#like i finished the lining and base colors in 2 days????

[miloicy]

[goatskickin]

On the third day of GOATmas, my true love sent to me...

...desks! Wood recolors of desks!

I've recolored every desk that EA has created in a pack or expansion that:

1) already had wood recolors

2) didn't have wood recolors, but I felt that wood recolors suited them

For the colors: I am using Dynamite, Depth Charge, Shrapnel, Safety Fuse and Time Bomb by @pooklet, and Nesert and Honey by Io aka @serabiet.

Please check out the Add-On's I've recommended! They are meshes made by community members that will use these textures too. Or, they are bits of CC that go along with these nicely!

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Andromeda Desk - deskatomicagekids

notes: did not have a wood texture but it does now! The lines of the desk were too good to pass up. Wood texture nabbed from Seasons, I think.

Bakonmi Sprok Desk - desktechep8

notes: some of the original texture and some new stuff too

Recommended Add-On: #1

Broken In Desk - deskbohemian

Notes: much of the existing texture but edited a lot.

Recommended Add-On: #1

Counter Productive Work Surface - deskclub

notes: the SHINIEST desk that ever did live. Basically the original texture though

Fine Finish Desk - deskfantasy

notes: the texture of this was mostly quite good! Did remove the curly bits. I sure do wish that the knobs and the deco had a recolorable subset.

Recommended Add-On: #1

Home Office Desk - deskquaint

notes: the 2nd shiniest base game desk. Almost all is the original texture

Recommended Add-on: #1, #2

Patchwork Desk - deskgoth

notes: brand new texture! Now you can actually use this desk! The shape is quite nice

Retratech Office Pal Economy Desk - deskvalue

notes: it's your very fave desk! The one you likely have lots of fun recolors of already. Original texture - no white recolor though, as the desk comes with one

Recommended Add-ons: #1 #2

Swervy Curvy Desk - desksurfer

notes: I saw the vision on this one! Previously no wood recolor, but now it has one. Wish that little bendy metal leg had a recolorable subset

The Rollin Secretary - deskcountry

notes: this is one of my favorite desks and it is so cute!

TibetanDesk_deskcentralasian

notes: mac and cheese yellow handles (no recolorable subset) but at least the wood looks alright. The mapping on this one suuuuuucks

Recommended add-ons: #1

Download - Sims 2 Desks - Wood Recolors

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Recommended downloads:

[thewritingrowlet]

The Freshman (Remake), ft. tripleS Yoon Seoyeon

tags: first time, creampie

length: 10k

author's note: It's the remix to Ignition The Freshman, hot and fresh out the kitchen, mama rollin' that body got every man in here wishin'

Anyway, I decided to do something different this time; I remade The Freshman because I wasn't entirely satisfied with how that one originally turned out—I was super new and was super terrible at writing (still am, btw). I hope you like this remake! <3

-

Today is August 12th, the first day of Freshers’ Week at your university. Professor Son, the head of Computer Science department, had asked you personally to be one of the seniors to lead a group of freshmen throughout the Week and continue to offer help and advice whenever they may need it, even after the orientation period has finished. She told you that she was very impressed that you were able to maintain over 3.7 GPA (4.00 was peak—3.7 was “rock-bottom”) in the 2 years you’ve been studying while being active as a basketball player for the university’s team at the same time.

You were hesitant to take her up on the request at first because you had wanted to take this holiday period to relax and gather yourself after such a stressful semester. However, you recalled the way your senior had helped you when you were a freshman yourself; how he motivated and set an example to you and your groupmates. With that in mind, you put your holiday plans to the side, said yes, and went on a training period to become a group leader.

Your watch shows 5:30 am. You just finished the morning briefing with the other group leaders and the rest of the Freshers’ Week committee. In less than an hour, the freshmen will start gathering in the football field and you will start your duties as a group leader for these new faces. You are very nervous as you are not very sociable with new people, but you see this as an opportunity to help you be more comfortable being in the spotlight and present in public—the promised payment is too good to pass up as well.

You and the rest of the group leaders stand in a row while holding a sign with the group name and number written on it. You see the freshmen start lining up in front of their respective leaders, including yourself. Some look like they just woke up, others look excited to start their new life as a university student, as you were back then. Initially, no male or female freshman caught your attention with their looks, until the last freshman joins your group’s line. You quickly peek at the attendance list on your clipboard and find the name of this last person: Yoon Seoyeon, from Chungnam Girls’ High School in Daejeon. “That’s quite the distance”, you think. As you turn your attention away from the attendance list, you see her walking up to you. Just before she gets to you, you manage to pick up some details from her looks: big eyes, small lips, fluffy cheeks—she’s also wearing a bow tie in your favorite color, light blue (or is that Dodger blue?).

Lock it in, she’s holding out her hand to shake yours. “Good morning, sunbaenim. My name is Yoon Seoyeon”, she says. You find yourself staring deep into her eyes for a second before reaching out to shake her hand; you have never felt anything like this before—is this what they call love at first sight? “Good morning to you as well, Seoyeon-ssi”, you greet her warmly, “stand in line, please���. You expect her to stand at the end of the line, but to your surprise, she takes the spot right in front of you, beaming as she does. “In line”, she says cutely, and you can’t help but smile in response.

You hear the sound of someone testing the mic over the speakers, which indicates that this whole thing is moments away from kick-off. “One, two—one, two, three”. You can’t see the speaker, but based on the voice, it must be Doctor Park, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine and the head of the Freshers’ Week committee. “Good morning, everyone!’, her voice is laden with excitement, “welcome to the university, my dear freshmen—how’s everyone today?”. Judging by her chuckles and giggles that you hear over the speakers, the people close to her must be saying nice things to her—which is good; she’s such a brilliant professor and an even greater person, and students love her a lot.

“Group leaders, look at your attendance list for me, please”, she says, “if there’s anyone in your group who has a medical condition, guide them to me and we’ll talk to them”. You do as she says and look at your list, and thankfully, no one has any medical conditions. Unlike your group, however, the group next to you do have someone. “Are we okay, sunbaenim?”, Seoyeon asks. “Yeah, I think we are”. Your gaze meets hers, and she shows you such a precious smile. You expect her to look away in shyness, but she doesn’t; she just keeps looking at you with so much confidence—it’s you who folds first, and it’s because you feel your cheeks getting hot. “Fuck, if only I could find something to talk about”, you think to yourself, desperate for even the smallest of help to save you from the awkwardness.

“Once they’re back, leaders, you’re going to take your group to the classrooms that have been assigned to you—see you around, everyone!”. The doctor leaves the football field and goes about her day, and you hear some people collectively saying goodbye to her. You return your attention back to your group, and you can see that some people have started talking among themselves, which is very nice—oh, look: someone’s tapping Seoyeon’s shoulder from behind. She turns around with a smile and starts talking to the girl behind her. You see them pulling out their phones, probably to get each other’s contacts, and admittedly, you’re glad that things are starting out well for her—not sure why you’re so attentive to her, though.

-

Your group, 127, shares the same classroom with groups 125, 126, and 128. Each group split themselves in two rows and sit facing each other, and then the group leaders sit wherever they can and blend in with their respective groups. “Good morning, everyone”, you greet your group, “let’s start by having a toilet break—does anyone need to go to the toilet?”. You see 3 girls and 1 guy raise their hands, so you tell them to make a line at the door and wait for other toilet-goers.

You were too busy looking at your papers that you didn’t notice that Seoyeon has scooted over towards you. “Excuse me, sunbaenim”, she says, “I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing each other a lot in the next few days, and I was wondering if we can start speaking more casually”. For a freshman, her confidence is second to none. “Of course, Seoyeon-ah; you can call me oppa—or hyung, if you feel like it”, you feel your cheeks getting hot again, “have you thought about which student organization you want to join?”. “I want to continue my student council career”, she says, “do you think that’s a good idea?”. You have friends in the student council; you can play a little nepotism game and help Seoyeon join it—let’s not reveal it to her just yet though. “I think it is”, you say, “you obviously have the experience and know what it’s like to be in the council”.

Before you know it, the toilet-goers have returned to the classroom. In your head, you expect Seoyeon to move back to her previous position, but she doesn’t; she asks the other person to swap seats with her and stays close to you. Your heart starts getting excited, but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself—it’d be very embarrassing if Seoyeon turns out to not be interested in you, wouldn’t it?

Kim Suhyeon, the leader of group 128, signals to you with her hands and asks you to come to her, so you do. “I think we can start now, oppa”, she says. You nod to her and take the stage in front of the whiteboard with her. “Attention, please”, you say, “first of all, we’d like to extend Doctor Park’s greetings and welcome you to the university”. In the corner of your eyes, you notice that Kim Sungmin and Nam Jungmin—leaders of 125 and 126 respectively—are on their way to join you. “I’m sure you already know what our names are but allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Oh Hanbin; I’m a year 3 student from the Faculty of Engineering”, you introduce yourself, getting collective nods from everyone present, “I’ll let the others introduce themselves and then we’ll start this whole thing”. The other 3 people take turns introducing themselves to the crowd, starting with Sungmin, Jungmin, and finally, the little princess (because she’s the only sophomore among juniors in your quartet), Suhyeon.

Now that introductions are out of the way, you can proceed to the next step, which is to play a small game. “We’ll give you three minutes to know as many people as you can, and then we want you to group up based on different conditions—the timer starts now”. People start getting on their feet and scramble around the classroom to introduce themselves to each other. You eye the members of your group, and you guess that some of them already have friends in the other groups based on how they start laughing and high-fiving other people. Seoyeon, on the other hand, seems to be stressing out, as she keeps running around the room to quickly introduce herself to people. “How cute”, you think.

“Alright, everyone, time’s up!”, Suhyeon announces, stopping people on their tracks. “Let’s start the game, everyone. On the count of 3, you have 2 minutes to find people whose name starts with the same letter as yours—Juhyeon and Jihoon, Siwoo and Sunwoo, and so on”, she explains the first criteria of the game, and the freshmen start getting antsy, “one, two, three—timer starts now!”. The chaos immediately ensues; those who happen to be far from their group start running around frantically, including Seoyeon, who happens to be standing quite far away from others whose name starts with S. “Remember: no curses, everyone; we are an educated bunch”, Suhyeon reminds the crowd—they’re too busy playing the game, though.

“That’s time, everyone!’, she announces, thus marking the end of the first round, “now let’s see how you did”. She walks to the group that Seoyeon is a part of and starts asking everyone’s name: Sunwoo, Seoyeon, Soobin, Seunghan, Soojin, Seokmin. “Nah, nah, nah—sunbaenim, he’s lying!”, says someone from across the room, “his name is Kang Minseok, and he went to the same high school I did”. Everyone explodes in laughter; someone actually snitched on their friend and caused them to get punished. Suhyeon chuckles and shakes her head in amusement, “you’re not slick, Minseok-ah—to the front, please”.

Suhyeon continues her examination and finds a few more suspects; there’s a girl named Minji, and a guy named Minwoo, but instead of grouping up, they’re standing far apart from each other. “What’s with you M people”, Suhyeon laughs, “alright, join your fellow M on the stage, please”.

As Minji and Minwoo walk to join Minseok in front of the whiteboard, the classroom door swings open, revealing Doctor Park behind it. “Ah, you must be having fun”, the doctor looks around the classroom, “should I come back later?”. You rush to the door to greet the doctor, since everyone is too busy standing idle. “We were having a little game, doctor—please, come in”, you say. “Thank you, Hanbin-ah”, she shows you a kind smile, “I’ll wait until you guys are done with your games”.

Doctor Park greets the three standing in front of the whiteboard and asks why they’re standing there. “They’re getting punished for failing at the game, doctor”, you explain, and she reminds you to not embarrass anyone during Freshers’ Week. “Certainly not, doctor; we won’t ask anything crazy of them”, you assure her.

You stand next to the three suspects and ask them to introduce themselves and share with the class what they want to achieve in university. Minji says that she wants to go on a student exchange program abroad, which, according to the university’s policies, will allow her to skip doing thesis. Minwoo says that he wants to graduate quickly and work at his parents’ company right after, like a typical nepo baby (his words, not yours). Minseok, on the other hand, “uh, I don’t know exactly yet. I do want to graduate quickly, though”. During all of this, the doctor is looking at them kindly with a smile on her face, the same way she did to you when you were a freshman yourself—it’ll be a very sad day when Doctor Park retires from teaching, that’s for sure.

-

It is 100% true that time flies when you’re busy or having fun, because the clock shows that it’s almost time for lunch break after what felt like an hour—this also means that Doctor Park had been speaking for nearly 4 hours straight before she left a few minutes ago. Anyway, it’s time for another toilet break before lunch—the food delivery guy(s) should be here soon as well.

As luck would have it, moments after the toilet-goers have left with Jungmin and Sungmin, the lunchboxes arrive. “Yo, yo, yo”, Sunwoo, a logistics guy, greets you while holding two big plastic bags full of lunchboxes in each hand, “help us, Hanbin-ah”. You and Suhyeon help Sunwoo and his friend and take the bags from their hands. The bags are tagged with the group’s numbers, and each lunchbox is labeled accordingly for vegetarians and vegans. You don’t have a vegetarian or a vegan in your group, but Suhyeon has a vegetarian and Jungmin has a vegan in their groups, so you know that they’ll appreciate the attention to detail. “Thanks, guys. See you guys later”, you give each of them a fist bump and send them on their way.

This morning, the logistics guys told you that you must put the empty lunchboxes (and other trash) in the bags they came in and throw them out like that, so with that in mind, you fold the bag and shove it in your back pocket for later use. While you wait for the freshmen to come back from the toilet, you pull out your phone and take a second look at the schedule. “A joint session at the library hall after this—okay, cool”.

Before you know it, your freshmen are back, seemingly refreshed after stretching their legs and emptying their tanks. They sit in two rows again, and you start handing out the lunchboxes to them. “Hand this over to the person next to you, okay?”, you start from Seoyeon, who hands it to Jiwon, who then continues the train until the back of the line.

“Wait”, you stop momentarily, “there’s only one left and there’s two of us”. You look at the other groups and see that everyone, including the leaders, have a lunchbox in their hands. Obviously, you don’t want to keep food from Seoyeon, so you give her the last lunchbox. “What about you, oppa?”, she asks, and you tell her that you’ll be fine. “I’ll live—just eat, Seoyeon-ah”. You will live, yes, but this is still a problem. You hop on the committee’s group chat and tell them that your group is one lunchbox short. “We’ll look into it”, someone from the logistics says, and those words are your tasty and tummy-filling lunch.

-

After the big, joint session at the library hall, it’s now time for the freshmen to go home. The freshmen don’t really get to go anywhere by themselves, even if it’s time for them to go home. Your group lines up behind you (Seoyeon doesn’t take the spot behind you this time) and you wait with them until you’re allowed to start walking out of the building. There’s a traffic management crew whose job is to make sure no congestion happens, especially in the narrower corridors.

“Let’s gather over there before we go home”, you point at an empty gazebo that’s located in next to library building. You give them your number and make a group chat for them, “here, you can join by scanning this QR”. You hand your phone over to Jiwon, who then scans the code and passes your phone over to the next person. You wait until everyone has taken their turn and take your phone back from Sohee. “That’s everyone, right?”. You look at the group info and see that everyone has joined, “right, you guys can go home now”.

