine that they cannot wait to see what the future holds for these superstars. but behind the fame, they are just like everyone else–desperate to feel what it’s like to love and to be loved, without judgment from others. torn between longing for normalcy and fear of losing everything they’ve worked for, they live in the shadows of their own desires, trapped in a cycle of longing, loneliness, and regrets. in a world where love is their greatest vulnerability, how far will they go to risk it all?

a/n. reader is afab. you can read them in no particular order, the storyline is not connected with each other. this is heavily inspired by ariana grande's eternal sunshine!!! such a fantastic album

don't wanna break up again ₊˚ෆ actor!dong sicheng x singer!reader

SYNOPSIS. love and sicheng don't complement each other. despite being aware of that fact, it doesn’t stop you from coming back again and again, even if your set-up consumes you. or, you and sicheng are in an on and off situationship because he’s afraid of commitment.

READ HERE.

we can't be friends ₊˚ෆ actor!liu yangyang x actress!reader

SYNOPSIS. yangyang is born to be a star, the kind of talent that lights up the screen. you, on the other hand, is a nepo baby who everyone believed got the lead role because of your family’s influence. he fought all these years to be the man that he is while you are still busy proving yourself to the populace. you believe you’re more than just your parents. he believes he’s less than without his fans. when your lives become intertwined, things get messy–one has never tasted consequences while the other lies awake at night, haunted by the thought of it.

READ HERE.

eternal sunshine ₊˚ෆ photojournalist!ten lee x makeup artist!reader

SYNOPSIS. everyone knows that ten is a passionate photojournalist, capturing the world’s genuine moments with his incomparable artistry that leaves viewers speechless. you, on the other hand, are sicheng’s makeup artist, who happened to be ten’s past lover. that one photograph of ten who won a prestigious award recently? that’s you. that’s you when you were still his muse, frozen in time while doing sicheng’s makeup. once inseparable, now estranged, the image reopened wounds of your messy breakup. while other people admired your radiant smile, you never had the guts to check it because it reminded you of the good times. the times when you thought he’s your eternity.

COMING SOON!

imperfect for you ₊˚ෆ golden boy!kun x director!reader

SYNOPSIS. seasoned actor, known as THE golden boy, qian kun, finds himself enchanted by the director of the series he’s starring in. now, they are on the second season and days feel daunting as his feelings start to get deeper and you keep on avoiding him, afraid to commit to someone as perfect as him

COMING SOON!

boy, bye! ₊˚ෆ actor!wong kunhang x intern!reader

SYNOPSIS. everyone on set knows that hendery is a walking red flag. from his sharp tongue to his nasty attitude, oh, everyone hates being around him. but things are a little different with you, the intern nurse the director requested from your university. while the rest of the crew fear him, you find yourself entangled with him every night, teaching you anatomy far beyond the books–making you confused as to what you guys really are.

COMING SOON!

supernatural ₊˚ෆ vampire!xiao dejun x researcher!reader

SYNOPSIS. why is dejun always nowhere to be found? because he’s afraid of human contact that is! being born a vampire, dejun has found it weird that he became famous. you know those jokes on twitter where they say dejun is, hypothetically, an alien but became famous so now he can’t go back? that’s true. but he’s not an alien, HE'S A VAMPIRE! your quiet, dungeon life is upended when the director of the series, and your friend, drags you out of your laboratory to visit her on the filming site of her on-going series. you think it’s a waste of time – until dejun appears before your eyes, and suddenly, you’re not so sure which one of you is really hiding from this world.

COMING SOON!

yangqism, 2024.

[ofmdrecaps]

07/25-26/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Vico Ortiz: Classes; OFMD BTS; Galaxy Con Raleigh: Con, Nathan, Vico, Kristian; Gypsy Taylor; Andrew Deyoung; Boris McGiver; Adopt Our Crew Highlights: Articles; Prompts; Gold Derby/TellTale TV Voting Reminders; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika;

== David Jenkins ==

Chaos Dad, David Jenkins has been really active on Twitter and even poking his head into Instagram! I didn't share all of the ones he re-blogged today because I ran out of image space, but he's definitely keeping us all in mind. (I sure wish Kamala had really said that!)

Source: Djenkins Twitter

David also shared our lovely @cosmosart-s' recent Ed+Butterflies sketch on Instagram <3

Source: David Jenkins' Instagram

He also acknowledged what we've all been thinking and discussing in meta for a while now-- the differences in memory for the S1 "You Wear Fine Things Well" scene.

Source: David Jenkins' Instagram

== Rhys Darby ==

There's a new podcast available, this time with Rhys Darby visiting! Check out: Saving Sheep From a UFO w/ Rhys Darby!

Source: Looking Up Podcast

== Taika Waititi ==

Taika was out at the Louis Vuitton Foundation Party 2024 in Paris recently and boy is he looking suave.

Source: Rafhits Instagram / Icon France / VogueSpain / Anthonyghnassia /EmiliaPiaLuisaWickstead / VasJMorgan / etalkctv

More Time Bandits Interviews! Did you happen to watch Time Bandits yet on Apple TV?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Consequence Daily (@consequencedaily)

Source: ConsquenceDaily

== Vico Ortiz ==

Vico has another acting class coming up September 1! Classes are Sundays 11a-4p September 1, 8, 22 & 29 * 9/8 will be taught by a SUBSTITUTE TBA You can enroll here!

Source: Vico Ortiz' Instagram

Vic has also been keeping up with our BTS needs by posting more on their Patreon! Here's some sneak peaks-- if you don't subscribe already and would like to see all the OFMD BTS as well as other works they do, you can visit Patreon.

Source: Vico Ortiz Patreon

== Galaxy Con Raleigh (Con, Nathan, Vico, Kristian) ==

Con, Nathan, Vico, and Kristian are all at Galaxy Con Raleigh this weekend! I'm combining their sections to make it a bit easier to keep track! They've all been kind enough to send us pre-convention photos!

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories / BigSamTompson's Instagram (Nathan's Tagged Photos)

Source: Kristian Nairn's Instagram

Source: Con O'Neill's Instagram

Source: Vico's Instagram

== Gypsy Taylor ==

Gypsy Taylor is working on a new show -- "All Her Fault" and it's going to be premiering on Peacock once it's ready! Keep an eye out for it!

Source: Gypsy Taylor's Instagram

== Andrew DeYoung ==

You may remember one of our lovely writers-- Andrew DeYoung, well he's written and directed a new movie, "FRIENDSHIP" a comedy that will premier in September at the Toronto International Film Festival!

Source: Andrew DeYoung's Instagram

== Boris Mcgiver ==

Our friend Boris Mcgiver, aka Father Bonnet has a new show "Teacup", a sci-fi horror thriller premiering on October 10th, on Peacock!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ashley Edner - Tancharoen (@ashleyedner)

Source: BorisMcGiver's Instagram Stories

== Adopt Our Crew Highlights ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew have been king everyone up to date with the latest articles on OFMD.

Source: Decider.com

They've also been keeping twitter engaged with some wonderful prompts! What's your favourite piece of OFMD Art? (Your own or someone else's!) @adoptourcrew would love to hear from you!

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== Gold Derby Reminders ==

Thank you @adoptourcrew for the reminder! July 30 is the last day to vote! Please get your votes in if you haven't and you plan to! https://www.goldderby.com/leagues/

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Tumblr

== Tell Tale TV Poll ==

We're neck and neck yall! The poll is open through the end of July and you can vote every day!

Source: OFMD-Ann's Tumblr

== Love Notes ==

Miss you lovelies, sending so many good vibes your way.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SWATHY SIVRAM (@theartytales)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SWATHY SIVRAM (@theartytales)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SWATHY SIVRAM (@theartytales)

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

It's been a minute since I've been blessed with this gif, so you too shall get to see Ed's heart eyes. Gif courtesy of the brilliant @captain-flint <3

[nightcolorz]

I know you are not home (home being the internet) but you can answer when you are back

(hey! if you are reading this, welcome back!)

Anyway I've been thinking lately about Marius's handling of Daniel when he was "sick" (crazy) and what it says about him and his core values

Specifically:

Not informing Armand that Daniel was unwell and with him

And

Not tolerating Daniel's choice of creative outlet fully, namely not letting him use recycling and assorted objects to build his little cities and making him use only mass produced packs

I think both things are very telling of who Marius is as a person, he doesn't see Daniel and Armand's relationship as something valuable, he is blindsided when they get back together (which happens basically the second they are allowed the privacy to have a full conversation) and he doesn't think what Daniel is doing with his models as real art

I can't help but think he made sure Armand and Daniel didn't have contact those years because he knew if they did they would both abandon him, but he told himself (and maybe even believed that he was doing it to protect them both out of love)

He thinks love equals control and that love can not exist without hierarchy and subservience

Thoughts?