You give those who are leaving a fist bump and tell them that you’ll be seeing them again tomorrow. You fail to notice that among your freshmen, Seoyeon is staying behind with you at the gazebo. “You alright?”, you ask. “Yes, I am”, she replies, “so what now?”. You explain to her that you still need to attend today’s evaluation and basketball practice after that, and on the other hand, she’s free to leave. “You play basketball, oppa?”, she asks. Whether it’s a genuine question or not (considering the height difference between the two of you), you answer genuinely and add to the explanation: “I’m the team’s captain, Seoyeon-ah”. She just nods to you with a flat face, and you guess that she’s not that interested in the subject. “I’m leaving then—bye, oppa!”, she waves at you as she walks away, leaving you alone at the gazebo.

-

As soon as Seoyeon enters her apartment, she gets a call from her high school best friend, Yeonsu. She also happens to be desperate to go to the toilet, though, so she lets the call go unanswered for now. After her toilet break and change of clothes, she’s now ready to call her friend.

“Hello”

“Hi, hello. Were you looking for me?”

“Yeah, I was—where were you?”

“Well, the campus, obviously. Today was the first day of Freshers’ Week” Yeonsu and Seoyeon were supposed to go to the same university but there were factors that caused them to split up. The best friends then start exchanging stories from their first day as university students—these two never spend a day without knowing what the other person is up to.

“My group leader is named Oh Hanbin”, Seoyeon says, but Yeonsu stays silent, thus confusing Seoyeon, “Yeonsu-yah, are you there?”

“Did you say Oh Hanbin?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Fuck, there’s no way”

Seoyeon doesn’t understand why her friend is reacting like this, so she asks Yeonsu to explain, and the answer she gets is “Oh Hanbin is so fucking famous, Seoyeon-ah”.

“He is? How did you know?”

“Fuck, have you been living under a rock? He’s known for a bunch of things”

“Like what?”

“He’s good at basketball and he’s even better in class—he’s also handsome, but that’s personal preferences”

“Are you serious?”

”Do I sound like I’m lying right now?”

No, she doesn’t—if anything, Yeonsu sounds very enthusiastic right now, as if wishing that it was her that got to meet Oh Hanbin.

“Do you have a crush on this guy, Ryu Yeonsu?”

“Oh, please don’t lie to me, Yoon Seoyeon; there’s no denying how attractive he is”

Seoyeon starts cranking the gears in her head, trying to remember what you, Oh Hanbin, was like: tall guy, well-built, good manners, and just a decent person all-around. “Oh, wait—oh my God!”, Seoyeon exclaims as the memory returns to her, “he gave me his lunch, Yeonsu-yah!”. Seoyeon can picture her friend’s jaw dropping in shock. “No, he didn’t—there’s no fucking way!”, Yeonsu’s disbelief is apparent, “why would he give you his lunch?”. Seoyeon explains to her friend that her group was short by one lunchbox and that you gave her the last one in the bag so that she could have lunch.

As the conversation keeps going, Seoyeon realizes that she’s starting to think that you’re attractive to her, and from that point on, her thoughts start running wild: she imagines what it’d be like to be close to you, what it’d be like to sit on the stands during one of your games, and finally, what it’d be like to have her first time with you. “Fuck, am I even ready for that? Would I even be his first? If he’s as famous as Yeonsu says, then he must’ve had many girlfriends”, Seoyeon thinks to herself, ignoring whatever Yeonsu is telling her. She decides that she needs more time to think about this. “Fuck, Yeonsu-yah, I’m sorry but I really need to go—I’ll call you again soon”, she says, and she ends the call right after.

Seoyeon forces her brain to come up with something to find out more about you. “Can I just search his name on Google or something?”. She opens the browser app on her phone and types in your name, “God, please work; tell me something about him”.

The first search result is your professional network page, which you thankfully keep up to date. “Best graduate out of high school, hm?”, Seoyeon sees the first thing listed under your picture. “Oh my God, Yeonsu was right; Dean’s List with 4.00 GPA last semester!”, she exclaims, her big eyes widen even more thanks to the surprise, “and the captain of the basketball team, too—didn’t make it to the finals last year, though”. Seoyeon doesn’t know what to do with this information, but she’s sure that it’ll be useful very soon. “I should ask him about this tomorrow”.

-

So here you are, back at the field again after the early briefing. Someone from logistics brought up your misfortune from yesterday and personally apologized to you. You were also told that you won’t get a lunchbox again today and tomorrow, since the catering service just can’t be tasked with adding one more lunchbox, apparently. That said, the committee gives you a solution in the form of reimbursement; you can get whatever and spend however much, and then you just need to give them the receipt and they’ll reimburse you. One more thing to point out is that they said that you’ll be tasked with getting to know the freshmen better and building a good relationship with each of them.

Today you opt for a red shirt and black trousers to complement the brown jacket that the university gave out for Freshers’ Week. You hope that Seoyeon approves of this color combination, because as you realize last night after practice, you’re starting to fall for her, and you sincerely hope that she’ll reciprocate the feelings and not push you away (because that’d be disastrous, wouldn’t it?).

You’re standing at the same spot as yesterday, and while you wait for your freshmen, you get into some conversation with Suhyeon and Jungmin. “Did you actually not have lunch yesterday, oppa?”, Suhyeon asks. “I didn’t. I gave the last one to Seoyeon-ie”, you try to not sound too proud of yourself, “I did get burgers before practice yesterday, though”. Suhyeon loves burgers, and the fact that you didn’t ask her to get some with you is making her slightly irritated. “You owe me burgers, oppa”.

Over Suhyeon’s shoulders, you see Seoyeon walking towards you with a smile on her face. You push Suhyeon to the side to greet the smiling cutie. “Good morning, Seoyeon-ah”, you say with a smile, copying her positivity. “Good morning, oppa. How are we feeling today?”, she says. Hearing her say “we” makes your heart rate jump to the moon, but you quickly compose yourself. “I’m doing very well, Seoyeon-ah. I’m very excited, actually; they said that we’ll be getting to know each other much better today”. She promptly looks away to hide her blush and turns her face towards you again after a few moments. “Th-that’s great to hear, oppa”, she says, “I’ll tell you everything about myself, so I hope you will too”.

You quickly scan her outfit from top to bottom: light blue shirt and brown pants. You step closer towards her so that Suhyeon or Jugmin won’t hear what you’re about to say. “Seoyeon-ah, you look good in these colors”, you praise her sense of fashion. “I-I remember seeing you holding a blue clipboard yesterday, and-and I thought maybe I should wear blue today”, she says. You really want to let out a squeal of excitement right now, but it’s very out-of-character that people might think that it’s cringe.

-

You and your group sit in a circle in the same classroom as yesterday, and Seoyeon sits right across from your position. “Alright, guys”, you start the conversation, “today is all about us; we can talk about whatever we want”. Seoyeon immediately raises her hand. “Oppa, I heard that you’ve made it to the Dean’s List with 4.00 GPA”, she says, “tell us about it, please”. You didn’t expect her to have that information, and despite feeling a little shy at first, you decide to talk about it anyway because good things should always be celebrated. “That’s true; I’ve made it on the Dean’s List a few times”, you start, “look, I’m sure people have their own ideas as to how long they should be studying for in a week, but because I also have basketball on the side, I only study around 10 to 12 hours a week.”

You think that it’s a small number but based on people’s surprised gasp (it sounds genuine, by the way), you guess that people think that it’s a pretty big number. “You didn’t make it to the finals last year, did you, oppa?”, Seoyeon piles on. “We didn’t, yeah”, you sigh, “we choked during the last few minutes of the semifinal game”. As you think about her chain of questions, it becomes obvious that she most likely looked up your name on the internet, because she wouldn’t have known any of this if she hadn’t—it is flattering, just to be clear.

Before it snowballs into a two-person conversation, you turn your attention to other freshmen and see if maybe they have things to talk about. “How many exes do you have, oppa?”, Sohee asks. You shyly confess that you’ve never dated anyone before, and Sohee seems to be disappointed by your answer. “You’re boring, oppa”, she rolls her eyes playfully. “I am boring, Sohee-yah; all I do is sit in front of my computer and play basketball”, you say with a chuckle.

As you turn your head to face the other members of your group, you briefly catch Seoyeon looking at you with a deep gaze, and you wonder what’s up with that. As much as you’re curious, however, you don’t want to make this all about you and her, since you have other people to pay attention to—hey, someone else is raising their hand.

“Yes?”, you point at Jiwon, who has her hand in the air. “Are you on scholarship, oppa?”, she asks. You reply with a nod, so she continues her question, “what kind?”. You explain to her and the rest of your crew that because you had placed first on the entrance test, you were given a scholarship that covers all your tuition if you can maintain over 3.00 GPA over the course of 4 years maximum. “I’m also eligible for an athletic scholarship, but you must keep being an athlete to get it, if that makes sense—if one day I decide to stop playing basketball for the university, that’s gone. So, for me, it’s safer to stick with the first one”, you add.

Jiwon doesn’t seem to be satisfied yet, “are there other scholarships, oppa? You know, something that a regular student like me can get?”. “Well, yes”, you say, “if you get the best grade in your class and department, your tuition for the next semester becomes 0—obviously it’s hard and there are a lot of competitors, but it’s still possible”. Your answer seems to be a satisfactory one; there are a handful of people who seem to get excited about it.

-

Lunch time is here, and the logistics guys from yesterday make another appearance today. You and co. take the bags from them and quickly distribute the lunchboxes to your respective groups. Seeing that you’re not getting a lunchbox, Seoyeon points at hers while looking at you, indirectly asking you about it. “I’m okay—just eat”, you mouth to her and end it with a smile, and she slowly opens her lunch and starts eating.

“Oppa, where’s your food?”, Sohee asks, catching on to your situation. You tell her what the logistics guys told you this morning, and you can see that Sohee is contemplating giving you her lunch. You notice that Seoyeon is glaring at Sohee from the side, so you quickly decline Sohee’s offer so that Seoyeon can have some peace of mind. “Just eat, Sohee-yah; I’ll be fine”, you say to her.

You ask Jungmin to keep an eye on your freshmen while you leave to get some food from the cafeteria, which is on the ground floor of the adjacent building.

“Oppa!”, Seoyeon follows you outside, “where are you going?”.

“The cafeteria.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’m hungry, and as you can see, I don’t have a lunchbox.”

“Okay, have fun!”

She turns around and walks towards the classroom again, so you continue your way to the cafeteria to get some food for yourself.

You see that Mrs. Jeon’s stall is the only one that’s open, so you quickly head there. “Mrs. Jeon, hello”, you greet her, “can I get one hotdog with mashed potatoes and cheese sauce?”. She asks why you’re getting food at the cafeteria, so you tell the story from this morning one more time, causing her to laugh. “Well, you must be glad that I’m open”, she says. “You have no idea, Mrs. Jeon”, you chuckle, “I’d like to have a bottle of cold water as well, please”.

Mrs. Jeon hands you a hotdog and a bottle of water after around a minute, and along with them, a receipt, which will come in handy later. Before you leave, you eye the fridge in her stall and see some chocolate milk. “One chocolate milk too, please—no need for receipt this time”, you pull out some more cash from your wallet and give it to her. “Thanks, Mrs. Jeon!”, you grab your stuff and rush back to the classroom.

You stop a few meters away from the door of the classroom and pull out your phone to text Seoyeon: “come outside, please”. You see her come out of the classroom, and she immediately finds you. “Yes?”, she asks. You pull out the chocolate milk from your jacket pocket and show it to her. “I have something for you”, you say, “I bought you a small one so that you can finish it quickly”. She covers her red face with one hand as she takes the milk from your hand with the other. “Th-thank you, oppa”. “The-the pleasure is mine, S-Seoyeon-ah—fi-finish it quickly a-and then go back inside, okay?”. You stutter—you’ve never felt something like this before—is this love?

Well, isn’t that the million-dollar question. You don’t have the time or capacity to think about it right now, as you still have plenty of matters to attend to. Maybe the silence of the night can help you focus, though.

-

You’ve sent your freshmen on their way home almost half an hour ago, so there are only group leaders and committee members on campus right now.

“Let’s start the evaluations, ladies and gents”, Doctor Park is taking the point today, “is there anything you want to tell me first?”. A guy from security raises his hand and tells the crowd that he found someone smoking in one of the toilets on the Faculty of Law building. He then proceeds to provide the doctor with the wrongdoer’s information—he also shows her some pictures he has taken from the scene. “Unfortunate”, the doctor sighs, “next, please”.

No one else raises their hand, so Doctor Park takes her turn to speak. She explains that the Student Organization Expo will be held tomorrow, and the freshmen will be given freedom to run around the expo area and visit as many booths as they want until lunch time. After lunch, they’ll be able to choose what organization they want to join and send an application using a form that the group leaders will provide them with. “We won’t have a morning briefing tomorrow, so your check-in time for tomorrow is moved to 5 am with a 10-minute lateness toleration. Any questions?”, she scans the room and finds no raised hand, “you may go, then. See you tomorrow, everyone”

You don’t have practice today, so the only option you have right now is to go home and rest. You walk towards the campus bus stop to wait for the bus that will take you to the off-campus parking lot. You see a girl in blue sitting on the bench at the bus stop, and you wonder who it is. You slam your heels harder while you walk to make your footsteps louder, announcing your presence so that the girl doesn’t get startled.

The girl turns her head to face you, and you’re shocked to see who it is. “Yoon Seoyeon?”, you furrow your eyebrows in confusion, “what are you doing here?”. “Hi, oppa”, she shows you a cute smile, “I’ve been waiting for you, actually”. You almost can’t believe your ears, “you were waiting for me, sweetie?”. Seoyeon’s big eyes get even bigger when she hears the endearment, and inside, she wonders if it was a slip. “I-I wanted to talk some more with you, s-so I waited for you, oppa”, she looks away to hide her blush, “c-can we talk, oppa?”. “We can, Seoyeon-ah”. You point at the burger shop across the street and ask her to join you for dinner.

You muster up the courage to hold her hand as you get ready to cross the street with her. You wait until this gray car passes before crossing the street half-running with Seoyeon. “Oh, what am I doing”, you stop for a second and take off your jacket, “sorry, you must be cold”. You wrap your jacket around her body to shield her from the cold night air—the way she’s looking away from you makes you wonder if you’ve crossed the line, but at least she hasn’t slapped you for it.

You walk into the restaurant with her, and you see your favorite guy, Jeno, attending the cashier. He waves at you when he sees you walking in, being friendly as ever. “Hey, can I get one Double OG with no tomato and some nacho fries?”. You feel Seoyeon snaking her arm around yours, and you’re reminded that you’re not alone. “What do you want to eat, Seoyeon-ah?”, you ask. “I-I don’t know, but I’d like to have a burger and some fries too, oppa—if it’s okay with you, that is”, she shyly replies. “Of course it’s okay”, you scan the menu board and choose something for her, “uh, can I also have a Black Montana and some fries with marinara sauce?”. Jeno recaps your orders, and after confirming it, he hands you two large cups for the drinks.

After filling the cups with your preferred drinks—cold water for you, and diet coke for Seoyeon—you walk with her to find a table. “You want to sit there?”, you point at an empty table next to the big window. She agrees to your suggestion, so you walk towards that table together. You pull a seat for her before sitting down yourself, earning a soft “thank you” from her. You sit across from her and set your backpack on the empty chair next to you. “So, what did you want to talk about?”, you try to start the conversation. Instead of answering you, Seoyeon stays silent and looks down at the table. You don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, so you opt to keep it for later—maybe food will help her open up.

Food comes out of the kitchen and arrives at your table after around 10 minutes, which you spent by sitting in silence. You give Seoyeon her food and without cue, she immediately takes a piece of fry, dips it in marinara, and puts it in her mouth. She then chases it with a bite of her burger. You sit still and look at the way her plump cheeks move as she chews her food—someone can get full just by looking at Seoyeon eat. “Wh-what are you looking at, oppa?”, she covers her mouth with one hand, “p-please don’t look at me like that”. With a smile, you turn your attention to your food and start eating with her. You unwrap your burger, make sure there is no tomato in it, and take a bite. “Mm!”, you exclaim, “that’s really good”. You see that Seoyeon has started eating again. “You like it?”, you ask. Since her mouth is full, she replies to you with excited nods and a small smile.

-

Seoyeon has now finished her burger, and her fries are almost done. “Seoyeon-ah, I will ask again: what was it you wanted to talk about?”, you ask. She knows that she has nowhere else to run now. “I-I like you, oppa”, she drops a bomb while looking straight into your eyes, “there—that’s what I wanted to talk about”. Your jaw drops in shock, making you unable to say anything back momentarily. “I’m sorry, but can you say that again?”, you hope that she won’t say something else. “I said I like you, oppa”, she repeats, and you’re glad that she said the same thing. “D-do you feel the same, b-by any chance?”, she maintains eye contact with you despite the red cheeks. Yes, yes, you do, but for some reason, you find it very difficult to say it—until you see tears pooling in her eyes. “Seo-Seoyeon-ah—y-yes, I do like you”, you confess, “I like you a lot”. Satisfied with your answer, Seoyeon gets up from her seat, sits on the chair next to you (after putting your backpack on the floor), and hugs you from the side.

It feels like a massive weight has been lifted off your chest, and you feel like you’re able to breathe far more freely now. You wrap your arms around her body as best you can and close your eyes to bask in the moment. Soon, however, you’re startled by her subtle sobs. “Hey, hey, you okay, sweetie?”, you start panicking a little, “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”. “I was so scared that you would push me away—you’d never push me away, would you?”, she asks, her voice trembling from the emotions. Judging by how Seoyeon is sobbing in your arms, thus showing her vulnerability in front of you, assures you that she’s being very honest and sincere. You peck her head a few times, hoping that she knows how sincere you are, “please don’t cry, sweetie; I’m here for you”. “You are”, she replies, “you are here for me”.

You run your hand gently on her back as you try to calm her down. It seems to be helpful; Seoyeon stops sobbing after a few minutes—she’s about to drop another bomb, though. “Oppa”, she pokes your thigh to get your attention, “can we go to your place?”. You silently praise your parents for planting in you the habit of cleanliness, which means that your apartment is almost always presentable should you have guests. “We can, sweetie—let’s go now, okay?”. You exchange some pleasantries with Jeno while you’re standing at the cashier. He even asks Seoyeon if she liked it, to which she responds with excitement. “Alright, thank you, man—see you next time”, you wave at him as you walk out of the restaurant with Seoyeon, your new… erm… girlfriend? Are we on girlfriend-boyfriend stage now? That’s a question for later.

-

After a quick drive, you find yourself and Seoyeon standing in the parking lot. “Sweetie, can I carry you? I’ve always wanted to try carrying a girl”, you ask, your cheeks getting hot. “S-sure, oppa”. She opens her arms, thinking that you’ll carry her from the front while in actuality, you want to carry her bridal-style. “Oh my God, oppa!”, she exclaims while hiding her red cheeks behind her palms. You carry the 50-something kilogram bundle of joy and walk towards your apartment. On the way, you feel her loosening up and enjoying the ride, and you swear that you can hear purrs coming from her. You hope that no neighbor sees you like this, because you imagine that it’d be quite awkward—not that you’re concerned about what they think, but still.

You punch in the passcode to your apartment without putting Seoyeon down, and here you are, in your haven. “We’re here, sweetie”, you say to her as you walk towards the sofa with her still in your arms. You carefully put her down onto the sofa and extend it so that she can lie comfortably on it. “Would you like some water, sweetie?”, you ask, and she replies with a nod. You walk towards the water dispenser and fill a cup with water and go back to her. You help her straighten her posture before handing her the cup. You’re confused when you see that instead of drinking out of the cup, she holds it with both hands and just silently looks at it.

“You okay?”

“I like you, oppa”

“Yes, sweetie; I like you too”

“What made you like me, oppa?”

You take a deep breath as you try to form an answer.

“I just feel so drawn to you; you’re just so charming, elegant, friendly, and—“, you realize that these words sound ridiculous coming from you, and your brain halts you by making your cheeks turn red. “Anything else, oppa?”, she challenges you, letting out a giggle after.

You hover over her body—making her bite her lip nervously—and come in for a kiss, eager to show her that you love her. You pull away from the kiss after a few seconds and look at her in the eyes. “I love you, Yoon Seoyeon—I love you with my entire being”, you say, feeling emotional, “will you be mine, baby?”. Seoyeon puts a palm on your cheek and rubs it gently. “Yes, oppa; I’m yours and you’re mine”, she returns your words with a loving smile on her face.

You lie down next to her and pull her into your arms, transferring the warmth of your bodies back and forth between the two of you. “Baby”, you get her attention, “is there anything you want to do?”. She moves to sit on your lap and leans forward, her face hovering closely over yours, “I want to have our first time”. That’s one more big bomb she dropped on your head, and you seem to be unable to speak. “You said you’ve never dated anyone before, so you must be a virgin. I’ll give you my first time and take yours in return”, she adds, “you weren’t lying about it, were you?”. You shake your head in response, still speechless. “Great”, she says, “let’s do it, oppa—please”. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to regret it after”, you try to gauge how serious she is. She leans forward even further until her nose touches hers. “I want it, oppa”, her voice sounds very sexy right now, “make me yours, and I’ll make you mine—we will stay together forever, oppa”.

You knew from the first day that she’s a very confident person, but you never expected that she’d be this confident about having her first time with you, someone who she met just yesterday. “It’d be a huge honor for me, baby, but I’m asking one more time: are you sure?”, you ask, despite your paper-thin patience and rock-hard penis. “I am very sure”, she doesn’t waver, “c’mon, oppa; let’s do it”. Even if you were single and have never dated anyone before, you know that you shouldn’t do something to a girl without her consent, and this is as clear of a consent as it gets, so there’s no reason for you to hesitate now. “Let’s move to the bedroom first, baby”.

You gently lower her onto the bed, smiling the whole time so that Seoyeon feels comfortable with you. After she’s lying comfortably in bed, however, her eyes start wandering away from yours, probably because she’s nervous. “Baby”, you hold her chin gently and turn her face towards you, “I love you—I love you lots”. Your words seem to be just what she wants to hear right now. “I love you too, oppa”, she reaches for your hands and pulls you towards her, “thank you for everything so far”. You’re not sure if you’ve done anything to warrant such an expression of gratitude, but you’ll take it and send it back to her. “I know that we just met, but I have a feeling—certain, even—that I’ll have plenty of reasons to be thankful for you, baby”, you make sure that you sound sincere because you are indeed sincere. “I think I’ve chosen well”, she says, “you’re as sweet as I hoped”.

Warmth. Warmth is the theme tonight. Warmth is what you’re feeling right now. Warmth is what this relationship will have plenty of. Speaking of warmth, being in a girl’s arms is very warm—you never knew that before. You rub your cheek against hers like a cat, the friction creating more warmth for the two of you. “Oppa”, she chuckles, finding it funny, “what are you doing? Are you a cat?”. “No, but I think I understand why cats do this”, you let out a chuckle as well, “I love you, baby”. You don’t know how many times you’ve said it, but it’s not something that hurts or tires Seoyeon, so you’d like to think that it’s fine to spam her with it.

“Show me, then”, she challenges you, “show me your love, oppa”. “Of course, baby; as you wish”, you accept her challenge. You jump off the bed and start undressing, showing Seoyeon the curves of your muscles. “My God”, she exclaims, “are you sure you’re playing the right sports, oppa?”. “I mean, basketball can get pretty physical, and for that, you need muscles”, you say, proud of your physique. She follows you off the bed and stands closely in front of you. “Fuck, I wonder what Yeonsu would think if she saw us like this”, she utters while her hands roam on your body. “Yeonsu? Who is that?”, you’re unfamiliar with the name. “My friend from high school”, she says, her eyes still locked on your torso, “she told me about you”. You’re perplexed, “how did she know about me?”. “No idea; she just said that you’re pretty famous”, she says. “I’m famous? Really?”, you think.

Seoyeon asks for your attention by tapping you in the chest. She then offers you the chance to undress her, which you’re delighted to do so. She puts her arms on either side of her body and closes her eyes as you start unbuttoning her blouse. You notice that her breathing gets faster, a clear sign that she’s very nervous. You stop what you’re doing and place your hands on her waist, hoping that doing so will make her feel more comfortable and familiar to your touch. You say nothing as you wait for her to calm down, and it doesn’t take long. “Continue, oppa”, she says, “I-I’m sorry”. You assure her that there’s nothing to be sorry for; it’s totally normal to be nervous when doing something for the first time.

After all her buttons are undone, you free her arms from the sleeves and let her blouse fall onto the floor. As a reflex, Seoyeon covers her bra-covered tits with her hands, blushing as she does. Again, you wait in silence until she tells you what she wants you to do next. “I’m sorry—oh, God, I’m so sorry”, she shakes her head to regain focus, “y-you can take off my pants, oppa”. “Please, there’s nothing to be sorry for, baby—I understand that you’re nervous”, you put on a calm smile to support your statement. Seoyeon slowly removes her hands from her chest and unbuttons her pants for you, she then asks you to finish the job.

Well, there she is: standing shyly in front of you with little covering her body. She’s using one hand to cover her breasts while the other is covering her crotch. She can feel herself drowning in a sea of thoughts, nervous about all kinds of things. “What will happen after tonight? What if he leaves me after taking my first time? What if—“, her restless mind stops when she hears your calm voice. “Baby, listen, please”, you throw her a lifebuoy, “I understand that you’re nervous about all of this—I do, seriously—we don’t have to do this now if you don’t feel like it”.

“Can I ask something first, oppa?”

“Of course, baby”

“W-what do you think will happen tomorrow?"

“Tomorrow? Well, the Student Organization Expo will happen tomorrow”, you crack a little joke. Seoyeon’s stressed face loosens up after hearing your joke, seemingly more comfortable with the situation. “Aaaah, I’m serious, oppaaaa”, she whines.

You get on one knee in front of her and place a hand on her knee. “What will happen tomorrow, baby, is that I will start loving you, and you will start loving me”, you start, your tone calm but serious, “after that, we will spend a lot of time with each other. We will laugh sometimes and cry some other times, but that’s fine; we’ll face everything together”.

“Together, oppa?”

“Together, baby. You and me against the world—well, not exactly; the world doesn’t hate us, does it?”

She seems to be satisfied with your answer, proven by how she moves her hands off her body and places them on your nape. “Together, oppa”, she says, “we will stay together for a long, long time”. “Yes, we will, baby”. You stand up and pull her into a kiss, one that screams out “I love you”.

You were so deep into the kiss that you failed to notice that Seoyeon had tumbled backwards, thus pulling you back into the bed with her. She breaks the kiss and whispers to you that she’s ready. She guides your hands towards the waistband of her panties, “make me yours, oppa”. You nod without saying a word and start pulling her panties down her legs and past her ankles. “Respectfully, baby, I think you’re sexy”, you don’t bother stifling your tongue anymore. “Th-thank you, oppa—I-I think you look good too”, she returns the praise to you, and truthfully, it makes you feel really good about yourself.

While you take off your boxers, Seoyeon takes off her bra, and now, you’re both completely naked, showing everything to each other. It is when you hover over her that she hesitates again. “I’m scared, oppa”, her voice shakes, “y-you will hurt me, won’t you?”. “I’ll be gentle, baby—I promise”, you try to comfort her.

You spread her legs wide enough for you to be in the middle of, ready to take her innocence and give her yours in return. She wraps her legs around your torso and locks her ankles together in response. You use one hand to guide your cock towards her entrance, and despite the lack of experience, you manage to find it somewhat easily. “Baby, I’m going to start”, you announce, “if you want to change your mind, this is your chance”. “No, I want it—give it to me, oppa”.

You move your hips forwards and Seoyeon instantly gasps at the first contact. “Gently, gently”, she reminds you. “Of course, baby”. You wrap your arms around her body and hold her close to you as your cock tries to enter her pussy. You hear Seoyeon’s breathing get faster again, so you whisper to her in a calm voice that everything will be okay. You keep going forwards until you feel the tip of your cock breaching through her barrier; you’ve taken her innocence and made her yours.

You want to savor the foreign sensation, but Seoyeon starts sobbing and grunting in pain. “It hurts, oppa”, she whimpers, “please, be gentle with me—please, please—AHHH!”. You think that if you move again, you will hurt her even more, so you stop for now. “I’m not moving, baby—let’s calm down for now, okay?”, you say to her. She keeps whimpering and grunting in your ears, tugging at the strings of your heart. “I’m so sorry, baby”, you start feeling emotional yourself, “do you want to stop?”. “J-just give me a moment, oppa”, says the girl in discomfort.

You’ve been in this position for a few minutes, waiting patiently for Seoyeon to get used to the foreign object in her body. “Oppa”, she says weakly, “I-I think you can go again”. “Sure, baby”, you say. You slowly retreat from her pussy before going forwards again, earning a combination of moans and grunts from her. You ask if she’s still in pain, and she tells you that it’s not too bad. “You’re doing so well, baby”, you praise her, “I love you so, so much”. “I love—oh, God, so deep”, the way your cock hits the deepest spots surprises her, “please, gently, oppa”. You’ve been as gentle as you can be so far, but no matter how slow it feels, you hold on to your patience.

As you slowly move back and forth in her pussy, you notice that the grunts are getting replaced with moans, which means that it’s now enjoyable for her. “Feeling better, baby?”, you ask to make sure. “Yes-yes—oh, God, yes”, she replies, “how are you so big, oppa?”. “I don’t know, baby; just genes, probably”, you chuckle to lighten the mood, “do you think I can go faster?”. “Just-just nothing too rough, please”, she begs. You assure her that you will be mindful with your pace and start thrusting into her faster than earlier.

The moans that she’s sending right into your ears are very arousing, and you subconsciously start fucking her faster, as you’re eager to hear more of it. “So good, oppa—fuck, you’re so good”, she praises you. You’re glad to hear that she’s no longer in pain and has gotten used to you. “You’re also so good, baby; you’re so fucking tight for me”, you send the praises back to her.

You place her wrists on the bed and press down on them with your hands, assuming a very dominant position. “You’re so good, baby”, you manage to send one more praise her way despite the heavy breaths, “I love you so much”. “Ah, ah, ah—I l-love you too, oppa”, she replies, “kiss me, please—ngh, fuck”. You plant your lips on hers and pick up the pace of your thrusts, eager to get your first ever orgasm in your life.

You chant profanities as you try to maintain the tempo, Seoyeon’s tightness proving to be challenging for you. “Oppa, wait”, she halts you, “I-I want to pee—w-why do I want to pee, oppa?”. Truthfully, you have no idea; you’re as inexperienced as she is. “You’ll be fine, baby”, you try to dismiss her, and she takes your word for it. “I’m peeing, I’m peeing!”, she plants her hands on your chest and tries to push you away from her but she’s simply too weak. You pull out from her pussy and see that her juice is gushing out of her bloodstained pussy—not only that, her legs and thighs are shaking. Seoyeon screams and squirms around in bed; “this must be her orgasm”, you think as you observe her.