It took me so long to answer this bcus I have massive thoughts!

I think the way that Marius treats Daniel and Armand when it comes to their creative outlets is rlly interesting and telling and I’m so happy u brought that up. I’ve always gotten the impression that Marius is kind of pretentious about art. He has the whole “control = love” mentality and I think that’s plays into what he thinks art is/means. The way that Marius creates is by making exact replicas of real life or pre existing paintings with his vampire mimicking skills. So his art always comes off as very detailed and fascinating but also impersonal and in some way artificial. When he ends up accidentally inserting parts of himself into his work (like painting pandora into his piece when he’s thinking of her) he considers it in error and erases it. I get the impression that Marius considers art more the act of possessing smth preexisting and making it in his own image, taking control over it by immortalizing it, rather then expressing a part of himself or reflecting on some meaning.

he sort of pushes that perspective onto Daniel when hes under his care by making him use store bought items to create his models instead of letting him delve into his mind to sort through some creativity and make smth of his own. Marius likely thinks that by allowing Daniel to only build things in this specific correct way he is both teaching Daniel how to correctly make art and he is also controlling daniel and any kind of narrative that may be happening by restricting Daniel by exploring any of his self or emotions that Marius doesn’t have a say over. Daniel can’t delve into his “crazy” mind to create if Marius controls what he is creating, and I think Marius sees this as a good thing. The less access Daniel has to his sense of self the less likely he’ll go “mad” (and the less likely Marius won’t be able to keep him docile anymore)

when it comes to Armand, when Armand was a child he was very artistically skilled and inclined. He was so religious and faith meant sm to him that he only drew religious icons, which caused him to be taken advantage of and exploited by figures in his community. When he is sexually assaulted and sold into slavery he represses his childhood memories and his ability to paint. painting becomes traumatically triggering for Armand, and reminds him of how he feels like he’s lost his faith and connection to god bcus of what’s happened to him, and he refuses to do it. Instead of trying to encourage Armand to recontextualize his relationship with art and to use it as an outlet to regain his identity Marius instead takes advantage of the opportunity he sees of Armand being a blank slate and pushes his own views of religion and art onto him as to replace to old ones. I know Marius had good intentions there, and was probably like “by giving Armand a more positive view of this he will be less terrified”, but what he ends up doing is further depriving a slave child from his cultural identity and religious values by teaching him that his faith is the wrong type of faith and he should consume art the way marius does. Marius is once again asserting his control over someone in his care’s capacity for creativity by making sure his perspective is the one that is dominating the creation.

The way I see it, as an artist Marius understands the power of art and creation and knows that to keep his “love = control so these dudes I love need to be under my control” mentality he needs to limit how his loved ones r able to engage with their own creativity so that they aren’t tapping into a level of independence that is beyond Marius’s power.

I think this is also exactly why he limits Armand’s ability to interact with Daniel while he’s “sick”. Armand and daniels relationship is such a hurricane and Marius definitely knows that if he puts those two in the same room they r a force that he can’t push around to his will. But I think Marius is definitely telling himself that he’s separating Armand and Daniel bcus Armand is a mentally ill unstable lunatic who will ruin daniels brain and Daniel is too fragile to deal with that. I also think that since Armand and daniels relationship doesn’t follow this master and apprentice dynamic and is instead this emotional colorful hot mess crazy kid combo who can’t keep there hands off each other and r addicted to each others blood that it’s therefore Bad and Irresponsible (it is but it’s better then whatever Marius thinks is correct 💀) so he needs to be the big parent and protect them from themselves (keep them reliant on him so that they don’t leave him)

thnak u for the ask this is all so interesting !!

[dumplingsfordays]

sighs of sleep

pairing - gepard x gn!reader (they/them)

genre - fluff

summary - a hallucination of your sleep-deprived brain keeps you awake late at night, so you visit your roommate across the hall to ask to sleep in his room.

cw! - fluff, mentions of stalking (not by gepard or reader), comfort, overly kind/doormat!reader, pining (mostly from gepard), shy!gepard, overthinking!gepard, hugging while sleeping in the same bed, swearing, gepard has a lil crush on reader <3, gepard and reader are roommates

i wrote this entire thing at like 1 in the morning so apologies for any mistakes...

kinda based on a dream of mine where I saw this white face in my window and it freaked be out so ig this is self-indulgence (again lmao)

i love this art so much 😭😭 geppie's so sweet. art credit!!

playlist : after dark (mr kitty), neglect (mr kitty), the beach (instrumental, slowed, and reverb) (the neighbourhood)

As always, thank you for reading :)

++++

It was dark in your room.

Nightfall had come several hours before, but when you leaned back in your chair and looked over at the small icon at the bottom-right of the laptop in front of you, you were surprised to read '2:26 AM' in white lettering. You didn't think that you've been working for so long, and yet, somehow, time passed much quicker than you anticipated.

You didn't plan on pulling an all-nighter - in fact, you initially wanted to watch a movie in your pajamas, maybe with a snack or something to drink, and then go to sleep at what would be considered a reasonable hour for Fridays. And then, after you slept, you would awake feeling perfectly rested, and maybe sleep in for a change. But noooo, apparently that was asking too much, because some annoying coworkers decided to call you last-minute at 1 in the morning to ask you to fill out some documents.

You were kind and helpful, and not wanting to disappoint, you did what they asked of you. Voila! Here you were - finished, emails sent, eyes riddled with exhaustion, hands aching, brain desperately wanting to sleep.

You stood up from your seat with a sigh, and languidly lumbered over to your bed. You didn't bother to put on pajamas when you undressed - you were way too tired for that. As you looked over to the window opposite your bed, however-

You saw something, peeking underneath the half-closed blinds.

In your now-fleeting memory of it, it seemed to be a ghostly, white, featureless face that briefly appeared and disappeared when you looked over to the window, and you were still naked.

Was this a stalker? Some creepy person that magically climbed up to the second-story window to look at your bare form?

Your shivered at the thought, and immediately grabbed the shirt that your were wearing. You shoved it on, pulling down slightly on its hem to help cover your body, and ran towards the blinds to lower them, just in case this face was an actual person and not just a hallucination provided by your sleepless brain.

Even when you lowered the blinds, however, you couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. You didn't have any cameras in your room, and your roommate wasn't the type of person to install them without your request to do so.

You finally decided that you wanted to sleep, and trying your utmost best to forget this event, you crawled into your bed and turned off the lights.

But your stubborn, sleep-deprived brain was a cruel mistress, and to your anguish, kept conjuring up the blank face's image in the darkness. You adjusted your sleeping position over and over, praying to whatever god that would listen to finally grant you rest... to no avail. You remained awake and restless, and when you finally had enough of your brain's shenanigans, you turned on the lights. You hastily tossed on a pair of sleep shorts, and with a sort of fright mixed with vigor, opened the door to the hallway of your shared dorm.

You could still see a faint yellow light underneath the door across from you, and thanking nobody in particular that he was still awake and that you didn't have to wake him, you knocked three times on his door.

Frantic shuffling from inside the room ensued, and you could hear a couple books falling to the floor before your roommate opened the door.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" he asked with obvious concern in his voice. His pale blue tank top stretched a little as he put his hands on his hips. "You scared me."

"I was about to go to bed, and then, when I was changing, I saw a white face in the window, and I tried to ignore it and go to sleep, but then I couldn't because I felt like it was still watching me, and..." you trailed off, and tilted your head downwards. "I'm sorry for ranting, Gepard."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it," he smiled gently, eyes half-lidded from a similar lack of sleep. "I think it's just your head making stuff up. If that doesn't reassure you enough to make you fall asleep, well, I don't really know what to say. Sorry."

You looked up at him, meeting his deep blue eyes. "Can I sleep with you tonight, then?"

A pause ensued as Gepard processed what you just said.

"...what?" he squeaked. His cheeks turned a bright red as he gaped at you.

"Wait! No! That's not what I meant, I promise!" you corrected, also turning red. "I meant sleep in the same room. You know, like a sleepover or something, but without the "staying up late" part, because we're already... up late... You know what? Nevermind. I'm sorry for interrupting whatever you were doing, and I'll just sleep on the couch downstairs. I'll bring some blankets and I should be just fine-"

"You can stay if you want to."

You looked over at Gepard (who was still as red as a cherry, and avoiding eye contact), wide-eyed as you took in what he said. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, the couch isn't that comfortable. You'll probably regret sleeping at all if you doze off there, and I don't mind you staying in my room anyways," he reassured. "Can you go grab blankets and stuff from your room? I'll clean up the place because I knocked over some books earlier, so..."