“Oppa! Oppa!”, she reaches her arms out, desperate to touch your body, “please, please, hold me”. You hold her tightly in your arms and you can hear the soft, angelic moans that escape her lips, arousing you even further. You whisper “I love you” in her ears repeatedly as you wait for her to come back to her senses. “I love you too, oppa”, she returns your words to you, “what was that, though?”.

“I think that was your orgasm, baby”

“Orgasm, oppa? Really?”

“I think so, yeah”

“And it was because of you?”

“Yes, I’d like to think so”

“That was amazing, oppa”

“I’m glad that it was, baby”

Her breathing returns to its normal pace after a few minutes of hugging, and she tells you that she’s ready to go again. “Give me your orgasm, oppa”, she demands, “I know how it works for men, so I want you to send it deep inside me”. “Sure, but we’ll take the morning after pill after that, alright?”, you remind her. “Sure”, she says, “I don’t want to get pregnant yet”.

Without cleaning the bloodstain on your shaft, you plunge back into her pussy. “Oh, yes, oppa”, she moans, “yes, yes, I’m yours”. Your lips crash into hers as you fuck her at a good tempo, looking for the first orgasm of your life. “Fuck, I don’t think I can last too long”. “That’s okay, oppa—ohh, yes, it’s okay”, Seoyeon struggles to speak, “gi-give me everything you have”. “Y-you got it—oh, fuck”. You plant your hands firmly into the bed and fuck her as fast you can, and before long, you feel your cock throbbing (or is it her that’s throbbing). “I think—“, your words are cut off when your cock blows a load deep inside Seoyeon, earning a long moan from her.

-

The vibrations from your smartwatch cause you to stir awake—it must be 4 am now. You lift your wrist and see that it is indeed 4 am, the time you’ve been waking up at for the past few days of Freshers’ Week. As you try to lift your body off the bed, you feel something weighing down on the left side of your body. “Oh, right, Seoyeon-ie”. That’s right; that’s Yoon Seoyeon, your new girlfriend who you had your first time with a few hours ago.

“Love, wake up, please”, you poke her cheeks repeatedly to get her to wake up. “What?”, she mumbles, half awake. “Babe, I’ll take you home so you can shower and get ready for today, okay?”. “Yeah, sure”, she says. You open the water bottle that Seoyeon drank from earlier and coat your thumb with some water. You then run your thumb gently on her eyes, “this is how I wake up sometimes, baby”. “Mm, sure”, she says.

After getting dressed, you carry her to your car and start driving away. First, you make a stop at a pharmacy and buy some morning after pills and condoms for future use. “Babe, take this, please”, you hand her a pill and a bottle of water to take it with. Seoyeon weakly reaches for the pill, puts it in her mouth, and chases it with some water. “Done”, she says. You pet her head gently, “good girl, baby—alright, let’s get you home, okay?”

-

Well, here you are again, in the football field for the third day of Freshers’ Week. Your eyelids feel very heavy, and you’re very tempted to just let them close. You were drifting to sleep when you heard a girl’s voice calling to you. “Good morning, oppa”, Seoyeon greets you excitedly, “how are you today?”. “I’m—“, a yawn cuts you off, “I’m feeling great, lo—erm, Seoyeon-ah. How about you?”. “I’m a bit tired, but I had a great time yesterday”, she smirks. “Did you?”, you chuckle, “well, that’s great to hear, Seoyeon-ah”. She gets on her tippy toes, and you lean forwards a bit to hear her whispers. “I love you, oppa”, she whispers, “thank you for last night”. “I love you too, baby”, you whisper back, “I’ll see you at home after this, okay?”. You glance to your left and right to see if Suhyeon and Jungmin heard you, but they were too busy looking at their phones. When you look at Seoyeon again, she winks and smiles at you, so you wink and smile at her in return. “I love you, baby”, you mouth to her, causing her to look away to hide her blush.

[stitchthesewords]

I'm gonna upload this to ao3 later but I wanted to post this now before its too late! @eydilily happy birthday I wrote some Tangtho based on the art you posted. Warning for smoking and Redstone being treated like an addictive substance.

Redstone buzzed. It was important to know that. Redstone buzzed and when you were surrounded by it for hours on end, it seemed like your head never stopped buzzing. Like somehow the buzzing could form words that would cure all your woes with your latest project. Like they whispered exactly what you needed to do to get the right torch to turn on. Tango was constantly surrounded by redstone.

Sure, it was healthy necessarily, but the server was encompassed by people who didn’t know when to quit working on their projects. Tango wasn’t even the worst of it – Decked Out 2 notwithstanding. But, to be fair, Tango’s new big project was all redstone.

Minecart rails didn’t buzz in the same way! They didn’t buzz at all – which is what Tango told himself when he was down in the bowels of his binary system. Decked Out 2 was loud; this was quiet. This was peaceful, even. Sure, he was still troubleshooting and running into problems every five minutes but it wasn’t like he was down there for days on end. Staring at an observer line as it blinked but didn’t go off correctly for the thousandth time.

Color him shocked when he noticed the fire on his head died down to embers and his back ached in a familiar way. Okay. Okay maybe he needed to move, get some fresh air. See his neighbors. Maybe he had mail!

No mail was to be found but that was fine. It gave him an excuse to stretch his legs beyond the confines of his factory. A quick look at his communicator told him Etho was online and who better to go see – easily within walking distance, a redstone buddy he could complain to. It was the perfect solution. His tail flicked side to side as he thought about just what to say to his good friend. Fire reignited on his head and he even found himself almost buzzing. Just like redstone.

Etho was just…nice to talk to. Different from Impulse or Zed when he wanted to troubleshoot, different from Skizz to hang out with. Something quiet, contemplative. Calm in a way Tango could never hope to be. He liked that about Etho.

His tail sparked as it flicked around when he saw his neighbor outside, working on his landscaping. Perfect! Tango was worried he might be buried in Frogger or something and he’d have to be the one doing the redstone retrievafication. Retrievifying. Whatever. He waved his own clawed hand at himself.

Etho was absorbed in his landscaping, but there was a way to his movements where it was clear he knew someone was watching. Every move of his hands was deliberate, and when he stood up from the dirt, he half turned to smile at Tango.

“That was you! How’s it going buddy?”

Tango grinned. The two of them met somewhere in the middle of Etho’s front yard and exchanged a hug, where Etho visibly scrunched his face under his mask. “You smell like redstone.”

“You act like that’s a bad scent! Ead de Perfume de Tango or however it’s said. If I don’t smell like redstone, that’s when we have a problem.” His sharp teeth glinted in his grin as Etho rolled his eyes and waved Tango inside.

“So, I’m where you decided to take your break?” Etho held the door open for Tango, dodging his sparking tail as he walked past. Tango’s fire didn’t really hurt; it was warm, it produced heat, but it was more like extra voluminous hair. Made of fire. Still, the instinct to didge fire still hadn’t really left the hermits senses.

Etho had his own reasons to be nervous around fire.

“Who better to hang out with than my good buddy good neighbor Etho, huh?” Tango propped himself up on a block, crouched over so he was eye level with Etho and leaning his chin on his hands for balance. “Your house is coming together now that you finished Frogger. Could you imagine if I built a little home after Decked Out?”

Tango laughed a little and Etho’s eyes held a fondness. “You lived in Decked Out – and besides, Frogger is not nearly the same size of a game.” He smacked Tango on the shoulder and laughed as he knocked tango off his feet and spilling onto the floor in a heap of Blazeborn glory. He still offered Tango a hand, pulling him up with enough force he pulled Tango right to his chest. Tango’s hair ignited into an inferno. Etho made a sputtering noise, mouth full of his firehair.

“Sorry.” Tango skittered back, looking anywhere but Etho’s face. He could hear the little, too knowing chuckle pass Etho’s lips and that made him pout, cross his arms. Stomp his foot even a little.

“You are adorable when you pout,” Etho said. He didn’t let it hang in the air for long, walking past Tango towards his back door. “So are you here to troubleshoot the factory or just hang out?”

There was one long glance cast over his shoulder that had Tango scurrying after him in the wake of it, hair dying down back to its normal warm blaze but slowly. Ever since Decked Out 2, but probably before if Tango thought about it too hard, Etho’s voice made him blush. Maybe it was the first Decked Out that did him in. Maybe he’d always been done in.

“Hang out, I suppose. You’ve got a nice little garden, everyone is telling me I need to touch grass. Seems like a win win.” Tango followed Etho without really watching where Etho led them, but soon enough he was greeted to the sounds of the outdoors and the sights of Etho’s landscaping.

It was peaceful in a way a steampunk factory was not and Tango almost felt bad for dotting Etho’s neighborhood with it. Almost. He stretched, feeling his shoulders creak and then pop. Etho leaned on his fence, almost like taking a seat on it but not quite, gaze up towards the roof.

“I need to be able to see the clouds from here, I think. Roof is too solid.,” He said, turning to look at Tango. “Wouldn’t it be nice. Smell the dirt, see the clouds. Get some sun. I feel like everyone is always complaining we both need to do that.”

Tango hung on to Etho’s every word, nodding his head and leaning on his head. “At least you get a nice, unobstructed view of this lake you built,” he said. Etho agreed.

There was a silence, nature playing out its own theater for the two of them to enjoy in each other’s company. Tango spent plenty of time with the hermits this season – at least he felt like he did. People were constantly coming by the factory, he was playing Frogger occasionally. He raided bastions with Skizz and Impulse. He teased Scar. But for the first time he realized he’d missed the company that Decked Out 2 had. Getting a kiss on the forehead for good luck. Sitting in the lobby holding someone’s hand. Everyone sleeping piled together so they could get right back to it in the morning.

Tango’s ears flicked, slightly, and he opened his mouth to say something. What that something might be he wasn’t sure. Every season it was like the hermits had to work their way back up to admitting they missed each other, to sharing kisses and beds again. It felt like they’d only just gotten there in season 9 and now Tango was some kid to scared to admit he had a crush again. He closed his mouth. He opened it again, trying to work around it, when Etho cleared his throat.

He didn’t actually say anything, but the noise threw Tango off as he dug around in his pockets. Tango’s attention was transfixed when he produced two redstone torches and fidgeted with them for a moment. “Do you want one?”

Tango reached over and plucked one from his hand. They were...it was hard to explain. Redstone buzzed, yes, but it could also vaporize. Being surrounded by powered redstone meant you were breathing in time bits of vaporized redstone. Sure it wasn’t good for you, but it was another danger of being a redstoner.

What didn’t help is they often sought it out on their own.

Tango placed the torch in his mouth. It needed to be close to your face if there was only one, something that was just there to dull the itch to get back a redstone project. Etho held his own in his mouth, hand cupped around his face to hide it from view. Like he was embarrassed by it.

Tango felt that need for closeness again and stood up, going to be beside Etho. There was a gentle, bubbling water sound from the lake just before. The rustle of wind. Etho’s...beautiful and scarred face. Without a word, Tango found himself reaching out to cup Etho’s face in his own hand instead.

There was maybe more of a mischievous grin as he pressed the two redstone torches together. Redstone flew off in little sparks, a small cloud of faint red they really only saw because they knew what to look for. Etho chuckled.

There was a moment longer before Tango stood back a bit and, holding the torch in his teeth managed a ‘thank you’ that was...probably coherent. It made Etho chuckle again, a delightful sound that warmed Tango’s whole chest. He took the torch into his hand and Tango’s knuckles to his lips and pressed a kiss there.

Redstone buzzed. So did the feeling of companionship.

[chiaraanatra]

Life as We Know It | Part 4

Summary: You and Seresin unexpectedly become the caretakers of Bradley and Natasha's baby girl, Nicole. Can you two put your disdain for one another aside for Nic's sake? Based on the movie "Life as We Know It"

Warnings: Slow burn, swearing, mentions of parental death, paint fight, Seresin being a sweetie, mentions of reader being a psychologist whose favorite color is lavender (sorry for projecting), no use of Y/N.

Word Count: 2.3k

AN: I wanted this to be out much sooner than it was but here is part four! This chapter is definitely less angsty and for one no fighting! Thank you for all the support on this series!

《 part 1 || part 2 || part 3 》 《 m.list || ao3 》

You couldn’t remember the last time you were actually thankful to be back at work. It had felt like a lifetime since you had been back, when, in actuality, it had only been about two weeks. Two weeks since your best friend and her husband were killed and almost one week since your explosive fight with Seresin. The two of you had barely said a word to each other unless it involved Nic.

There was a sinking pit in your stomach, a mixture of anger, guilt, and hurt. But just like the last six days, you shoved those feelings down. You had tomorrow off and Seresin was working late tonight. Your plan? Pick up Nic from your parents’ house and enjoy some alone time with her. You contemplated maybe go through some of the boxes that sat in the garage.

You were forever grateful that your parents offered to watch Nic on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help offset the cost of daycare. A price point that you had not expected.

Your parents weren’t exactly thrilled about the circumstances of which you gained custody of Nic; however, they were excited to fill a grandparent-type role for you and her.

After work, you made your way to your parents’ to pick up Nic. When you entered the house, you were greeted by your mother in the kitchen putting on the kettle. You heard Nic giggling in the living room as your father talked to her as if she was speaking directly to him through her babblings.

Your mom walked over to you wrapping her arms around you. “How’ve you been honey? How was it to be back at work?” She pulled out a chair nodding for you to sit.

You sat knowing this would not be an easy escape, “Exhausted... But it was good to go back to work.” Your mother placed a mug of tea in front of you before sitting down across from you. You wrapped your hands around the mug, staring at the rich color of its contents before looking back at her, “How did you do it? I mean, work and take care of me…

A soft smile graced her features, “It wasn’t easy,” She watched as your face fell, “And it doesn’t get easier. You just get better at handling it.” She reached out to grab your hand, “You’re not Natalia, honey. You never will be and It’s not your job to be. You're not here to replace her, you’re here to take care of and love that little girl.”

Her words were simple but they hit hard, “Thanks, Mom…” You finished your tea before getting up and pulling her into a tight hug.

I need to go home and apologize to Seresin.

When Seresin finally made his way through the door, he was greeted with the sight of you seated on the living room floor in front of the television, a sleepy Nic situated between your legs.

The two of you had barely said a word to one another and any words that were spoken revolved around caring for Nic. Regardless he felt his legs pull him into the living room. Upon entry, you looked up at him. There wasn’t a trace of malice in the look you gave him, rather a small smile paired with soft words, “Hey, come here a sec?"

He wasn’t sure what to make of the request, but he followed suit. He sat next to you, reaching out to move some of Nic’s brunette hair away from her face.

“I'm sorry, Seresin...” Your gaze was fixed on him, “What I said was out of line and I didn't mean it…”

“It's all right. You weren't exactly wrong.” He paused for a second, “I'm sorry too.” He looked down at Nic contemplating his next words. "You know... Growing up, Brad was always there for me… the summer before our senior year I shattered my hip, in a car accident oddly enough. That summer was hell, for more reasons than one, but Brad spent that whole summer with me, held up in my room watching shitty movies every day. Our other friends were out chasing girls and enjoying the summer… but he just sat with me the whole time.” His gaze never left the little girl. “I can't up and leave when he needs me… even if he’s gone…”

Something inside you pulled you to wrap your arms around the tall blonde in what you would tell yourself was a comforting gesture and an apology. You refused to think about the way Seresin hugged you back or how nice it felt to be embraced by him.

“I was cleaning out the garage while she was napping. I found a box full of old movies. You know how obsessed Bradley was with that stupid video camera.” You heard a soft chuckle leave Seresin’s lips. But your attempts at lightening the mood quickly turned somber, despite your efforts, “I was just... I needed to see them, hear their voices…” You quickly wiped away the tears that threatened to spill over, replacing them with a smile. “But I found this one from the day they came back from the hospital with Nic.” You couldn’t help but giggle before leaning over and pressing play on the remote.

You both watched as the scene came into view. Bradley's voice echoed through the television as Nat walked into a room that you recognized as Nics. "Okay! Open your eyes! Pretty great, huh? The blue sky, like we talked about but I added the pink clouds for a little something extra.

Nat’s brow furrowed, "Brad… When did you do this?"

"Late yesterday. While you and Nic were at the hospital." His voice held an air of confusion.

A groan escaped your late friend's lips, "You were supposed to do this three days ago.” You could feel Nat’s eyes roll, “it smells like paint in here. You have to give it at least a few days to dry… She’s not sleeping in here tonight. Or tomorrow."

"Seriously, Nat? l wouldn't bring our baby into a room with wet paint. The walls are dry."

“You don't think it doesn't smell for days afterward? I’m getting lightheaded just standing here  because of the fumes."

"Don’t be dramatic. Ya know how much work l put into all this?"

Nat stared at her husband with an unenthusiastic look, “Bradley. I know for a fact you didn't do any of this. When have you ever painted a cloud in your life?"

"Okay… I oversaw the work that was being done and told them what to do."

"You oversaw it? Bradley, this was the one thing, the one thing, I asked you to do. You said you would do all the painting, not oversee it.”

“Hey, I thought I was pretty damn creative. The guys came in and I said “Hey, let’s do some cute little pink clouds.’''

"This is ridiculous.” Nat pushed past her husband, “She can't sleep here."

Bradley held the camera at his side, not stopping the tape as he made his way after her, "Of course she can."

"Move the crib."

"This is her room. Where else--?"

“Bradley Peter Bradshaw,” you and Seresin snickered at the use of his full name, “Move this crib or so help me-” The tape cut there.

You couldn’t help but smile at the antics of your friends. You were a little surprised when Seresin was the first to break the silence. “So, you're saying it's okay that we're shitty parents and wanna kill each other half the time."

"I wouldn’t half the time… I think it’s more like two-thirds." You let out a small chuckle and were greeted by another smile and his beautiful green eyes.

"Yep."

You shifted your body so you were facing him, "I was talking to my mom today when I picked up Nic… I think we need to stop trying to fit ourselves into their Iives. We’re not them, we’ll never be them, but that’s not why we're here.”

“Yeah, we’re here for her.” There was something in his eyes when he looked down at Nic and then back at you, but you couldn't quite place it.

You quickly diverted your gaze, taking in your surroundings. “You know if I’m being honest… I hate this place. I love them but they had no interior decorating skills.”

Seresin nodded his head, "I really hate that giant chicken painting. I’ve always hated that painting.”

"I think it’s supposed to be an abstract rooster, but he is really creepy.”

"Yeah, I want it out."

"Out it goes. What do you think about the paint? I mean the red is so dark, looks like the aftermath of a crime scene in here!” You couldn’t help but laugh as the two of you picked apart the living room and your friends’ choices of decor.

Seresin paused for a moment, "I think if we're gonna live here, we have to stop walking on eggshells. We’re living like they are going to come walking through that door any second when we both know that’s not gonna happen.”

The thought made your chest ache, but it also somehow made you feel lighter and you knew he was right. The two of you needed to make this place feel more like home. Your home.

That weekend, the two of you spent your time doing small renovations around the house. Primer and the donation center down the street became your new best friends.

Your parents agreed to watch Nic while the two of you overhauled the living room, moving furniture and priming over the red walls.  

As you sat on the floor, priming around the wooden baseboards and Seresin rolled primer across the walls, the two of you went back and forth asking questions about one another. You thought it might be good to get to know a bit more about the man with whom you had shared custody of a child.

You had asked the first question, “What's your favorite color?” You’re not sure what prompted the question, but you thought it was as good a place to start as any.

Seresin paused, “Blue?” His answer sounded more like a question in itself.

“Blue?” you shook your head, “That’s such a guy answer.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just blue? Can you be any more specific? Like indigo or cornflower?”

“I don’t know I just like blue. And cornflower? You definitely made that up.”

“I did not! It’s a shade of blue.”

 “Whatever you say,” He rolled his eyes.” Okay, so what's your favorite color?”

You didn’t skip a beat, “Lavender.”

“Lavender? You mean purple?”

“Well, yes, but specifically a light, blue-toned purple.”

“Okay,” He chuckles to himself applying more primer. “Since we’re asking questions… why did you want to be a shrink.”

“A psychologist,” you corrected before thinking some about your answer. “It's cliche but I wanted to help people. Outside of that, I was always fascinated by how we think and how little things we do can change our thought processes and impact how we feel about ourselves and the world for the better.” You paused, “then again, for the majority of my career it's always been a ‘do as I say, not as I do.’”

He glanced over to you, a questioning look on his face, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never been good at following my own advice, even when I know it works.” You set down your paint brush and looked up at the blonde, “I’ve been going 100 miles an hour since high school, never really stopping to relax or do things for myself. I'm no better now, despite being out of school and having a stable job. I always put others first.” You could feel the mood shift with your words and a silence fell over the two of you.  

You moved closer to Seresin, continuing to prime the walls. After a few minutes, you felt a need to lighten the mood somehow. Before really thinking about it you dipped your finger into the primer and placed a dot of paint on the tip of the man’s nose before he could notice what you were doing.

He looked over at you, feigning shock, “Seriously?”

“What? I didn’t do anything.” Your voice was nonchalant as you went back to painting.

“Of course. Must have been my imagination.” Seresin quickly dipped his whole hand in the paint pan before coming up behind you, wrapping one arm around you and pressing the other to your cheek.

By the time you two were done, you were both laughing your asses off and covered in white primer.

By the end of the weekend, the living room and hallway were primed and ready for paint. Seresin had that Monday off and told you he would buy a light cream color you had both agreed on and start painting.

When you got home, exhausted, you were greeted by a smiling Seresin. You gave him a questioning look as you left your shoes at the door, “Hi?”

“Welcome home.” His smile only seemed to grow.

“Seresin, you're scaring me…”

“Close your eyes.”

“Okay, now you're really scaring me.”

He rolled his eyes, “Just do it.”

“Fine,” You did as you were told.

Seresin grabbed your hand and led you to what you assumed was the living room. “Keep them closed.” He placed his hands on your shoulders positioning you in such a way that would allow you to see the entirety of the room. “Okay… Open.”

Rather than being met with the cream color you expected the walls were a perfect shade of lavender. “Seresin…”

“If you hate it, I’ll paint it cream but I just thought…”

You turned to look at him, “You did this for me?”

“I-…Yeah.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him into you. He smelled like sandalwood and paint.

His head rested against your shoulder as he breathed in the scent of your perfume, melting into your touch.

The two of you stayed like that for much longer than you should have. However, that thought didn’t hit you until you were the first to pull away, “Thank you, Seresin…”

“Don’t mention it...”

《 part 5 》

As always, feedback, likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!

Taglist: @callsign-viper @luckyladycreator2 @saturnsbabe69 @desert-fern @pono-pura-vida @dempy @t-rexs-world @averyhotchner @drxgxnslxyer @daisydark @hookslove1592 @teacupsandtopgun @djs8891 @multiverseprincess @littlestatesman @sunshineandbradbrad @hockeybabestars @buckysteveloki-me @lovebittenandlanguishing @cassadilasworld @my-mind-isnt-intact @poppet05

𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑑? 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 💜

[midnight-mourning]

I need like, two more hours to finish and then read through the next chapter, so be on the lookout for that ^-^

BUT in the meantime, hyped myself up to share this little 'challenge' I've been doing for the past week, which is drawing Sun every day!

Yapping below the cut if you'd like to hear the 'why' behind this, feel free to just scroll by it tho lol

So I think I've shared before that I struggle a lot with lineart and such and so this was my way to get some practice. Especially since with classes and research my time is basically shot 😖

Every day (besides day 1/2) I used a different set of brushes for lining and coloring and just kind of went for it, some I like better than others, but I think it was good for me overall! Don't know if I'll do the next week with Moon or just continue with Sun, haven't decided yet

My intention is to continue to draw one of these everyday for a 30 days and use it as a way to practice and maybe boost my confidence in relation to art since I know it's something I need to work on IN me, y'know?

Anywho, I'm working on getting the next chapter of Confused Spirit out ASAP, I think it needs an hour more of writing and then an hour of reading through, need to do a couple other things tonight as well but it WILL be out before I go to bed tonight

Do apologize again for the wait, besides life being crazy this one got SUPER long (I THINK it's the biggest one yet, biggest in this arc I know that for sure) and based on the outline and personal perference I don't want to split it. Hope to see you all real soon :D

Also @luckyyyduckyyy if any of these look familar the way you draw Sun WAS in my brain while doodling that I will admit 😅

[vitaminseetarot]

PAC: Random Messages You May Need 🌈��⛅

Sup, y'all. I'm finally back for another pick a card reading. I really apologize if folks have not heard from me over the past month, I meant to get this reading (among other things) out a while ago. I have not been able to touch tarot for the past few weeks. Life has been… topsy turvy, to say the least. Heh heh. [sweating profusely]

I meant to have another game out and to have paid readings available by now--that is still part of the plan. What was meant for June will be in July. So this blog might go from 0 to 100 mph real soon, to move along with plans as intended!

I was loosely inspired by the Baker pride flag from 1978 for this group selection. These piles are pretty nondescript: each one contains a random message that may resonate with you. Pick based on whichever color of the Prism Oracle speaks to you most, and feel free to choose more than one. Take only what resonates.

Pile 1 - Strength (Red) Pile 2 - Happiness (Orange) Pile 3 - Illumination (Yellow) Pile 4 - Movement (Green) Pile 5 - Flow (Turquoise) Pile 6 - Trust (Blue) Pile 7 - Intuition (Violet) Pile 8 - Love (Pink)

Pile 1 - Strength (Red)

10 of Swords, Insight

You've been asked by the universe to put up with a lot, especially recently. You're reaching a finish line of a very long and brutal marathon. There have been too many times where you questioned whether or not to throw in the towel. If you have, you may also have questioned whether or not it was the correct choice. Sometimes, things don't work out, and it's better to move on. It can be difficult to hold everything up when one thing after another seems to fall apart at the seams, but either way you're being reminded of the light at the end of this long and turbulent tunnel.

Collect yourself, pick up what pieces you can. Time has shifted everything, but the essentials still stand. Gather the wisdom you have learned from this ordeal. There is still beauty to be found in the decay, glittering gems in the rough.

Maybe you don't want to get stronger. Healing may feel like a better option than grinding for difficult experience points. Give yourself the rest and repair you need. Let go of only that which is keeping you from starting again, but you don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You've gained so much wisdom and strength, this trial wasn't without gain. Treasure it and begin anew.

Pile 2 - Happiness (Orange)

2 of Swords, Clarity

Whatever answers you seek are coming to you. Or perhaps they've already arrived; open your eyes and see for yourself. You may be wondering which path will satisfy you more. The process of reconciling this could take forever unless you lean on your gut here. This can't be decided based on intellect alone, for you could get stuck mulling it over for days. Imagining all the different possible outcomes could be taxing for your brain, so narrow it down. Eliminate the weakest links and home in on what excites you. It should feel like an "aha, yes!"

If you cannot see the answer right away, go within to the realm of imagination. Feel your way through. Visualize not just with sight but with yearning. Does the light of the sun make you feel hopeful? Does the cool rain make you feel relaxed? Would an art class expand your capacity to imagine many things, or would taking a science class?

The X mark in 2 of Swords is like a railroad crossing sign. Redirect that train of thought into brighter and more positive avenues of expression. Say "what if" as if you can't wait for something to happen. "What if I saw a shooting star tonight? What if my cute neighbor asked me out?" Let the future shine its beacon for you. It will all make sense in due time.

Pile 3 - Illumination (Yellow)

Ace of Cups, Reconciliation

Have you been staying up way too late trying to figure everything out? Please give yourself a brain curfew: no problem solving or saving the day after 10 pm! I'm getting that you may tend to ruminate on the same strong emotions. For some I'm getting that there is a crush here. There's inconsistent text messaging. I know it's easy to get too nervous about their reply, but try to wait until at least the next day to hear back. They may need time to formulate their words right. They may not even see your message straight away. Take it all in stride and sleep on it; if they want to reach out to you, then they eventually will.

For others in this pile, you may be going through a rough patch with another person right now and could be wondering how things will pan out. Give them time to respond, they could still be processing it. Stay on the more positive end of things with the idea that things will work themselves out. I feel like if you can manage this in a relaxed and non hurried way, the knot will untangle easily. The coffee in the Ace of Cups is very hot, so give it a chance to cool.

There is opportunity in your near future to make up for something that went awry due to a miscommunication error. You may get a chance to make up for a test, appointment, or an interview. You will receive grace for any mishaps. Remember that tomorrow won't necessarily be the same as today, so cherish both the good you have now along with the good that soon awaits you.

Pile 4 - Movement (Green)

IX Hermit, Devotion

Looks like things are progressing faster than you even thought they would. You may be blinking your eyes in partial disbelief: could this ball really be rolling? Indeed, thanks to your efforts, goals are being met and results are more evident by the day. You eschewed a lot of distractions to make this work, so give yourself a pat on the back for the level of commitment you put into it. Some of you in this pile may have just graduated, if so then congratulations! But try not to get too comfortable with your laurels, for you have a long road ahead of you in whatever you do next. This one completion is the start of many.

Does that thrill you? If so, wonderful! On the other hand, some of you may be feeling uncertain about continuing. You may be reviewing your options to see if this really is worth pursuing. Something that requires a lot of dedication and focus on it to the exclusion of all else… yeah, I can see how that can get tiring after a long time. There are folks who can get their Master's right after their Bachelor's, or have another child right after the first, but people can also happily move on to what feels more right for them instead.

It's okay to stop and assess your tracks if necessary. Taking time off is not the same as quitting. It's not losing motivation, it's recovering it. This is your passion and your discipline, not anyone else's. If you need to give other parts of your life more room to breathe, then do so with the confidence that your great work will wait for you.

Pile 5 - Flow (Turquoise)

4 of Wands, Hospitality

Have you been stuck with something for a while? There's a strong sense of a blockage that is being eroded away over time. This process can be sped up by allowing the ice to thaw a little more. "Break the ice." You may be wanting to open up and spend more quality time with other people but don't know how. Or you could be faced with meeting new people and being nervous about interacting with them. Even more so if they're roommates. A few people in this pile could be moving or have just moved. This is a chance to ease up and get to know new people.

This blockage could be a result of the past and of anxiety. The sound of a turning doorknob just jumpscared me as I typed the last sentence. You may benefit from learning about social anxiety and how to manage it. It's not an overnight job for you to fix this, though, but to just be aware of it and not allow it to get in the way of positive change in your life.