"Oh, um, sure," you blinked. "Thank you." You were sure that he would send you back after what you said.

You ran to your room and grabbed a pillow and blanket, but when you ransacked your drawers and closet for any sort of thick blankets or mat as possible padding between you and the floor, you came out empty-handed. You were nervous to ask Gepard if he had any usable padding material - he had done so much for you already, and you were sure that he was done putting up with your antics...

Rushing back to his room to not make him wait any longer, you stood by the doorframe as you watched him put the last of his toppled books into its place on the bookshelf.

From what you could see, his room was a tad minimalistic. Paintings of snowy sunsets and mountains decorated the white walls, and a multitude of potted plants (some of which were almost withered) were spread throughout his room, peeking from the top of his bookshelf, standing in front of his window, and some larger ones sitting on the floor. His bed was rather large, and it lay at the top right corner of the room, if you assumed that the door was in the middle of the bottom wall. His desk was across from his bed, to the right of the door, and his bookshelf, which stood in the middle of the left wall, housed an array of multicolored spines of books. His window, thankfully, was closed.

"You can come in, you know," he called as he turned his head to you.

"Thank you," you muttered, stepping inside his room. "Where should I put my stuff?"

He walked over to the center of the room, where you were standing awkwardly. He looked over the items in your hands.

"You don't have anything as padding? We have wooden floors."

"Yeah, I know," you said with a sigh. "I don't have anything."

"Neither do I... I mean, I can always sleep on the floor without padding, and-"

"You're not sleeping on the floor. It's your room."

"Yeah, but you can sleep on my bed and actually have a chance of falling asleep," he said.

"But you said that you couldn't fall asleep too," you remarked. "And you're putting up with my bullshit, so you get the bed."

"How about this? We split the bed in half with pillows, and we each get half. Does that work?"

"Oh- sure."

The two of you got to work. Luckily, you both had several pillows at hand, and Gepard's bed was big enough to perform the task, so you had it done in a couple minutes. You covered yourself with your blanket as he turned off the lights, and when you settled in among the darkness, you felt him shifting in his place.

"Goodnight," you heard him whisper.

"'Night," you replied, pulling your blanket further up to your neck.

But a little while later, your blanket stopped helping against the cold of his room. You didn't notice it before, but now, it was getting pretty chilly, and you couldn't help but lean closer to the row of pillows separating you two, subconsciously seeking warmth. Your thoughts were hazy, laced with sleep that was finally washing over you, but that little itch of cold was getting annoying. So you did the only thing that would have the smallest chance of waking him up and still receiving the warmth you needed - you came closer and closer to the pillow wall, until your hands finally felt his broad back through one of the thinner pillows.

To a very-much-still-awake Gepard's surprise, he felt your fingertips press against his back through a pillow. He thought that you were dreaming, that your brain was perceiving the pillows as a stuffed animal that you were "petting", but when your hands snaked around his torso, he realized that he was probably the stuffed animal (at least in your dreams). You were now hugging him.

If he was being honest with himself, he would probably describe his current feelings in one word: conflicting.

On one hand, he wanted to push your arms away. You were dreaming, that's it, and you needed something to hug. You needed to hug a pillow, not him - he wasn't at all like a pillow, he wasn't soft or light, he was, in his mind, a walking stone, hard and cold. He could give no comfort to you.

On another hand (the hand that Gepard deemed more selfish), he was rather comfortable like this. This felt right, for really no particular reason. A voice in the back of his head told him to do the same, to wrap his arms around you and protect you from anything and everything that ailed you. It whispered sweetness into his ear, vowing that you won't remember it when you wake up anyways, that this was his chance to face his feelings and act on them.

Sure, he's had a crush on you ever since you moved in together, but that doesn't excuse hugging you back when you were this close, right? But what would happen if he hugged you back, and you somehow remembered? What if you weren't sleeping at all and this was your way of flirting?

Y/N wasn't flirting, he thought. Definitely not with me. They wouldn't. They probably don't like me anyway.

Oh, but how he wanted to not overthink the situation and just do it already. This was his chance! What if you did like him back? What if you were flirting with him? A hug couldn't really ruin a 6-month-old friendship, could it?

He sighed as quietly as possible. He was going to do it. He was going to hug you, and he was going to roll the dice of Fate. Either you won't care, or you would lean into his arms, or you would push him away when you wake up. You were kind, merciful - would you really kick him out of the apartment because of a hug?

He stiffly turned around to face you, and got a full view of your serene, closed eyes. You were so pretty like this, he almost couldn't bear it.

Steeling himself, he screwed his eyes shut and reached his arms out to your form, wrapping them around your waist, supporting your back with his large hands. To his relief, you didn't show any signs of resistance - instead, you tilted your head closer to his, resting it against his collarbone as you let out a short, low hum.

Holy shit. Holy shit.

You were so warm, so soft, so fucking beautiful to him. He felt an overwhelming sense of immense joy and relief flood his system at your actions and couldn't help but brush away a stray lock of hair from your perfect, ethereal countenance, taking care to not disturb your sleep in any way. Small breaths escaped your oh-so-kissable lips like fleeting whispers of song, tickling his neck and shoulder lightly, and his heart beat faster and faster until it almost hurt from how close you were to him.

He couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

Your own heartbeat slowed as you fully fell asleep, content in his warm embrace, but Gepard's was still racing. He wanted to stay awake for as long as possible, to savor this moment of closeness for what could very well be the last time, but his eyes betrayed him - they were closing all on their own, and the last thing that he remembered before he fell asleep was the way that your chest rose and fell in time with your quiet sighs of sleep.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Hiii, do you have any tips for drafting out embroidery patterns? I've got one in mind, but drafting it out and color picking is so nerve-wracking!!

[Hi!!!! this got kinda really long so I'm gonna crop it under a read more. And I honestly don't have any real training/instruction in fiber arts so this is just how I do things, and probably others do them very differently!]

Haha so my fandom embroideries are VERY different from my non-fandom personal pieces in this respect. For non-fandom things i just kind of throw myself in like WAHOO FREEFORM LETS GO and go for a kind of messy colorful approach that ends up as things like this:

Versus my fandom stuff is way more structured and designed to fill space, be very precise, etc. So for those I do go in with a digital mock up of the design I make in photoshop, that I then color in, and then as my last step translate to thread colors.

For my Dragon Age series. this has been because I'm specifically trying to mimic the stained-glass style of art you see in parts of the game like the dialogue wheels, some icons, windows, etc. The icons in particular were really easy to copy into embroidery because they already come in handy circles:

This is mostly because I have desperately wanted to pick up stained glass work as a hobby for like 6 years now. As in once every 3-6 months I put everything I'd need to start doing it into an online shopping cart and look at the price total and then sadly close the window because I just don't actually have any space I could do it in (I live in a 2bed apartment so i have no garage or yard or anywhere it wouldn't make everything else a mess or be a hazard). The day after one of those events I impulse bought and completed a floral embroidery kit from the craft store and kinda was like... ok, well, I did this once how hard can it be to use this medium to mimic the hobby I wish I could be doing? Plus, it's only like 60 cents per color! I can afford that! So I took the first design I wanted to do, the romance icon, and basically redrew it sloppily in photoshop, then freehand-copied the design onto fabric and stitched it the next day:

I learned a lot from this piece and changed my approach a little. Here you can see I tried shading in the parallel direction to my thread, which looked messy and added texture, so now I shade horizontally to my thread direction instead.

But it gave me a basic approach for turning the Tarot cards or DA Keep tiles (or any other art!) into embroidery patterns, which I couldn't copy as directly into this really smooth stained-glass style. There's a basic process I follow when doing these conversions that generally follows the same order, which I'll go through below.

STEP 1: SHAPES

The first thing I do is pick the shape of my display frame which is usually a circle, but could be an oval or rectangle too, since I hang the finished pieces on my wall to have nice way to show them off. I like to fill the whole space so knowing the size and shape of what I want the finished project to look like is a good goal for me. Since I am doing fandom pieces I want to be recognizable, I do stick pretty close to the "original" character design/art, but you can absolutely change as much as you want and freehand draw your own interpretation instead. If you're doing original art just substitute the below composition notes with "sketch out roughly what you want it to look like". I personally do my pattern drafting digitally as I find it easier, but you can do this part by hand too.

First, I keep the reference image I'm working off of open next to me while I work, and draw in the shape of my frame (here, a circle). If I'm adding in the little border to be fancy, I add a second inner circle. I keep these as their own top layer so I always know I'm working within the final "frame" and don't spend time designing any section that will fall outside it. Then I will take copies of the reference image and knock the layers down to 25-50% opacity, and start moving them around underneath the 'frame' layer until I like the way their positioning looks as a composition. Sometimes elements of a card I want to include don't all fit in, so I'll chop the section out and add an additional layer to throw in (like the background circle things in the Hermit design below). Or I'll just freehand things like adding much bigger diamonds behind Solas in my Hierophant design because I did NOT want to do 1000 tiny ones. Then once I'm satisfied with the general composition, I'll use the plain ol circular brush tool to trace out the major shapes of each element. I try to keep in mind that I can't go too small, and curvy lines are more difficult to fill in than straight ones. I usually do a rough messy version first, make it mostly transparent, and then a cleaner and more precise one over that.

(you can see parts of the rough one on the left and the fully 'cleaned up' on the right for the Hierophant design)

Now: depending on what you are doing next with the pattern, this might be where you stop and start coloring. If you are planning to freehand your design or just trace it onto fabric (or even print it onto fabric here), there's no need to do more than this kind of lineart! However, if you are working digitally and want to create a scalable vector so you can print it at different sizes, you can use the pen tool in photoshop to trace your design and make a "work path" of the lineart. However, another note: THIS PART IS VERY FRUSTRATING AND TEDIOUS BECAUSE THE PEN TOOL WAS CREATED BY THE DEVIL TO TORMENT US. It is so so so easy to accidentally delete a line or even the whole path and not notice later on. Ask me how I know 😭 Anyway I'm not going to include a pen tool tutorial because I don't even know how to use it well and have to google or watch videos every other time I try to use it. But if you can muddle through it gets you some really clean lines that eventually look like this:

With the work path selected, you can select the brush tool/size/color and use the "stroke path" option to create lineart of the vector. Then you can save this as a transparent png file for use at different sizes and for printing and it looks so nice and clean! one of the big benefits to this is that you get really fine lines that are easier to be precise with stitching on. This is extra perfect if you are printing the design directly onto your fabric (which you can do with an at-home inkjet printer for designs under 8inches wide, as long as you stick a piece of stabilizer on the back of your fabric and cut it down to printer sheet size--this is what I do and can make another post about that process if people want haha), or if you are printing onto transfer paper like you can buy at craft stores.

This is where I end the lineart for my designs. After I have this, I move on to the next phase, which is...

STEP 2: COLOR

For interpreting my designs into thread, I start by thinking of it as flat colors first. You can't "shade" as easily with threads as you can with things like paint or brushes in digital art (though you can A Little, which I will get into), so to start color planning I pick the "main" color each section will be in the piece.

For the existing icons this was simple--I kept the same sections as the original designs, so for each I just color picked or eyeballed the color in photoshop and colored it in (but you could do this on paper with pencils, markers, whatever as well--they don't need to match your threads exactly and usually won't, it's just to give you an easy reference to follow as you go). For the tarot cards which were more complicated in coloration, I just did my best and went with what looked good next to each other, even if it was a little off the original art. It will be off more later anyway when you have to pick threads so don't stress it too much honestly. I will often make layers with different color options and turn them on/off for direct comparison to try to determine what I think looks best as well, like below where I was debating between more blue/desaturated for the background or brighter colors.

I do wanna note I have regrets about the color selection, shapes, or shading in EVERY SINGLE ONE of my finished pieces. But no one else ever comments or probably even notices! One aspect of this hobby is just learning to be satisfied with what you've made and using what you learned to get closer to your preferences next time. I'm only going back and redoing some of my designs' colors because I want to make it easier for others to choose on the patterns I sell, more than I care for just for myself. Also since I'm doing this lineart/stained glass looking approach where I go over the distinct shapes with black thread at the end, it means I get these clear delineations between sections you might not necessarily have in your own pieces, and that's ok.

Ok right. Now while shading/coloring in detail is hard with thread, you CAN make whats essentially dithered gradients. "Dithering" in the concept of art means using 2 (or more) colors to give the impression of a third color, or to gently scale between the existing binary rather than a hard line. Think of it like blocky pixel art or gameboy game images. If you're doing needlepainting, you use really small stitches close together to get this effect, which translates to "smaller pixes"--if you look at the jellyfish in my first photos that's a very messy casual version of that. If you want a better example, I recommend looking at @ammocharis 's pieces like these in her pinned post, which are truly amazing! I simply do not have the patience myself 😂 For my stained glass style, I work only in very long straight stitches, so I can only shade in one direction and have to be a little more precise with it.

So for shading, I think about in each section which direction my threads might go. Then perpendicular to that direction I pick which side will be the light one and which the darker one. Sometimes I color this in on my pattern mockup, but sometimes I don't! Or I'll only do it for certain sections to make sure I don't forget. Like for my Tower design I only colored it as flats, and waited until I selected threads to decide how the shading would go. I am currently working on a smaller, simplified version of my Hierophant design and I did add shading digitally for that one just for fun. But it's not as important as having the flat color version you can use to quick-reference how you want your design to go while you're stitching. You might also notice I don't actually color my gold--I just throw in a stock image of gold foil for that layer so I can't confuse it with any of my yellow thread sections.

Here's a close up where you can kind of see what I mean by the "dithered" effect between colors--some are more obvious (like the red on the far left or middle orange) and others pretty subtle (dark grey to dark red on the wolf face):

Now, while I use single layers of satin stitches for this, and just alternate thread colors increasing/decreasing as I go, you can accomplish the same thing with short overlapping stitches like with needlepainting, or with clusters of french knots, or whatever else. But in GENERAL you are going to be able to trick people into seeing gradients out of dithering best when you are using the same type of stitch for that whole area. So if I was using multiple stitch types like having french knots, daisy chains, ladder stitching or whatever else for some sections, I would keep those to contrasting areas/colors. A fantastic example of using different layered types of stitching to create more intricate color/texture in an embroidery would be these incredible tarot card depictions by @hattedhedgehog, which I like even better than my own embroideries. Here's his take on the Tower card as well for comparison to mine (I'm so in love with it!!!).

But anyway, at this phase, your design is actually still digital--the above is just to explain how it translates later in the process. The next step is...

STEP 3: THREAD SELECTION

I will admit here I am not great at this part. I am constantly second guessing my thread colors, and can spend over an entire hour in the thread aisle at the craft store agonizing over choices. Really, I think this is just one of those things that takes practice and you get better at it over time. What I have had the best luck with is actually printing out a reference photo of my design/the original artwork and taking it with me. If you already have threads you can do this part at home too, but DMC alone has over 500 colors and I definitely don't even own half that so I like to torture myself by looking at them all together on the thread racks. Plus Anchor and Artiste and whatever other brands there are out there. One approach is to just sit there and pick out what you want for each section and line it all up together on top of your printout. Or in the case of my Tower I laid a bunch of options out on top of my template in the hoop to guess how they'd look in the frame.

For me since I am also doing this dither shading thing, I also need 2-3 colors per sections depending on its size. Sometimes it's easy and the threads have a color just a little darker or lighter right next to them in the numerical lineup! Other times, there is no good match, or it looks too far away to shade nicely, or I want one to be a warmer or cooler tone than the other... which means a lot of standing and fretting to myself over it. I actually take a lot of photos at this stage because it can be easier to see how they will look in the end from a photo than in person to me? Idk why. Plus then after they get scrambled in my bag I remember wtf order I meant for them to go in later. But as long as you're not preventing other customers from shopping themselves, you can spend as long as you want staring at thread in the embroidery aisle and they won't kick you out unless it's closing time, so take your time.

Now, IN THEORY, you can sort of combine steps 2 and 3 by color-selecting from your threads and using that to color in the design. However I have tried this and it led to mixed success because the photoshop eyedropper brush simply isn't actually that exact (in my experience, it desaturates compared to what we actually see). And because then you have to have the threads on hand while you're coloring... which means you might buy ones you don't end up using if you don't like them. So I prefer to just use this as a refinement step where I pick threads based on the design colors, then will re-color the design a second time to match those threads more closely to be sure I like the effect.

I've even used this as a tool when I needed to adjust my color choices mid-project, by digitally coloring over over my WIP:

Or here's a design (but I haven't posted the finished piece yet bc it's a gift so shhh) I made with certain color tones initially, but after buying thread I re-did the color mockup to be more vibrant, because I liked those threads better in the store:

Once you have your thread, you can make yourself a little reference chart with the colors you intend noted on the sections you want them, like below:

(note: i didn't end up sticking to these colors because I ended up dying my own thread for several sections. And then forgot I made this entirely and picked new ones because I put the project down for a year between design and stitching. Sigh).

Or for my Solas pattern I did this in a really detailed way, which i am sorry but i have redacted because... i have it for sale now and don't wanna just give that away haha. But if you buy the pattern from my shop this is one of the files you'd get with it, for ease of reference. I do also include a text-only list of them as well.