If you're struggling to figure out how to deal with meeting new people, I would suggest looking up videos or how-tos on social interaction, especially if a certain etiquette is required for an event. Learn about conversation starters and fun things you could do together like hosting a game night. Practice makes perfect, and over time the blockage will melt into the stream.

Pile 6 - Trust (Blue)

3 of Swords, Conversion

You have a very soft and tender outlook on life, which makes it all the more painful when reality doesn't conform to such a compassionate vision. It doesn't always try to respond to vulnerability in appropriate ways. Much of the time, this isn't from natural events as much as it stems from the ways in which people can treat one another cruelly. You've had some toxic people in your life who have put you through the wringer and attempted to squeeze every ounce of kindness they could from you. Making light of this pain to them only resulted in further deflection and antagonism on their part. The only outcome was to salvage whatever you could and pray for the best.

It is not your job to change their closed minded perspectives. They're on their own, here. Do not concern yourself with their messy inner world and lose any more of your energy. Also, do not attempt to regain what energy has been lost through bargaining either, as much as it hurts to press onward without looking back. You will recover, but you have to move on first and prioritize what you deeply care about most (you included).

There will come a time when your heart will be healed so you can see the brighter side of human connection again. All the beauty that your gentle soul is seeking is still there, shrouded by layers of protective petals that will one day bloom again and your life will truly flourish. For now, this is a time to give yourself all the comfort you can.

Pile 7 - Intuition (Violet)

XII Hanged Man, Spring

I get the feeling that you've been waiting quite a while for some good results to come in. This could either be from something that you started back in the spring, or are waiting to see results which may come around springtime. It is a season of flowers, so you may be waiting for this thing to blossom--that is, to be fully presentable to the public in some way. To have something to show for the time you put in. Like "hey, this is what I've been working on, this came from the seeds I planted." It could be growing in a direction unlike what you're used to, leaving you wondering how it could succeed in such unusual and burdensome conditions.

Lean on your inner guidance when it comes to the right timing. I don't believe that you're currently in a space where you need to push so hard for the best results. You can let things move at their own pace. Over tending to anything can end up in just as much trouble as neglect. There's only so much you can do before you have to let the flower do the growing and blooming for itself.

It's not always easy to sit in the place of uncertainty with the idea that doing more will provide more. But sometimes less is more. What you're creating is coming to fruition and may even turn out better than you expected. Trust in both the knowledge you've earned over time from learning lessons, as well as your natural intuition, to help you decide when it's time to take action.

Pile 8 - Love (Pink)

7 of Swords, Gossip

Let your heart lead the way here, not your worries over what others will think. Sure, you may end up with some people talking about you, but opportunities will keep passing by if you wait for everyone else to catch up to you. Leaning too much on everyone else's perspectives will only distort the vision you have for your own life journey. We all have unique journeys to go on, but unconditional kindness remains at the center of the Love card, the one thing that brings us together. Following life from a heart centered place may result in having others glance over and whisper, but that shouldn't distract you.

There is a rather delicate message here about dealing with friendships, colleagues, or possibly even family. You may have a tricky situation between several other people right now who have beef not with you but with each other. They may be coming to you to air their grievances and ask for advice.

If you care about both of these people, then it's best to approach this issue as diplomatically and impartially as possible and avoid feeding into the conflict. What would an enlightened mindset do in this situation? How would you want the other person to behave if they were in your shoes? Come from a place of pure compassion. They may choose to make amends or not, it's up to them. If their butting heads is bringing you down, it's always okay to step back and take a break. You are not responsible for what's going on in their heart, only your own, so protect yours well.

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2024, @VitaminseeTarot ™

[morganbritton132]

I feel like Steve's non-Upside Down friends definitely have a group chat for all their Steve-based conspiracy theories that's just filled with really off the wall excuses and tidbits that Steve's said - how panicked is the government agent-babysitter about it?

The first-year teachers definitely do, for sure!

The chat was originally called ‘The Steve Harrington Experience’ because every conversation with the man is something else, but they ended up changing it after Kathy pointed out that it made it seem like they all experienced Steve Harrington, ‘Sexually, u know?’

“Yes, Kathy…” Marissa said in an exasperated voice note. She must be driving. “You didn’t need to spell it out. We’re changing it.”  

‘Not saying I’d be opposed 2 the experience,’ Kathy added helpfully in the group chat. ‘U see those trousers he wore yesterday. Not much left to the imagination there.’

‘Thank you, Kathy.’

The group chat was changed to the ‘Support Group for David’s Obsession’ which is just, haha. Funny. David is not obsessed with Steve Harrington. He just isn’t.

Sure, nothing about the man makes any sense.

And yeah, maybe David talks about that fact a little too much. Maybe he has asked the group chat probing questions about Christmas lights. Maybe he even made a dentist appointment with Edward Harrington, DDS just to make sure he wasn’t the Eddie Harrington they knew.

He wasn’t obsessed. He was just due for a cleaning.

The other day in the parking lot after work, Steve asked if David could see the license plate number on the white 2015 Mazda CX-3 that was circling the block. David read the number off for him and Steve wrote it down. He didn’t explain anything.

David texted the group chat about it, ‘Maybe he’s a spy?’

‘Do you think spy organizations sent out a lot of epileptic agents with service animals?’

‘Maybe the epilepsy is a cover.’

Kathy replied, ‘It’s not.’

David kinda hates how he only tunes in to the staff meeting about Career Day when Steve mentions that Erica can’t come. Something about pissing off her constituents by favoring a community in a state she doesn’t represent. Yada, yada, yada, “Dustin’s still coming though.”

“Dustin,” David repeats, feeling the amused way that Marissa is looking at him. He can’t even be bothered by Jordan hiding a smile in her hand. “Your brother is coming to Career Day?”

Steve beams, “Yeah, man. He comes every year.”

Kathy was a second-year teacher that was definitely here during last year’s Career Day. She could have mentioned it. David can’t even fully digest this information when Steve knocks his knuckles against the table and snaps his fingers, “Oh! My ex works for the paper. I’ll see if they can come.”

David somehow gets roped into finalizing the rest of the list of speakers for Career Day (i.e. they need to confirm if Steve’s people are going to be there and Cindy didn’t want to do it). When he stops by Steve’s classroom at the end of the day, he is surprised to find that Steve is not alone.

There’s low music playing from the corner of the room now that the students have gone home and Steve is at his desk grading papers. Eddie is standing at the board, drawing a dragon-like creature with dry-erase markers.

Eddie is humming along to the song on the radio, occasionally brushing his fingers along Steve’s shoulders when he reaches for a new color. It’s a cozy moment and he almost hates to interrupt, but David has leftovers in his fridge that he wants to get home to.

He knocks against the doorframe, “Steve, you have a minute?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Steve asks, leaning back in his chairs far enough that his head brushes against Eddie’s back. “Babe, you remember David from the cookout?”

“The history teacher,” Eddie hums, distracted by his drawing. He erases a line of red from the fangs with his finger. “Stevie’s saying great things about you, kid.”

“I – wow, that’s – thanks! It means a lot! I, uh. I’m finishing up some things for Cindy and she just needs a confirmation on your people for Career….” David trails off when Steve makes a sound between his teeth like a hiss and gives him a big wide-eyed look. “…Day?”

Steve’s wide-eyed expression forms quickly into an innocent smile when Eddie turns to look at him, “Babe-“

“Career Day?” Eddie asked scandalized, hand to chest. “Career Day is coming up, Steven? I had no idea.”

Steve’s eyes flicker away from Eddie’s over to David’s and he says, “Yes. Yep, they’ll be here with bells on. Henderson and Wheeler. Just them.”

“Wheeler?” Eddie manages to sound even more scandalized. “Stevie, you – you invited Wheeler to Career Day and not your own husband? I have a career!”

“Yes, you do,” Steve says in a voice that’s a little too ‘second grade teacher’ to not be a little bit insulting. “And you’re amazing, and I love you, but they wanted people with career paths that didn’t start so…infamous?”

David starts inching out of the room because as much as he wants to know more about Steve, he doesn’t want to witness an argument he started. He’s almost to the door when Eddie says, “I worked for my success.”

“Yeah, I know,” Steve sighs like he’s remembering something awful. “If only there wasn’t a mob.”

David is out the door when he hears that and he pauses for only a second before pulling out his phone like, ‘what the fuck, guys????’

[kahluacoco]

Making Mychael's Horns

My mom likes to celebrate Halloween with a family dinner in costumes. This year I decided to have a Mushroom Oasis inspired outfit. I found a peach mushroom sweater very similar to Mychael's in day three, and his gloves, but I knew what I really wanted to try was to wear his horns! I haven't done a craft project in a while, and I haven't done any cosplay before. This is documenting the process and has some accompanying pictures.

Before the essay starts, (I wrote a lot!) here's the finished product! It was lightweight and fun to make!

Here are the materials I used. Since I made this across multiple days I took some pictures for fun. I didn't expect to make this into a blog post but here we are! Sharing this out in case you want to try and make this. The products I noted here are not to advertise anything, I just tried to find the cheapest materials I could use. I also noted the prices.

Total Cost was ~$22 USD but that includes extra material for other projects. I bought all this at Walmart.

Materials

Acrylic Red Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Flag Red) $0.58

Acrylic Yellow Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Bright Yellow) $0.58

Acrylic White Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Snow White) $0.58

Acrylic Blue Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Too Blue) $0.58

Mod Podge Matte-Mat-Mate $4.94 for 8 fl oz

Foam Brush (optional for blending) ($1.48 for 4)

Some paint brushes (a few sizes for basecoating and details - $2.98 for 3 brushes)

Pencil

Thin wood dowel $0.42 around 1/8 diameter maybe?

1 Foam Block (Medium/Small - Used as a base to hold the horns upright while working/drying) - $1.97 for 2

Blue artificial flower pick $0.50 (I got one on sale at Walmart that had some purple, white and blue flowers with green leaves. Feel welcome to grab a couple picks just in case)

2 Craft Foam Rectangular Blocks (FloraCraft Foam - I used DryFM green blocks that aren’t as porous. They’re usually used for keeping water for flowers. I got rectangles that were a bit larger than 5 in H x 3 in L x 2 in W. $1.07 for each block.)

Soft Fabric Headband (I used Goody Fabric Covered Headbands in neutral colors. You can get one similar to your haircolor $4.48 for 3)

Hot Glue Gun (I owned one already)

Dinner Knife

Gloves and Face Mask

Scissors

Here are the steps. I added in a lot of notes for gotchas/oopsies that I ran into.

Instructions

Carving the horns

With the large foam rectangular blocks, draw out the shape of the horns on the two widest sides gently with a pencil. This will help guide carving.

With the serrated knife cut gently along the areas around the lines to form the rough shape of the horns.

Don’t cut directly along the line. Cut out from the rectangle a rough polygon shape to start that is a bit bigger then the drawn lines. Then slowly start carving closer like carving a fruit and curving the knife. You can cut larger shavings for the rough shape, but try to cut smaller shavings as you get closer to your drawn lines so that you can get more detailed easily. The less you cut, the easier it is to fix. If you cut more, then you aren’t able to add foam back. Take your time cutting. See drawing on process.

Since the foam is soft, you can optionally cut the rough shape and use your fingers to smooth the edges and curves of the horns

Once you’ve completed one horn, you can work on the other. As you carve, compare the two horns and try to make them similar in width, height and length.

Recommendations/Notes

Line your work area with a bag for easier cleanup.

I recommend wearing a face mask and gloves so you don’t breath in the fine dry foam as you’re working with it. It’ll get messy if you cut fast. It’ll cling to your hands and maybe clothes.

Be careful with the knife, I ended up using a small serrated dinner carving knife

Treat the foam gently, it can be easily squished if you grip it too strongly

If you want to buy an extra block to practice carving a 3d shape, it might be helpful

No worries if the two horns aren’t exactly the same. Imagine that a horn is like a thumbprint, no two are alike :)

After all the carving, the horns were roughly 5 in H x 3 in L x 2 in D. Feel welcome to make them smaller or larger.

Strengthening the horns

Gently clean away with your gloved hands as much of the foam dust as you can from the exterior of the horns.

Cut up the wood dowel into a couple of small pieces. This will be used to prop up the horns so they’re upright and allow them to dry. Gently poke through the bottom of the horns with the dowel, and poke the dowel through the base foam block.

Pour some mod podge into a reusable cup and with a medium/large brush coat the first layer on both horns. Paint all over the horns including the bottom.

Wait for it to dry and continue to coat the horns with additional layers until it isn’t porous anymore

Recommendations/Notes

Since the foam is porous and soft, some mod podge or similar material will help fill in the holes and strengthen it

Even though the exterior is strengthened and prepped for painting, the foam can still be squished if too much pressure is on it (squeezing it strongly, hitting it with something, etc). I chose this foam since it was lightweight and would be easier to wear, but that is the main downside.

You can use a blow dryer on low heat to help speed up drying. I think I waited at least 15-20+ minutes in between layers. I would go about and do some other stuff around the house and come back to it.

I coated the horns with about 2-3 layers of mod podge.

Painting the horns

To cover up the green foam, paint a base coat with the darkest red of the horns. You’ll need about 2-3 layers of base coat to cover all the horns in red. Let the horns dry a bit in between coats.

After the base coats are fully dry, prepare the three horn colors to make the gradient. Paint the darker red at the top, the orange around the middle, and the soft yellow near the base and bottom. Feel welcome to blend with a brush or even some gloved fingers! Let the horns dry a bit and apply additional coats as need until you get the desired result.

Once the gradient on the horns is fully dry, make the spots color and plan out where your spots will be before painting them on. Have fun with it! You can try to match the spot positions in the character reference sheet or make your own. You’ll probably need to let it dry a bit and paint a few coats until they are a nice solid color.

For steps 1-2, you can use the blow dryer until fully dry or let this dry overnight. I waited overnight until the next day in between each step.

If you have a spray on mod podge or other sealer, feel free to spray the horns to lock in and protect the paint colors! I didn’t get a chance to do this. This would be the last step.

Recommendations/Notes

Refer to Mychael’s character reference sheet as a color guide. His horns are a gradient of three colors with a fourth lighter color for spots.

You may want to practice mixing colors a bit to get the hang of it before creating larger quantities. For the quantities I made about 1/4 cup or so? I don’t know the exact proportions I used since I eyeballed it to the best of my ability. Here is a rough approximation:

The darker red at the top is like a vermillion. I used mostly red, with a few touches of blue (no more then 10%), a few touches of yellow (no more then 10%).

The orange was a mix of maybe 60% red and 40% yellow.

The softer yellow for the base was yellow with some white and a bit of peach (no more then 15/20% for the white/peach colors).

The spots were made with some of the soft yellow and extra white

The red paint I purchased was the strongest color, so keep that in mind when creating the oranges and yellows. The paint I used is a bit thin so I had to paint multiple coats.

I ended up painting a base coat with the darkest red color a few times to cover up all the green foam.

I mixed each of these in different reusable cups.

You’ll want to paint the gradient all at once to blend it.

You can use a blow dryer on low heat to help speed up drying. I think I waiting at least 15-20+ minutes in between layers when applying multiple coats. Then I waited overnight to let it fully dry.

Creating the headband

Choose a fabric headband that’s closest to your haircolor (or Mychael’s if you’re wearing a wig!)

Mark faintly with a pencil where the horns will be on the headband. I placed the horns a little less then 2 inches apart from the center of the headband. Feel free to adjust to your liking.

With the glue gun, add some glue to the base of the horn and hold down firmly. Be careful for any excess glue that may spill. I added in extra glue and made sure it was pressed firmly on the hairband to secure it.

Repeat with the second horn a few inches away from the other one. Dry it with a blow dryer on the low cool setting if needed

Optional for the flowers

Carefully remove all the fabric flowers from their stems on the flower pick. Remove the plastic base and leave the stamens. Use the scissors to cut some of the back stem if needed.

Apply some glue to the back of the flowers and carefully attach them to the headband around the base of the horns. Feel free to mix around the colors and leaves as you’d like.

Recommendations/Notes

Be careful with the glue gun. If you add too much glue onto the horn, you may burn your fingers when pressing it down onto the headband.

The flowers hide the base of the horns where it’s glued. This is optional if you prefer the horns as they are. I did this since my glue gun work was a bit messy and I thought it would dress up the headband and help blend the horns to my hair. I didn’t wear a wig.

I used 5 blue flower, 3 white flowers, 3 purple flowers, 6 leaves and 5 little fuzzy blue and yellow stems I used some leaves on the sides of the horns and the back. I glued the leaves first, and then some additional flowers on them. I tried to position the flowers at slight angles around the base of the horns in the back and front of the headband.

Here's how they look once they're ready! If you do end up making these, please share! It was so much fun dressing up, maybe next time I can try to go green and make a tail.

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 782: The winner's parade!!

Pag 1

1: So... shall we fly?

Pag 2

4: Huh....

Huh!?

5: What's that blackboard that they showed out of that car just now?

Yeah, it's the signboard. In road races, they write the results of the race progress on that board like that to inform the other cyclists

Pag 3

1: Like, who won the “sprint” or the “mountain” and the time difference....!!

The first place...

Who's that!? Number 181?

Where is he from? Gunma!?

2: And the group behind changes its shape based on that information, just like a living thing!

Is it their debut?

Ah?

Someone like that took the first result?

What about Hiroshima!?

No but who is he! That number 181!!

3: What about Kagoshima and Kumadai!?

4: Nagoya, too

5: I mean, wait, that's not the point

Sohoku and Hakoaku should have been ahead too

6: It can't be

That guy...

Competed against those two

Pag 4

1: He defeated Hakogaku and Sohoku and took the sprint line!!

Pag 5

2: It was so hard.... but

I did it

Waaa.... I'm so happy, yon

3: Amazing!

I've never seen that jersey before!

Gunmaaa

4: I'm from Gunma!

Amazing!

Nice!

Pag 6

1: I'm so happy to hear the cheers...!!

2: Well then

3: To answer the cheers

5: Ready... set

6: What's number 181 doing

He bent forward, what is he doing!?

Is he accelerating!?

7: Hayaaa

Pag 7

1: Thank you-chai

It's a wheelie!!

Pag 8

1: Amaziing, it's the first time I see a wheelie during a race!

What's that!? It's amazing, he's only running on the rear wheel!

It's a service wheelie!!

What an amazing sense of balance!

He's waving his hand this way!

2: Ohhh he's super cool, though

He's incredible

3: He's not only strong but also cool!! He's the best...

Yoriko, shoot a video

4: He's doing a wheelie!!

Wooo!! Taa-kun, that guy you know is too cool

5: I just became a fan!

Number 181!! From now on more and more people will cheer for him

People who come to watch road racing are always looking for it!!

Pag 9

1: For an overwhelming newcomer!!

4: Dammit!!

Dammit!!

Pag 10

2: Idiot

Idiot

Idiot

3: Are you kidding me

What am I doing

What am I doing!!

4: What!!

5: I did!! Everything I could think of to become stronger, to become faster!!

Pag 11

1: Aaaaaagh dammit!!

3: I practiced... I practiced until I collapsed...

I lost last year....

4: And this year too!? What do I need to fix? Ah?

7: There's nothing to improve anymore!!

Pag 12

2: Stop screwing around, what “newcomer”

3: It's several times harder for someone to keep winning....!!

4: Even though that day

5: I

6: Watch me, Izumida-san, I'll definitely take the colored bib!!

Pag 13

1: I'll look forward to it

2: I promised....!!

3: This year I got the number “4”

In Hakone Academy it represents the ace sprinter

How important and heavy

4: is the role of the number “4” bib

5: That victory would have been a moral pillar for the team!!

6: I even changed my orders for this, and this is the outcome...!!

7: I had to win even if it meant to use up all my trump cards!!

Pag 14

2: I should have cornered him perfectly and shut him off...

4: Was I too naive somewhere?

5: No, there was no problem with you

Even from my point of view you ran well and had the perfect timing, Orange

6: San-na...!!

Pag 15

1: It must be frustrating for you too

You're a third year.... so this was your last first sprint

2: I guess you were aiming for two consecutive victories, since it's even harder to continue winning

3: Orange....!!

4: But don't worry

I promise myself

5: I will definitely not let that guy do as he wishes from now on!!

6: I'll be the one who will take the sprint line on the second and third day!! Leave it to me!!

Pag 16

2: No, I'll take them!!

3: Stop screwing around, why does it seem like I'll only finish the first result!?

Am I wrong?

Don't underestimate Hakogaku!

Ah... well, then, shall we race then?

Don't take it lightly!!

4: Hahaha but I'm an all-rounder, so I should have a job on the mountain, too!!

6: Is he joking!? Or should I correct him!?

7: H...uh? Yeah....

Let's just let it go...!!

Pag 18

1: The running order has changed!!

Gunma, who took the sprint, went ahead and is pulling the pack!!

2: I've never seen something like this

It's their debut, isn't it? Is this okay!?

3: If you take the sprint then you have to go in the front and pull – what kind of rule does road racing have? Isn't it too difficult?

4: It seems like it isn't a rule, Sonomoto-san

It's like they concede control

5: Kiji-saaan!!

Wooah, you were amazing, fou!! Kiji-san!! Everyone, follow me!!

Ichifuji is the only one who's pulling with so much energy

Pag 19

2: Doubashi-san....!!

3: Doubashi-san being defeated at the sprint is a big deal,isn't it?

That Kiji guy

4: If there's a chance to race him, please give me the order, Joe-san

No wait, you're the ace....

5: I'll crush him

Pag 20

1: Ahhh, ahhhh

2: We lost, teh.....!! What should we do!?

Kaburagi-san and Danchiku-san have.....!!

3: It's not a big deal

Since in road racing you don't have to retire just because you lost one of the midway races

4: But still, this isn't good!!

Yeah!!

5: Kaburagi-kun and Danchiku-kun lost...!!

6: Kiji-kun....!!

Pag 21

2: Puku...

He controlled it....

3: Gunma's Kiji controlled the sprint... ohh

4: What should I do?

Crush him quickly?

6: Or maybe.... make friends with him?

Puku....

Make friends!!

[uhcasual]

drawing prog stuff

here's prog on the day in Yiling drawing! I like this kind of stuff so here anyone goes if ur interested. Most of these were taken on my phone of my pc's screen so apologies for that orz

(am not very well-practiced in coloring anything to say the least so was taking lots of pics to compare stuff along the way. Also severely out of practice when it comes to drawing in general, it's been years)

Used Paint Tool SAI for everything but the "post-processing", which I did in Photoshop.

Final pic

Original reference (very straight, time to homo-fi)

Sketch phase! Hair's a mess because I couldn't figure out where I wanted the strands to go, so just drew them everywhere to get an idea of it

Lineart phase! I'd call this rough lineart phase now but I actually thought this lineart was fine. Idk how to do lineart (and still don't)

Base colors done! Plus some shadows on WWX.

Highlights on hair for Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan, plus some shadows for A-Yuan.

Highlights and shadows for all complete! Didn't like how the highlights looked on WWX's hair so severely desaturated them. Later ended up regretting this because I just added different kinds of highlights.

At this point I messaged my friend and asked her if she thought A-Yuan looked like a demon child from a 1930's children's book, to which she responded with yes 😭 so time to redraw

Sketch phase of A-Yuan redraw!

Redraw finished! (Minus colored in eyebrows)

At this point I realized Wei Wuxian's hand didn't make any sense. Redraw time!

After around 5-8 different renditions this is what worked (finally). After this trial realized that I only know how to draw left hands so bought an articulated (right) hand mannequin model right after. Too many hours were spent on this.

Ice cream time! This is before the extra swirls. Gave it a happy face (was crying in the original line art).

Most of the other coloring was done utilizing the lineart but this, A-Yuan's face, and Wei Wuxian's hand were done freehand. Ngl I've never drawn food before so of everything in the pic am most glad that the ice cream finally ended up looking like ice cream even though it's just a dumb reference

Finally!! It's done!!! Friend pointed out that it looked empty without a background.

Background time!!!!

Day 2 of background time

Background good enough, I gave up. Was gonna add more layers and make it more realistic but attention span is short and wanted to do something else. Moved over to photoshop

All done! Added light and shadows to interact with the rest of the picture, and added some canvas effects to the background buildings and tree to fade them a bit. Lights and shadows done with overlay layers of various settings.

[krembruleed]

alright, the other day i loosely implied that i would make a behind the scenes/tutorial type of thing. momma didn't raise no liar, so here goes nothing i guess!

step 1) rough sketch

honestly i skip this entirely if have a really concrete idea of what i want to do. sometimes compositions are just beamed into my brain from On High and a sketch is unnecessary.

step 2) 3d ref

this is where i refine the composition, lighting, camera angles, props, etc. i use DAZ studio for model posing and blender for almost everything else (props, horns, lighting, rendering).

here's a 10 minute video on how to pose models in DAZ if you're interested in doing something like this! it's not very hard! basic posing requires almost no technical know-how.

i've heard magicposer and virt-a-mate are also good for model posing, but i don't have any experience with either program.

after i'm done posing, i transfer the models to blender so i can work on props, environment, and lighting because doing it in DAZ is ass. you can see that i went overboard on the ref for the paladin i worked on last year by modelling armor.

step 3) lineart

at this stage i'm synthesizing my 3d models, reference images, and style choices into lines.

the 3d likeness of my models is poor because I don't have time for that shit, so this is where my humongous folder full of bg3 screenshots comes into play.

for example: looking at my screenshots, astarion's forehead tilts back towards the back of his skull, much more so than my reference model. his chin and jaw are sharper and longer, and the transition between his brow ridge and nose is almost a straight line. if i combine the information from my 3d model and astarion's face, i get something like this:

3d models aren't fleshy (ie, tummy rolls, wrinkles, muscle deformations, butt squish) unless one puts in A LOT of effort like absolute madman chris jones.

you guys know bernini, right? he has a couple great examples of this. see how hades' hands press in on persephone's leg?

this is what we want to add in the lineart because it's too much effort for 3d. laziness is king.

i guess i draw clothes at this stage too, but for some reason there aren't many in this image. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

step 4) base color

i have a little color picked palette that i use for everybody so i get their skintones right before i start messing with colored lighting. i'll use overlay and hard/soft light layers clipped to the base layer during the shading step later.

step 5) shading

if you thought we were done with the 3d part, guess again! i posterize my 3d reference so i can see the shapes of the shadows and highlights better. if i'm not feeling it, i can go back to 3d and change the lighting really easily.

could I make a cel shader for this? yes. am I going to? No. custom shaders are for people with intelligence and I am fresh out. posterization it is.

from there, i do a pretty standard cel shading deal that i usually blur and set to low opacity. (for this image i stuck to no blur because i had been looking at a lot of morebird's art and was really feeling the hard edges)

photoshop is what i use for final rendering because it has bangin tools. the brush customization alone make ps worth it, but i also particularly abuse puppet warp, noise generation, the camera raw filter, and layer styles.

step 6) background

i put the least effort possible into a background and then i blur it into oblivion so you can't fathom the depths of my ineptitude.

and then i have a finished image! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[motherofdogs1010]

Little Darling IV (Thomas Shelby x Reader)

Summary: Birmingham has received a new club, one that is showcasing a exotic type of dance that is drawing in crowds, but it is one particular dancer that catches Thomas Shelby's eye... one that goes by the stage name: Little Darling

Warnings: Warnings: 18+ only, eventual pinv sex, eventual smut, stripper!reader, heavy petting, dry humping, language, drinking, cannon Peaky Blinder violence

A/N: This takes place post S1 after Grace during that 2 year jump but before Grace comes back, but don't worry, we will be seeing Grace again!

Banner @firefly-graphics Dividers @vase-of-lilies

Part III

His lips against hers felt hot, a shiver ran through her at the sensation of their lips molded against one another and she squeezed her eyes as her hand twitched and--

Slap.

Y/N felt a sense of justification when she slapped Tommy, one of her long nails scratched the corner of his lip pretty good during the slap and the man smirked, his tongue coming out and licking the little blood.

His cheek was rosy from the slap and she felt vindication over it as she

"I'm not a whore", she hissed, shoving him away and standing up. "And I will never be your whore."

"Not during the day", Tommy replied, "not yet at least."

Her eyes widen at his response, the way he was making it out that she was going to be his whore and while the rational part of her felt anger, there was a slim, small part of her that reveled in the thought.

"I need you to leave", she demanded, Tommy held his gloved hands up.

"Fine", he said, "but you don't need to worry about your parents."

Her heart stopped as he continued, "I made sure to leave a generous donation to them, they should be getting a good amount of groceries for the next month."

Y/N felt confused, why was he taking care of her parents? Why was he spending all this effort on her? It had to go beyond what he was telling her; she watched as he turnt and left, wondering just what did Tommy want with her.

Y/N was due for new beauty products and it was on her way out of the store did she run into the famous Polly Gray, aunt to the Shelby boys. It struck her as odd since with the amount of money the Shelbys had acquired, they would have someone else do their shopping but here she was, wrapped in a fur-lined coat and a impeccable hat on her head.

Polly was everything Y/N had heard of, beautiful and sophisticated with eyes that cut you deep as she analyzed you to the bone.

"Y/N is it?" the older woman asked, Y/N clutched her paper bag of things.

"Yes", she replied, "what can I do for you?"

"Walk with me", Polly said, Y/N trailed after her.

After a few moments, Polly spoke up, "Tommy's pretty taken with you."

Y/N felt her eyes widen, had the bastard blabbed?

"Don't worry", Polly said, "he hasn't said anything, but I always know everything that boy does. He is predictable when he comes across a beautiful woman."

"Well, I'd rather he not", Y/N said as they walked.

"The man can't help but think with his cock", Polly said, "he just like every other man."

Y/N wondered what it was that Polly wanted as she said, "No matter, seems like you want nothing to do with the bastard. Much better than the last one."

The last one?

And with more questions than answers, Polly Gray simply turned around and walked away.

Some of the girls wanted to go to the Garrison since Cherry had given some of them the night off as appreciation for their hard work. Y/n had slid into a champagne-colored dress that accentuated her figure, curled her hair into a chignon bun at the base of her neck; her mother's pearls adorned her neck and ears as she finished the look with her usual, deep red lipstick.

"N/N, over here!" Diane said, waving her over.

Diane, stage name Lovely, smiled as she sat with Eleanor (Beloved), Phoebe (Babydoll), and Susan (Sweet Pea). Y/N had felt some apprehension at coming to the Garrison considering that it was prime Blinder territory, but it had been so long since she had gone out with her friends that the risk of running into Tommy felt overshadowed by it.

Walking over, Y/N smiled at the girls as she took a seat. The pub was busy since it was a Friday, the sound of chatter and laughter rang in the place as she slid into a empty seat with her friends.