Now I don't go to this much trouble for all my designs, just the ones I put up for sale (or plan to). You can also just make a text list of your color plans if you want. Though for fun I also have been using my scrap thread to make these little "color palette" keyrings for my finished pieces, so if I ever remake them or update their patterns I will know what the original colors were, plus I can compare what i used to other threads if I wanna change part of the design up. This step is absolutely not necessary and I'm just doing it because I'm selling the patterns now, but they are kinda fun to look at.

And don't forget.. if you start a section in a certain color and decide you don't like it, you can just cut the threads and pull them out! I did that with my original hierophant piece actually. I had an entirely different color for one row of diamonds i thought just clashed way too much with the others, so I used photoshop to paint over it with some alternate options until I found one I liked better. Then I cut away all the old threads and put in the new color. It can be a little harder to fill a piece the second time since the fabric will have stretched out a little, but as long as you're using a good stabilizer it usually doesn't move too much.

You can also just make test swatches on spare fabric to test before you add them to your real piece. I wish I'd done this for some color transitions that didn't end up looking the way I wanted, but I am simply too lazy most of the time. My exception is usually for metallic, satin, or sparkly threads, because I want to know how they feel while embroidering. But if you're really worried about a certain color or shade it's a good thing to remember you can just do.

SO yep, that's my general process for drafting patterns. I start with the shapes/design, then do my flat color version, then I pick my threads. Makes it sound easy and short when phrased like that :) But I can honestly spend 8-10 hours just on making the lineart and coloring it in. If I was better at art, probably this would be less, but I'm working with what I've got (not much) 😂 I think all aspects of this are also something that gets easier over time, but it will probably never look as bad as you worry when you start out. I think all my pieces look awkward and rough right up until I do the finishing steps and move them to the display frame sometimes.

I hope this was helpful and answered your questions!! Feel free to post/share your WIPs to ask for feedback or advice ever too :) I've only ever had people in the embroidery community on tumblr be encouraging and helpful to me, and I'm happy to answer any questions myself when I can or if parts of this were confusing

[bestworstcase]

Hi, I've been enjoying your essays on Salem immensely and your theories about Summer have got me hoping we will get to see her again. A thought popped into my head recently: do you think it might be possible for Ruby to choose a new emblem at some point? Her emblem is the same as Summer's except for color. She's starting to learn that she doesn't know as much about her mother as she thought and that maybe she shouldn't aspire to become the hero she thought that Summer was. So what if part of Ruby discovering herself came in the form of an emblem change? I guess it's a long shot, since the show hasn't touched directly on the emblems very much, but this particular one carries explicit narrative significance...

i think she might modify the brooch in some way—maybe take a leaf out of yang’s book and paint it?—to really make it hers.

this is smth i talked about while v9 was airing but the core problem ruby had to face in the ever after is that because she lost her mom at just the right age to have indistinct, amorphous memories of summer and grew up hearing about summer as this fairytale hero (who was just! like! ruby!), ruby is alienated from herself—her "memory" of summer is really more of a projected idealized form of herself.

we glimpse this in v6/v7 with ruby visualizing her own feelings personified in summer rose (+ the character model being a barely tweaked clone of ruby, which is not, as v9 reveals, what summer rose actually looked like—the low effort v6/v7 model may have just been a budget/time consideration but even if it was they leveraged it narratively to great effect) and ruby asking qrow what he thinks summer would have done in her shoes when she’s doubting herself. but the ever after pulls it to the surface and confronts her with it.

(this is also sort of what’s going on with penny’s sword, incidentally… it wasn’t literally penny’s sword that fell into the ever after somehow, it was an outward physical manifestation of her grief in the form of a sword because ruby’s the "weapons are extensions of ourselves" girl)

ANYWAY the point being, ruby sacrificing the brooch is what precipitates her katabasis in the last arc of v9 because she is, at the same time, letting go of summer but also rejecting herself, because her idea of summer is really her own reflection disguised as what she wants to be (<- STILL CANT BELIEVE THIS.) and then crescent rose shocks her and ruby just unravels. take the image, the icon of summer from her and she has no idea who she is.

that separation from the burning rose was necessary but (as surmised in the linked post) it’s equally crucial that ruby took it back in the end, first because it’s the one real thing she has from her mother and that’s important to her and second because it is also very much ruby’s symbol now—summer left it behind fourteen years ago and it’s belonged to ruby ever since.

the key is that she needs to detangle her own identity from the idea of summer rose—smooth out the funhouse mirror so she can see herself (and her mother) as she truly is. which is a different kind of challenge than stepping out from her mother’s shadow; ruby isn’t struggling to assert that she isn’t like summer; she needs to realize summer wasn’t (isn’t) her, that when she imagines summer she’s really picturing herself without all the qualities she doesn’t like about herself.

it’s the reversal of the standard trope, which would generally end with the child discarding their parent’s identity and symbols to forge their own. i think for ruby it’s going to be similar to what jaune does with his shield after the fall of beacon, having it reforged with the image of her diadem worked into it as a way of both honoring her memory and claiming the family shield as his own. keeping the brooch but modifying it with her own touches, like by painting it or maybe casting a copy, allows for that same sort of balance between memorial and new beginning. which is also in keeping with what the burning rose itself symbolizes narratively, so it works on that level as well.

[des2dream]

Appreciation For MLP Generation 5🦄💗

By the time My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic ended, I pretty much expected there to be another generation by the next decade and it mainly helped with there being leaks of concept art from 2018. Originally, it was going to be a reboot of G4 with The Mane Six meeting each other all over again (and Twilight being an Earth Pony, Fluttershy being a Unicorn, Pinkie Pie being a Pegasus) similar to the second generation of Monster High and I'm so glad they didn't go that route. After 10 years, I didn't need to see these ponies become friends again after seeing them grow for NINE seasons! In 2021, I saw leaked images of the upcoming G5 movie (the one with Sunny, Izzy, and the iconic tennis ball) and I was immediately taken in by the art style. I was even more intrigued when I found out that an MLP fan artist (Imalou) was working on the movie too! As soon as My Little Pony: A New Generation arrived at Netflix, I had such a good time with it. It was a great introduction to G5's main characters, I enjoyed the story, and I loved all the songs. The animation was great too considering it was the first time MLP went fully CGI (unless if we count animation for commercials, the Hello, Pinkie Pie! mini series, or any other 2-3 minute animated shorts).

Nearly a year later, we had two series for G5 air around the same time. Make Your Mark aired on Netflix as 22-minute episodes taking place after the recent movie in the same CGI style. Tell Your Tale premiered on YouTube as 5-minute shorts that also take place after the events of the recent film and mixes with the timeline of the Netflix series in a unique 2D animated art syle. With these shows we were given new characters like Misty, Sparky the Dragon, Posey, and Opaline who is not only the series' antagonist, but an ALICORN as well! Yes, Miss Opaline Arcana is a menacing fire alicorn who aims to control Equestria's magic while Misty is working under her wings for the first half of the series until she joins the new Mane 5 as the sixth member to help take her down. We even get a handful of characters from the 2021 film to reappear in both series. As for our new Mane 6, I enjoyed them. Sunny Starscout now having restored Equestria's magic is encouraging to keep ponies together while also learning to control her new alicorn powers. Izzy Moonbow continues to be joyful, positive, and creative as she's so happy to have new friends by her side. Hitch Trailblazer still manages his job at being Maretime Bay's sheriff, but now he has new responsibilities to Sparky and his new Earth Pony magic that also gives him the ability to talk to animals. Princess Zipp Storm and Princess Pipp Petals have moved out of their palace in Zephyr Heights into Maretime Bay where Pipp has opened a new singing salon and Zipp is taking the role of a detective where she wants to know more about Equestria's new magic. As for Misty Brightdawn, she was such a delight through and through as she went from a villain's sidekick to a hero with such good character development.

Unfortunately, things weren't always peaceful in a G5 world. Fans weren't too kind with both series (and even the movie a little bit) especially since it took place in the same timeline/universe as G4. They weren't happy with the stories, they weren't happy with the recast (despite that being very expected), they weren't happy with the characters, and they weren't happy with the overall vibe G5 was going for. There weren't even that many toys being sold compared to G4's run. I do understand where they're coming from because there were some problems with G5 that I couldn't ignore. Some of those problems include the magic system, how Equestria fell after Twilight's reign, the return of Spike and the dragons, and Opaline's backstory. There's a recent villain named, Allura (a winged snow leopard) who was introduced near the end of G5's run and it's a shame because audiences were just given some of her backstory before the generation's cancellation. While Generation 5 had it's ups and downs, I found it pretty disrespectful that it got so much hate for "not living up to G4's standards" or people just not wanting to accept change and still cling onto G4. I know G5 wasn't perfect, but it's not fair that it got hit with so much distaste when MLP has had WORSE media back in the day (My Little Pony: Newborn Cuties says hi). Even though this generation lasted for a few years, I'm grateful that we had ANY media with these ponies and I wish they were given a proper sendoff rather than being cancelled. Thank you for everything, My Little Pony Generation 5! Hoof to heart!❤🦄❤

Artists: PONE177 (Rivin Octaver Brush), briannacherrygarcia, Amy Mebberson, Ink Key Studios, Imalou, & abbytabbys

[nightingale2004]

Harry Potter next gen: Draco x Astoria vers.

Sidra Narcissa Malfoy

Faceclaim: Lily Rose Depp

(First off, thank you, @kind-hufflepuff. You inspired me to make this character)

Sidra is the oldest child and first daughter of Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. She is also the older sister to Scorpius.

Sidra is 3 years older than Scorpius and is SUPER overprotective of him

When Sidra first went to Hogwarts, she was sorted into Ravenclaw

Loves her parents and is a total daddy's girl

Has a Cleo DeNile and Regina George vibe

MASSIVE diva

She knows what people say about her family, but she doesn't care.

Often teases Scorpius out of love

Helps her father keep Scorpius's innocence intact

Her patronus is a peacock

✨️fashion icon✨️

Has a hard stare that will make you fear for your life, and if her looks could kill you would already be dead

She does not speak peasant

Despite what half of Hogwarts may think, she does not mind getting her hands dirty as long as she looks good doing it

Is incredibly intelligent and has a very curious mind

Knows wizard law by heart and will not hesitate to unleash her inner lawyer

Did not like Albus Potter anywhere near her brother, but she learned to tolerate him because he makes Scorpius happy

Constantly threatens Albus that if he breaks her little brother's heart, then she will break him

She knows Legilimence and Occlumency

Feels like she is surrounded by idiots

Her favorite classes are astronomy, ancient runes, arithmancy, charms, and history of magic

She has a sketchbook where she draws clothing designs and ideas (gift from her grandmother)

After her mother died, she put on a mask of perfection. The only people she takes that mask off for are her father, grandparents, and brother

Knows ballet and how to play the violin, flute, harp, and piano

Does not like the Potters but tolerates them

Surpringly for everyone, she is on the Ravenclaw quidditch team and plays as seeker, chaser, and keeper (she is also Ravenclaw's best player

When someone hurts her family, she will not hesitate to hurt them back (public image be damned)

Likes painting and sketching (helps her relax)

She and Scorpius are attached to the hip, and she can easily read her whole family and what they're thinking

Visits her mother's grave occasionally and talks to her about anything and everything that's happened to her and her family

She is pretty much Draco when he attended Hogwarts

If you bully her brother and she stares at you without saying anything, she is planning your death

The Black family madness runs deeply through her veins

Their are moments where she reminds her grandparents of Sidra's aunt Bellatrix Lestrange

Sidra keeps her father updated about Scorpius

After her mother died, Sidra and Draco's relationship was awkward, but they still loved each other and expressed it in their own way

Is completely weak for her brother

Knows her own self worth

☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇☆◇

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy

Faceclaim: Percy Hynes White

The first son and second child of Astoria Greengrass and Draco Malfoy

Autistic af

The kindest and most sensitive person you'll ever meet

Slytherin boy

Loves his family with all his heart

Hates it when other people talk bad about his family

He can read a person's body language

Has a great interest in dinosaurs to this day

Would play doctor/healer when he was younger

When he was a kid, he would sneak into his parents or Sidra's room and sleep with them. Now, he mostly sleeps next to his sister whenever he doesn't want to be alone

Tries to keep his sister from killing anyone

Loves seeing Albus and Sidra getting along

Calls his sister Sid or Siddy

Loves herbology, potions, care for magical creatures, and history of magic

Will go to his sister's games and cheer for her the loudest

He doesn't like crowds or social events. (It easily overwhelms him and triggers panic attacks)

He is jealous of Sidra and Albus but they always encourage him and love him despite being sensitive

Doesn't like to be touched without consent except if it's with someone he trusts

His patronus is dog

Whenever he needs to vent to his sister, she immediately drops everything to listen to him

Incredibly shy and bashful. He also does not have a great grasp of social cues

Sometimes, he visits his mother's grave with his father and sister. He likes to talk with her too

He is an incredible fan of Severus Snape along with Sidra, and they both often converse with his portrait

People have commented on how Scorpius and Sidra should've switched houses and how the hat got them mixed up

Draco loves how close Sidra and Scorpius are

He is the tall bf in the relationship

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, June 2, 2024

My posts

My mom was in a car wreck this past week, but she’s okay and it looks like insurance will pay for the massive damage to the back third of her whole-ass car, and it won’t be totaled. Panic-inducing, and my mom’s a little spooked about getting back out on the road, but it’s going to be okay, I think. 

I was going back through my #pride posts to find things to seasonally reblog, and I remembered I’d written this post about Donna Summer and Disco Demolition Night.

Reblogs of interest

Politics: Felonies Georg is the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime! in court! a lot!

Speaking of birdsrightsactivist, who is featured in that post, it turns out that she is a delightful evolutionary biologist who coined the word “birb.”

Hot Vintage Lady Poll finals: It’s Eartha Kitt vs. Hedy Lamarr. Be advised that it’s a 24-hour flash poll, as the men’s was. Bring it home, Eartha Nation. 

Kick off Pride Month with this massive To Wong Foo post that gets better and better every time someone adds to it.

Hozier Watch 2024: A ethereal white butterfly crashed the Noblesville show, presumably with an urgent message from the Faerie Queen (Florence Welch). 

More from hellenhighwater’s minotaur sculpture trilogy.

An extra hour in the brick pit: yet another scam event in Britain. Although I’m halfway to believing that’s just the Official DashCon Ball Pit LEGO Kit.®

I am truly truly sorry to inflict this on you, but you need to know about Ogtha, an important Reddit saga. Think Snapewives, but Kafka. And then telling your parents about it in the language of her people. 

Rooster Goncharov

How a budgie tells someone to get the fuck out

“Unbelievably huge dragon d[ISCOUNT]”

Calculus Made Easy

Wake up, babe, new cat color dropped

The Velocipastor is so much

Darth Maul, second worst nightmare

I cannot impress upon you enough what a cultural icon Winona Ryder was in the late ’80s.

That said, I now want you to read this in her deadpan Lydia Deetz voice.

“No one’s really buying AI”: I am filled with a very specific kind of joy to hear that teenagers are already calling AI-generated images “boomer art.”

Contemplating this Eurasian red squirrel and his delicious apple for a while is self care. I mean, I sure felt better. 

Video

If you have ever wanted to get in a time machine and go directly back to 1994, IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE TIME DRIFTS SLOWLY

Elephants love making music, and we don’t deserve them

Pallas cats in pumpkins, because Halloween is everyday

The sacred texts

The “Backrooms” image/location from the original 4chan thread has been found. Side note, I keep meaning to post something about Kane Parsons’ new video series, because it’s very different from Backrooms and yet the absolute terror of the liminal is still there. 

While we’re here, would you care for an heirloom dancing Spider-Man?

Personal tag of the week

#pride, since I enjoy posting things for Pride Month, although at the rate we’re going, I and/or my family might be struck by lightning any moment. Here’s hoping my tag flourishes.

[cecils-dragons]

I got into Furry Paws (the dog breeding website game) recently and I considered trying out Flight Rising too because I figured I’d enjoy a similar vibe but with dragons, but I am so wildly intimidated by the home page 😅 it all looks terrifyingly confusing, am I just a bit stupid or is there actually a beginner friendly way to approach FL?

Oh hey no problem, I'm always happy to help! Flight Rising is pretty casual so you can always take your time setting things up, so don't rush yourself into an overwhelmed state.

The front page can be pretty daunting at first, but it's mainly for big updates(ones with images) and dev updates(side bar), you can play pretty easily with ignoring these as they don't update super frequently and usually don't interrupt game flow if you plan to play casually. There is a big anniversary update coming which will likely make waves, that will happen the 8th so keep an eye out for that.

Now onto more specifics. On the side bar you'll find all your personal stuff under Clan

Dragon Lair is where you keep your dragons, Nesting Ground is where you can breed dragons, Gather Items let you gather a set amount of resources each day, Clan Profile is where you can see your clan information and edit your home page in a way, Bestiary is to keep track of all the familiars you collect, Messages is for your personal messages, and Achievements is where you can see and collect your cite wide achievements to turn in at the Grand Exchange.

These are the areas you'll uses most, but second most important is Shop.