"What took you so long?" Susan said in a teasing tone.

"You can't rush perfection", she teased back and her friends laughed with her.

Soon enough, gossip began to flow through them as they sat and relaxed, listening to the chatter of the Garrison as Eleanor was gossiping about another one of their co-workers, Beauty.

"She truly thinks that Mr. Lowe will leave his wife for her", Eleanor said with a 'tsk' in her tone. "Poor thing, she really does believe it."

"We all tried to warn her when she first started", Diane said, "just because they're repeat clients does not mean anything."

Y/N sipped on her whiskey as she listened, the cold ice cubes touching her lips as Susan said, "I'm not sure, myself. Y/N here has (Susan looked around before whispering) Mr. Thomas Shelby wrapped around her finger."

Y/N's eyes widened and she had hoped no one else had noticed the preference that he had taken to her, but it seemed it was obvious to everyone.

"Don't remind me", she said with a shake of her head. "He's like a pest that won't leave."

Susan giggled a little, "A pest that brings you loads of money."

"Well, that's the only upside", she said with a teasing grin. "I'm just hoping he doesn't turn up tonight."

"Why's that? It's not like he'd recognize you without the uniform", Diane said, Y/N shook her head.

"Sugar ratted me out."

Her three friends gasped and shook their heads as Eleanor said, "he's been following you, hasn't he?"

Y/N opened her mouth, about to respond when Harry, the bartender walked over and set a drink down in front of her.

"I didn't order this", she said with a frown.

"He did", Harry said as he pointed out the culprit.

And lo and behold, the bane of her days had been sitting in the corner this whole time, just watching her...

TAGLIST

@amanda08319 @crispynutella @neonpurplestars89-blog @forgottenpeakywriter @kxnnxy

[halfusek]

Something inky this way comes! The Ink Demonth emerges once again!

The Ink Demonth is a 31-day event dedicated to the game Bendy and the Ink Machine (and other games associated with the Bendy universe). It’s based on daily themes. As long as your creation involves elements from the game along with any interpretation of the respective day’s theme – it counts!

You don’t have to create something for each day, make as many creations as you’d like. However, if you manage to do all 31 of them, you can submit a form to receive a little gift (drawing request)! In the form, you will have to provide a link to each of your posted event submissions (it doesn’t have to be Tumblr, just a site that’s publically accessible!).

Here is the link to the form (it will be opened from September 1st to September 30th):

Tag your creations with #The Ink Demonth and #Bendy and the Ink Machine. It’s important if you want to have your entry reblogged by me, which I’m going to do to everything I’ll see in this tag. (So don’t @ me, just tag it with the event’s tag and the game’s name. It’s possible that your post may not show up in the tags, if you notice that I’m not reblogging your entries for a longer while, feel free to DM them directly to me on Tumblr. My focus will be mainly on Tumblr, I may interact with posts on other sites but it is going to be with whatever I run into, as this event is Tumblr-focused. Feel free to post on other sites too, though!)

(Due to special circumstances in my life I might be especially slow this August with reblogging stuff, so if you notice that I'm not reblogging anything at all, I might just be having a busy day and will get on it when I'm free! <3)

(And, though I think it goes without saying, if I notice a post containing something I consider harmful content, I will not reblog it and will warn the creator of such content that, depending on the case, they cannot continue to take part in the event with content like this or perhaps even not at all.)

Remember to tag only the finished entries, so the tag isn’t clogged with WIPs!

You can create whatever you’d like! Draw a picture! Write a fic! Do a video edit! Take a cosplay photo! Anything you can come up with that is a creative interpretation of that day’s theme!

(Don’t try to „cheat the system”, though – don’t submit a, let’s say, straight line for each day, I will notice this kind of spam and remember: spamming is a terrible sin. You can make an entry that covers a few themes but as long as you don’t create 31 things, the gift will not be granted to you.)

The event starts on the 1st of August and ends on the 31st. Although, don’t worry if you’re too busy in August, late entries are always welcome! (…for reblogging, as for drawing gifts I’m going to give all of you an extra month, so if you’re aiming for that, the end of September is your deadline.) (I usually also give an extra month before for preparing during July but this year I’ve been too busy to make it for July so apologies!)

Why in August? I figured that since August is the month on Joey’s calendar in his apartment and August is the month during which BatIM takes place, it should be the one! 

Please, make sure to tag appropriate trigger/content warnings!

Thank you for taking your time to read this. Reblogs are appreciated in order to get the word out.

Have fun everyone! 💛🖤

You can view the text version of the full month under the cut~

1. Pencil

2. Friendship

3. Creator

4. Choice

5. Benevolent

6. Machine

7. Flow

8. Pen

9. Failure

10. Creation

11. Reason

12. Angel

13. Children

14. Puddles

15. Color

16. Legacy

17. Eye

18. Purpose

19. Ghost

20. Factory

21. City

22. Radio

23. Contraband

24. Keep

25. Cycle

26. Demon

27. Pit

28. Devour

29. Meat

30. Duck

31. Revival

[jinxxangel13]

Phantom of the Night

Chapter 2

This will be a 141/female oc, with possible variations down the line depending on the route I take with a pairing.

Thank you everyone for being so patient with me! This story has been a struggle for me to get going because I have so many ideas in within the plot but had no idea where to begin. A close friend recommended some ideas, and I think it's finally starting to come together.

[To help with the setup of kit's office, I spent a few hours throwing ideas around before I settled on this layout, but don't worry about the measurements!]

Hope you enjoy!

~Masterlist~ -Prev- -Next-

The first few days went by with no problem as Kit made herself scarce anywhere except in the medical bay, where she reorganized the whole wing to best suit how she works. Throughout the time spent setting up, she helped with the minor injuries from training missions on and off base, which helped to keep her fairly occupied.

Her new office was fairly large, bigger than she thought she'd need but it would come in handy for all of the tasks she’d taken over. Two bullet proof glass windows stood at the back of the room behind her desk, the glass starting at the middle of the wall and allowing natural light to brighten the room during the day. Her desk was an L-shape in a deep mahogany color, 2 monitors next to each other, and a multitude of files across the side of it. There were a few filing cabinets in the back corner of the room, nearest the desk to hold any extra medical files that hadn't made it to archive before Kit got on base, but she would get to it eventually. The only other things in the room were a few empty bookshelves on the right wall with a single coffee maker, a small coffee table next to the door with a couch against the same wall, and a minifridge with a double sink next to it. 

Everything was falling into place how she liked it, and it was coming along nicely.

It was a little bit after midnight on Kit’s 5th day at the new base and she was just finishing moving her files and papers around her desk when she heard a knock on her door.

“Come in.” Kit called out, not even looking up as she continued her filing, rearranging her new teams’ files to a separate smaller drawer that she locked just as her office door opened.

She heard heavy footsteps walk into the room, and upon not hearing the door click shut, Kit looked up to see none other than Captain John Price.

“How can I help you, Captain?” Kit straightened up her posture instinctually, fixing her lab coat to not be as bunched and wrinkled as it was previously.

Price tilted his head slightly as he looked around the room, letting the door softly click shut behind him.

“Just comin’ to see how you’re settlin’ in the new office. It looks nice.”

Kit smiled at the man, crossing the room to the coffee maker on the bookshelf and picking up two mugs.

“Thank you, sir. It’s a process, but I enjoy it.” She handed him a mug, not adding anything into either of them before going back to her desk. “Fresh pot, by the way.”

He thanked her before sitting in the chair across from her desk.

“Did you need something, Price? I’d have thought you’d be in bed by now with how late it is.”

He chuckled, the gruff sound causing Kit to give him a gentle smile.

“No, don’t need anything, kid. Just been a while since I’ve seen you, Vera.”

Bright silver eyes clashed with knowing blue ones, conversation being passed between the pair without a word being uttered. Kit sighed as she looked back down to her coffee mug.

“I know. I’m sorry about that, John. Been busy for Laswell for the past few years, you know how it is with her.” Kit shrugged as she looked back up to Price. “You look good, John.”

“You too, Vera. It’s good to see you again. Glad Laswell finally took me up on gettin’ you on the task force, been beggin’ her for a few years now” John set his now empty mug down on the desk in front of him.

She let out a soft laugh, placing her mug down and crossing her hands on top of her desk.

“Why did you ask for me? Out of everyone you’ve met, why me?”

Kit was genuinely confused on her transfer. She had been content being a solo operator for Laswell for the past few years, working without a team most times unless being lent to a task force or other Military group. This was the first time since meeting Laswell that she had been signed on for a permanent spot on a task force.

“Cause we need ya’ here with us. The missions we’ve been workin’ on lately are your expertise, Vera. I need your help.”

“But why sign me on? You know just as well as I do that this is new for all of us; me on a force, and you with a field medic.” Kit tightened her grip on her own hands before relaxing them.

“Look, Kit. We’ve worked together many times, and I like to think we work well together. I trust you to do this job, and I trust you with my team. Why would I get someone else when you’re here?” Price had leaned forward, elbows on his knees to try to get her to understand.

“What am I even doing here? The only thing I know of is that you tracked down General Ghorbani a couple months back and got rid of him.”

Price sighed, running his hands over his face.

“Which is why I need your help. One of his men took up the mantle. Majar Hassan Zyani.”

Kit’s silver eyes widened before she closed them, rubbing her temples roughly.

“Shit.”

Price hummed in retaliation.

“Shit indeed. We gotta find ‘em.”

She sighed, leaning back in her chair and covering her face with her hands.

“This isn’t going to be easy, but I’ll do what I can. Got any updates on his whereabouts?”

John Price handed a manilla folder to her, one she didn’t even realize he had in his hand-probably from lack of sleep.

She took the folder and started flipping through it, her mind automatically running through the words and translating the multiple languages across the pages. The details weren’t great, but it looked like Laswell was able to track his movements over the past few weeks.

“For old time’s sake, isn’t it, John?”

“Al Mazrah.”

The two of them make eye contact; furrowed brows, stressed frowns and exhausted expressions mirrored one another. This was not going to be easy. It was going to be rough, strenuous, and most likely traumatizing, but that’s what was expected from the job. 

“When do we start?”

Price’s eyes snapped to her, a smile working its way on his face as Kit tried to lighten the mood.

“Come on. Laswell is waiting for us in debrief.” He stood up, holding his arm out to her.

Kit laughs, shutting down both computer monitors and grabbing the file before joining him at the door. She took a hold of his left elbow with her hand after locking her office door behind them, and allowing him to lead her to Station Chief Kate Laswell’s office a few buildings away.

The two of them caught up on some minor details since the last time they had seen each other a few years back: new countries visited, favorite foods in said places, and a few hobbies picked up in their time off. Before long, though, the pair stopped in front of the same meeting room that Kit was introduced to the team in.

Price knocked on the door, waiting for the familiar voice to call back before he entered the room, Kit in tow with him to shut the door.

“Glad to see you both. I’m not going to sugarcoat this; it’s not looking good.” Was the only thing Laswell said before the three of them started going through piles of papers stacked across the oval table.

[zesty-goblin-trash]

Ayeoo, finally working on my doll again. Small victory for me because my mental state has been chaotic to say the least.

I don't remember what, if anything, I've shared on my current goblin-self doll? Actually I can save this as a draft easily, lemme go check.

Oh g's like nothing. Okay. Welp, grab a snack cause I'm about to overexplain everything up to this point!

Right, so I made a custom Monster High doll a while back and for my first ever attempt at it, she turned put pretty good. Especially since she was meant to just be a practice piece for stuff as I was working on another doll along side it to be my first. Never finished that doll, but I think I have to high of expectations for it compared to my skill level right now.

Jump forward to G3 Monster High being released, and I decided to remake my test-doll-turned-goblin-self with a G3 Draculaura body because it much more accurately represents my body style. I got all the way to having the body painted, my own tattoos added, and various scars and marks detailed. And honestly, I was pretty happy with the result! Here's some photos of that;

Love the colors, and I was happy enough with what I'd done to keep moving, except for the face. It was driving me crazy that I could still see the line where I added the Apoxie Sculpt to the jaw so clearly, despite it being sanded as smooth as I could get it. So I wiped her head and was going to try again. Not sure what my plan was, to be honest, but she got shoved to the corner of the desk for a good while.

I ended up finding another G3 core Draculaura at Value Village in one of their hanging bagged toys, and for $8 bucks with all her accessories I couldn't pass it up. At the time I didn't plan on it, but ended up deciding to start over completely on v2 of my goblin-self using this doll. The core dolls have an articulated chest, unlike the budget dolls (Day Out which I was using, the 2 that came with the car from Costco, ect.), and there were a couple of things I think I could have done better on the body when it came to the joints.

Jumping forward I did all the prep work on the new doll, sanding everything to remove mold lines and smooth it all nice, removed the face up and hair, yadah yadah yadah. I then attempted to dye the new body with some Rit dye and whatever brand it is that's sold at Dollar Tree, knowing it wasn't going to take correctly because the Rit wasn't for synthetics. I was really only hoping to dye the joints darker, because if you've ever seen or customized your own dolls, body repaints rarely stay painted at the joints. It's kinda inevitable if your doll moves at all. I just wanted to reduce the jarring difference between OG light pink skin and the new green skin.

It sort of worked, the teal Rit did nothing (as I expected), but the red-orange Dollar Tree stuff dyed her a bit. I didn't do her head at all since this was just meant to darken the parts that'd be rubbing together.

If all the different plastics on the body would take dye the same way this would have been a cute color honestly 😂

Skintone differences aside, it did darken down the plastic used for the wrist and elbow joints, which was my main goal. But I had another idea I wanted to try as you may have noticed in the image background. Alcohol inks! I wouldn't recommend. At least not directly from the bottle dripped into the joint.

The high concentration of alcohol in the inks very quickly made the vinyl of the lower arms get gummy. It's the same reason you don't want to use acetone on the bodies of dolls basically, it just destroys the plastics a bit too much. The pigment did start to take to the plastic, but with how quickly I had to blot it back off to stop the plastic from melting it just didn't have enough time to stay. However it did make me think of another way to essentially stain the joints. I think the same could possibly be done with a brush and alcohol inks directly maybe? But my hubs has Prismacolor Alcohol based markers so I switched gears to bring those.

And yea! A very good option! At this point I'd already washed and resanded the body to remove the outer layers of the dye from the hard plastic parts so in that image she's pretty light again. It takes extremely well to the hard plastic parts and because the concentration of alcohol is much lower it doesn't make the vinyl arms feel sticky like the inks did. I have a video of the joints moving I'm going to upload on its own after. Cause I really think this might be a viable way to help reduce the obviousness of joints in skintone changes, and I don't want it buried in my nonsense 😂

I ended up coloring the whole body with the marker, not just the joints. The hard plastic took the pigment so well that if the paint does end up scraping off anywhere it was worth it to have the marker color underneath everything. I know that spots like the knees and the butt were getting scrape marks on the first repaint just from posing, so hopefully this helps those spots look good well after I'm finished the doll!

At this point I've now gotten the body all prepped and ready to paint with the new skintone. Sanded, dyed, MSC'd, and waiting! I started working on the new head while I was figuring out the dye situation.

I wasn't planning on making this a multiple post thing (other than the video) but I think I'ma split it up here! I'm still going to type out the next post now but I'll schedule it for later 😂 Because unlike Insta, I can do that and not have to remember to come back and actually make the post later.

And thanks if you've read this far ☺️ I apreaciate the interest! See you in the next one!