Here is where you can send you treasure and gems, as well as earn a few more in the Auction House and Trading Post. Purchase Gems and Merch are ways to use real life money so don't click on those much, and don't worry, the cite makes it pretty easy to get gems(premium currency) without spending money. The Marketplace is the main place to buy things for your dragons from apparel to battle items, it will restock every 15 min and will have flash sales indicated by a torch icon. Despite it's name, the Auction House is where users can sell their items and dragons for a set price(you can only bargain and auction by chatting). The Trading Post is where you can find NPCs who offer different ways to make cash daily or on an hourly basis as well as a weekly raffle and a trading cart. Crossroads is where you can set up trades with fellow players. Custom Skins is for making custom art pieces to overlay your dragons. And Grand Exchange has some unique NPC related shops that usually cycle with festivals or seasons, these usually take unique limited time currencies that will be found doing cite activities.

Next is Play, this is where you can get money and items via playing games or adventuring.

Fairgrounds has multiple simple games to earn a maximum of 75,000 treasure each day. The games have a fairly low payout so if you're not trying to min max, don't worry about the cap. Coliseum tho, this is where you can level up and send your dragons out to fight. There are multiple venues which get harder as your dragons level up, each of the venues have different drops but you can find familiars, food, and items in all of them, including genes for your dragons. Dominance is a way for the players of the cite to "battle" for the weekly discounts for the Marketplace and lair expansions. This is done by exalting dragons, I'm not too keyed into this part of the cite so I cannot add too much information on how this works, sorry.

And finally Library, a kind of catch all for the rest.

Forums is where you can chat with other players over many topics, you can also check guides here and ask for help(this is a generally nice community). Dev Tracker tracks anytime a dev posts, whether it be in the side bar or in the forums, it's just an easy way to check in on cite news. Which Waystone is for helping with daily tasks and for seeing what you can do on the cite at the time, you can toggle it on with a switch located in the upper right corner of their page, this will make a little waystone hang around your page as a quick hop back to the Which Waystone. Search allows you to search for other players as well as search for specific dragons. Scrying Workshop does three things, it can check a dragon's linage compared to another dragon to make sure they can breed, show possible offspring of two compatible dragons, and most importantly, scry dragons(aka play around with a dragon generator). Game Database is where you can look up any ingame item to see more information on it. Encyclopedia holds information on FAQs, cite lore, upcoming events, and logged retired events and items. Finally, support is how you an reach out to the FR team if you're having issues with the cite or other players beyond a forum post.

I hope this could help a little! I know it's a bit long and rambly, but I'm always open to more questions! Hope you enjoy these funky dragons

[justastrugglinghotchocolate]

This started as a perspective/anatomy practice (it-- it was procrastination--I am procrastinating my life rn) and then evolved because, as said before, this au will not leave my head (i’m sure it’s just a passing fancy lol). So here’s a few more things.

This was Henry’s first big controversial moment in his career, his ‘iconic moment in pop culture’. From his outfit (the first one Basil was in charge of styling/designing for him) to his pose and the fact his fly is just intentionally fully open (he knew who his fans were and what they wanted), this all cemented his provocative reputation. Also it was the 70s, people were looking for anything to call controversy. After that performance, Basil became Henry’s main stylist (despite just wanting to paint a portrait of him lmao).

Henry, despite claiming to be (and certainly trying to present as) punk rock star, always had more of a natural proclivity to the rock star part. No one considers him punk, even with how much star power he has. Him being the second son to a lord and also rich just confirmed he wasn't for everyone who was actually punk.  At most, he’d pull shit like the above and then people would kind of see why he thought himself punk. He even had to learn how to do a London accent because he naturally speaks in RP, aka he sounds like a rich man. 

tldr: Henry is a complete poser.

The outfit used references from this one picture of the Sex Pistols and these two Vivienne Westwood pieces. All referenced images and my reasonings for choosing them (because I like to yap and yall can’t stop me) will be under the cut.

The Sex Pistols were one of the 'faces' of 70s punk (go listen to some of their music---it's good!) and their style felt like something Henry would imitate. I wish I could tell you more about them, but admittedly, I just started listening to them last year. (i, like henry, am a poser, i'm so sorry/lh). Anyways that top was fun to draw!

These are the two references by Vivienne Westwood (Dress [right], Shirt [left]). I took the ruffled part of Dress to add to the top Henry wears because, keeping with the idea that Henry is being dressed/styled by Basil, Basil probably leaned into Romantic influences, while trying to match the punk vibes Henry wanted. The little leg strap in Shirt became the weird edgy straps Henry has on his wrists. On my end, that was just for vibes lol.

The Vivienne Westwood items can be found on the Metropolitan Museum of Arts website :)

[hopenight]

Let’s Talk About Velora, Vax, and Vex

One relationship that has always low-key fascinated me (and simultaneously warmed my cold dead heart) is that between Vex and Vax and their half-sister, Velora. 

It’s not a relationship that is really explored in much depth in the campaign proper. She appears for like 15 minutes of game time, is generally adorable, and the twins know about her and have a relationship with her. One that is very warm and some sort of balance between like sibling and vaguely paternal. It’s that weird sort of dynamic that happens when you’re so much older than your sibling. 

But it’s very sweet. And then she shows up in the final episodes of the campaign because why not twist that knife in a little more? But she’s not mentioned much outside of those instances. 

Even so, I think the dynamic between the three of them and this includes the Legend of Vox Machina is still really fascinating and, again, extremely heartwarming along with saying a lot about the twins’ character in that while they aren’t nice people, they are kind people. 

In the campaign, the twins are interested in seeing Velora. In fact, they are genuinely happy to see her. Vex picks her up and puts her on her lap. They tell her about how Scanlan takes magic blue shits. Vex gives her an owlbear feather to match her plushie. And at some point previously, they gave her some sort of special necklace. 

Velora is so excited to see them both. And it’s clear that she’s not a “proper” elven girl. Or what we would image them to be. Matt calls her a bit of a tomboy and Vax encourages her to “keep scraping up those knees”. She’s mischievous and listens to what they have to say.

And it’s clear that however shitty a father Syldor was to the pair of them, and he was a shitty father, that any animosity toward him is never put on Velora. And, yeah, you should never hold the sins of a parent against the child, but given how much Syldor shit on their beloved mother? A little resentment wouldn’t have been out of line for the plot.

But no, in the first campaign, they adore Velora and probably consider her the only good part of their father. 

Something to keep in mind, however, is that in the first campaign, they’ve known of her for awhile. They’re re-meeting her. 

In The Legend Of Vox Machina, it’s changed into a first meeting. We see how the twins react to their sister upon first meeting her. And their immediate reaction is one of utter love. Vex gives her her iconic feather. Vax says that never meeting her would be “a travesty”. 

In the show, in particular, they really build up how Vex wanted her father’s approval. And here’s a little girl who has what she always wanted, her father’s love. But not even for a second does she get upset with Velora for that. It’s her little sister, why would she?

And it even shows that, again, while the problem is clearly Syldor, it never went to the other people in the household. Vax and Vex great their stepmother warmly and seem to have a good relationship with her. 

Ultimately, it shows that the twins are kind characters over nice characters. And what I mean is that they don’t much care for manners or social niceties outside the moments where they have to do those things. But, when it comes down to them, they have a lot of empathy and kindness and want to have relationships with others.

In contrast, Syldor is presumably a “nice” character. By “nice”, I mean he does the social niceties that is expected of him, but without any understanding or deeper level of emotion behind them. And it leaves him looking cold and callous as a result.

I don’t know. I just think that the twins relationship with Velora is neat and would like to see more of it.

[sonic-love-island-official]

Here comes your new challengers !! A new batch of Sonic to sim translations have arrived :)

Under the cut (it's a bit of a lengthy post lol)

First set : Fang (or Nack, depending on who you ask) and Trip !

My sister (although protesting for a good part of it) created Fang's design and she carried out her vision to perfection: A pile of mystery, but ultimately fuckboy energy. Fang came together in a way that was weirdly miraculous and I love how he turned out.

He plays exception to the trend of dying one's hair bright colours (because my sister believes Fang would find the trend hilariously stupid), and instead opted to keep his natural hair colour, which my sister made dark brown and decided to integrate his base colour purple into his clothing to maintain some kind of familiarity to his character.

Fang has sharper features, like his eyes and facial structure, so that was carried over into his sim design. He also has facial hair to represent the fur on his muzzle and has chest hair (hardly seen here), effectively for a similar reason.

He wears things fit to his canon colour palette, hence the purple top, white jeans and brown boots. Not seen here (might update the screenies if I remember) but in one of his outfits he also wears his iconic, knock-off Indiana Jones hat :)

It's best not to ask what Fang does within this AU; he tells everyone something slightly different and far from the truth.

My girl, Trip, on the other hand, was made by me. She follows trend, bright hair and all - Fang often mocks her for this - though she's a natural brunette (which looks a hell of a lot lighter in the screenshot than it does in-game, damn it). Her facial features are quite slim, her nose especially, which is a little upturned like her horn in her canon design. Overall, Trip was just intended to look cute and meek, most prominently next to Fang.

She's got some tattoos (yippee !) on her shoulders that look close to how her canon counterpart looks when she's Spin Dashing, as well as a dragon on her back, which unfortunately can't be seen in these front-on shots, but it's there. Her clothing is inspired simply by the sunset colours in her canon design.

It is unclear what Trip does for work at the moment, but she comes from Northstar Island, a location in the same cluster of islands as Angel Island. She is one of Amy's childhood friends and is dating Fang (a horrible decision, really. They met at a club on the mainland, Fang's pretty neglectful and a bit of a bully. Amy sees right through him and hates his guts - she advises Trip to leave him, but Trip is too naive and lacks the confidence to. At least, at the time of the events of Love Island).

Second set : Merlina and Shahra

These two I can't comment too much on designing them, since we just created them based around their models. But we've given them roles and a bit of AU lore !

Completely unrelated, Merlina and Shahra have an uncanny likeness to one another. They've never met (despite this image) and aren't aware of the other at all, but do have one other connecting factor: Sonic.

Sonic, being the globetrotter he is, encountered both Merlina and Shahra on separate occasions.

Merlina, Sonic often visits the library where she works, mostly to issue out his stack of summer reading (because Bookworm Sonic <3). And Shahra, Sonic aided her in reclaiming her agency and getting away from her toxic boyfriend at the time.

[loveabledirtbag]

1.01 - system

i’ve often thought about the stark difference between how the bear season one opens and the bear season two opens. but they are both actually kinda chill. the bear season one becomes frantic once carmy wakes up, but his dream sequence is kinda chill? until the bear tries to kill him?

the guitar strums as carmy wakes up is etched in my brain and somehow always releases endorphins when i hear it

the amount of storytelling they pull off in a ten second scene of the meat delivery and carmy calling lu is just incredible.

just once in my life i want to have been able to say that i had a back alley deal for some beef. it’s a fun kind of bad ass.

is it just me, or does carmy and sydney just look like BABIES in the pilot?

as someone who has interviewed a lot of people over the years for a passion-intensive type of job, seeing a business (like carmy sees the UPS) and thinking it has something to do with the job being interviewed for is truly understandable and relatable. and its never not embarrassing

there’s just something about the overlapping, chaotic yelling of everyone in the kitchen with the full spectrum of emotions that is just so on point to so many places i’ve worked. happy (and not so happy) memories

having had more time to think about the conversation between richie and carmy in the walk-in…carmy may have been more hurtful. is richie more bombastic and antagonistic? sure. is he more crude? almost always. but he’s a man who’s spent his whole life in a place doing a job with his best friend. his best friend died, and now his best friends kid brother is coming in and changing how everything is done. on top of the money problems. so he’s 44/45 years old and upset about his world changing and asking carmy to keep things how they were. but carmy, once challenged, goes right for “why didn’t michael leave the restaurant to you then?”. brutal. but i think its kind of their dynamic as a whole in retrospect: richie is louder and more aggressive, but when push comes to shove carmy will go in for the jugular and cut deep right away.

“1+1 equals you’re an asshole, bobby flay” “don’t call me bobby flay!” is a beautiful joke

matty matheson’s introduction to the show is iconic. he just comes in BAM and the camera work moves as if a drumroll of “and heeeeeeeere’s Fak!”

the scene where carmy finds his knife on the ground, and we get the intercut scenes of the morgue, and the first look at the back of mikey’s head has never made sense to me. because carmy said he didn’t go to the funeral, and richie says carmy didn’t come home. i assume that means carmy was in new york. so why is he seeing an image of a morgue with a sheet over a body? is it not a memory? is it just part of his imagination? i know the show has a lot of dream sequences and dream logic. but it’s curious.

also, the fact that in the original script, upon finding his knife on the ground carmy has a major blow up (of “review” levels) where he throws pots and screams. but instead the episode cuts to arguably the softest, and calmest shot of the episode: a beautiful softly lit scene of some meat getting salted and cooked.

which is an interesting choice when you know the alternative possibilities of the original script. it’s almost as if they decided that a way for carmy to come down is by cooking. even if that idea is challenged as the series goes on. but the anger is abated by getting into the groove of cooking and the meditative qualities of cooking.

i also think it’s a good thing they cut carmy’s blowup in this episode, because it makes his eventual blowup so much more impactful later in the season. and it would have made us, the audience, much more against him from the beginning. but instead we get through the whole season falling in love with carmy and understanding him, so when he does have his blowup in episode 7 we understand a bit more of where he’s coming from. he’s a bit more human, and we find it easier to forgive him. plus, when sydney and marcus quit in episode 7 it makes more sense that carmy isn’t normally like that. if they were used to his major freak outs than his actions in episode 7 wouldn’t have been so shocking where it pushed them to quit. but because he wasn’t usually like that, it makes sense that they walk away.

the quick back and forth of carmy and tina talking: “hey tina, i gotta see my sister, can you hold down the fort?” “yeah. hey, why doesn’t your sister come around here no more?” is such good writing. because suddenly, what you thought was an extremely antagonistic relationship, you realize has a history. carmy knows tina more than just his short time as owner of the beef. he knows tina, and he trusts tina, and tina knows carmy and carmy’s family.

“i’m gonna fix this place” “no one’s asking you too” is…maybe worth a whole post in and of itself. there are family dynamics, power dynamics, privilege, class relationships, and so much at play in the bear. but the idea of carmy, someone with knowledge and talent, wanting to help everyone in the beef reach their best potential is both a holier-than-thou idea, and/or a testament of love and devotion to a group of people who he knows deserve more out of life if they could only be given a chance. even if they do nothing but mock him. but also; we have to take into account it’s a white guy, with a staff that is predominantly POC, and that has a lot of meaning behind it. there are endless amounts of lenses you can watch and engage in with this show, and people should. feminism, gender, race, class…just so much depth to unpack. i wish academics would get on it and write all the books of the multiple lenses so i could read them, and then bastardize them for tumblr.

carmy having everyone try his new sandwich, and ebraheim (who has ALWAYS been underutilized in this show) saying “it’s redundant and white, just like you” and carmy saying “heard, heard, heard” is (again) such great and deep writing. carmy is one of the best chefs in the world, he KNOWS his version of the italian beef sandwich is better than how it was being done before. but fine dining and classically trained culinary skills often (read: systemically) cater to white folk. so a black man telling a white man his sandwich is white, when that white man has accolades and awards and skill in his world…it means something. and the fact that carmy doesn’t throw his awards, or his skill in ebraheim’s face as a response or get defensive at all is a testament to the fact that carmy also gets it. he understands that there a power dynamics at play, and that other peoples opinions matter even if it goes against the skill and talent he knows he’s using in the creation of this dish. other cultures have other flavor profiles they enjoy and just because their cuisine might not be regarded as “fine dining” in most instances doesn’t make them less valid or important.

family dinner is so beautiful. “i’m grateful for all you motherfuckers”. because that is family, and oftentimes the best team at a small restaurant or shop. you fight, you battle over what temperature you want, you steal their knives, you pretend to not speak english, but that doesn’t mean you don’t LOVE them

“i’m grateful for phillip k. dick” richie has surprising layers to him.

i have been in chicago five times in my life, and three of those times i have seen a random man shoot a gun into the air to (probably) make a point. so richie doing the same thing feels fitting. god, i love chicago.

“you snyder-cut, 4chan, qanon motherfuckers” is also amazing writing for richie. we know he uses homophobic slurs, he calls sydney (a stranger) sweetheart, and babe. we assume he would be a republican, and maybe even a “scary”, trumpy one. but no. the working class has a broad spectrum to it, and just because someone isn’t politically correct doesn’t mean they’re automatically in a specific political party. people have layers and nuance to them, and richie “phillip k. dick” jerimovich is a perfect example of one. “i hate litter, so you cucks are gonna clean up after yourselves. and you’re gonna goddamn recycle.”

the inkling of seeing that carmy’s “system” is having a positive impact on the staff when marcus says “heard, chef” is great. but i can’t get over the fact that carmy seeing that change and then deciding to toss the can of tomatoes into the trash is wasting how many thousands of dollars in one second? (more on that later)

ugh. it’s a perfect show. a perfect episode. it introduces everything and is so economical. you get so much storytelling in 27 minutes. i truly believe this is the best show ever made and i will argue that until the day i die.

Season One: Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8