#putting a little fabric glue on the ends that want to poke out

[detroit-grand-prix]

It's finished.

[p1nk-b1tes]

where blades have been

[ astarion x fem!oc ]

summary: cirice and astarion get ready for an extravagant soiree, and astarion dresses cirice in a gown that shows off the scar at the center of her chest. they talk about it. warnings: scars, allusions to past trauma, events that caused the scarring words: 1891

the events alluded to in this ficlet are those that occurred in the previous chapter “make me feel it”. I would suggest reading that one if you want the story behind the scars being discussed in this chapter.

click here to read on ao3 or read below:

The antechamber was alive with the soft rustle of expensive fabric and the gentle tug of intricately-spun ribbons. All around Cirice, the quiet murmur of spawn padded about, working in careful tandem to fit their vampiric Mistress into her gown for the Court of Shadows happening in the ballroom just one floor below. Beautiful silk the color of rich oxblood wrapped around her body, draping her tall, slim form with a grace that was elegant yet dark, and so very true to the dangerous allure of the open doors welcoming the wealthy and powerful from all around into the one and only Crimson Palace. 

Astarion stood not far away, watching from the threshold to their bedroom, as the spawn tended to her, watching over the rim of his crystal glass to ensure they did not ruin the garment or upset his partner with their incessant poking and prodding and pulling. His eyes glinted in the low light and were filled with a familiar satisfaction of seeing her adorned in such finery. He’d insisted on this gown – a striking piece that plunged low at the neckline and put a long swath of pale skin on display between the fabric’s dramatic folds. It was beautiful. Meticulously tailored. And obviously custom ordered by the Ascendant himself, if each individual gemstone and detail designed to capture the attention of any pair of eyes that rolled in her direction was any indication. It fit her like a glove and clung to every smooth curve and pointed ridge on her hell-touched silhouette, and there, framed perfectly on either side by the silk, was the scar. 

It ran from the dip between her collarbones and down past her rib cage, separating the two planes of her chest until it ended abruptly at her navel. A pale, straight line that also served as a constant reminder of that night – the one night where she’d been unable to sleep, plagued by demons of the past and the deep, twisting urge to feel. She’d been vulnerable enough to ask him for a taste of fear, and he had indulged in her desires. And between emotional fits of pleasure and pain, he’d scarred her in return.  

The golden candlelight from a hundred little candles catches on its uneven edges, highlighting the thin parts that never quite healed as pretty as the rest. It’s a permanent mark of their shared violence, their unyielding bond, it mars her pale flesh as a constant reminder of her fragile vulnerability. 

Astarion’s gaze glues itself to her chest in that dress, then it drops lower and lingers there. His expression darkens with something intense and almost possessive. His eyes burn like scorching flames upon her skin and she chooses to ignore him. This is not the place nor the time to spit venom at his inability to control himself. 

The Ascendant suddenly chooses to step closer and out of the threshold, gliding through the focused path’s of working spawn to trace the raised line of her scar up close, as if he was seeing it for the first time. Cirice barely moves a muscle, holding herself still as an oak, and continues to allow a lowly spawn to twist the silk ribbons along her back. 

“You chose this dress on purpose,” Cirice murmurs after a while of his ogling, her crimson-painted lips curling downwards into a slight grimace as she looks upon his distracted gaze through the gold-embellished mirror. “Didn’t you?” 

His smile comes slow, wicked, and he floats in closer, his lithe hands coming to rest on either side of her waist as he leans in, his breath warm against her neck. It was a feeling she’d never get used to. “Perhaps,” he whispered, his voice a low rumble that sent a shiver down her spine and through to the pointed tip of her tail. “How could I resist? It’s not every day you allow me to show off my handiwork.” 

His right hand slid upwards to drag his thumb along the line of raised flesh. It was nearly white save for the thicker half near her navel. 

The tiefling rolled her eyes, though the twisted sort of amusement in her tone was unmistakable as she opened her mouth to speak. “Handiwork,” she echoed, her voice edged with sarcasm as it slipped from her tongue. “Is that what you call it?” 

The rest of Astarion’s fingers brushed over the scar now, his touch featherlight as he traced the length of it with a reverence that contrasted sharply with the usual arrogance in his tone. 

“Well,” he replied smoothly, and his carmine eyes flickered up to meet hers. His lashes were painted with coal, she noticed, to match her own. A nice touch. “I like to think of it as a reminder – one for you and for me, and another one spun entirely for everyone else.” 

“And what is that, Astarion?” 

He looked up at her again and this time held his gaze, his expression dark and dangerous in that way that he tended to look at her with when reminding her of their violent and tangled past. Still, he chooses not to answer her request for clarification. Perhaps it was because he thought she already knew, or maybe it was because the various spawn that had been tending to her gown had since ceased in their ministrations since he’d approached her and were now standing at a distance, staring at their feet to appear as though they were not listening. “Leave us,” he says, and one by one the spawn file out of the antechamber. The sound of the heavy door to their bedroom closing behind the last one does not tear his eyes away from hers. 

For a moment longer, she holds his heavy gaze to allow the tension to linger, the unspoken memories flooding back in flashes as his fingers dance along the scar. The good ones, the bad ones, the horrible ones. They were all there hidden beneath the scarred flesh. It was an intimate thing, this moment, this reminder of their shared violence and the mutual scars that bind them. Cirice’s fingers reach for his hip. Beneath several layers of clothing is the mark that she’d given him months before he’d dragged the blade down her chest. His is longer, deeper, uglier than hers. She never apologized for it. An eye for an eye, as they say. She’d made her mark in his flesh and he’d repaid her in kind, because everything is a balance of power in their eyes. Everything is a fight for control. Neither of them will ever fully yield. 

As he trailed the tips of his fingers down her chest, she felt a warmth begin to build between her ribs – a subtle hum that she both welcomed and resisted in the moment. He tended to do that to her. He made her blood boil, but it boiled in the name of deep, everlasting love. She had long since made peace with the scar, had claimed it and made it a part of herself, but with the gentle weight of Astarion’s hand resting against it, there was a reminder of the darkness living inside of her that had placed it there – a darkness that had always been there, one that she never shed after ridding herself of her father’s hold. She thought she’d learned to live with it. 

“Do you remember that night?” he asked softly, his voice nearly a whisper now in the silence that has suddenly surrounded them. His eyes fixed themselves back to her chest – to the long mark – as if it held all of the secrets of her soul behind it, and Cirice lifted a hand to brush her fingers over his hand where it had since lingered at her collarbone. 

“I do,” she replied, equally as quietly as she suddenly becomes transported to that night. There’s a careful mixture of bitterness and fondness in her voice. “Every time I look down I’m reminded of it. Whenever I’m naked, when you wrap your arm around my middle at night, when I get dressed in the morning… I remember.”

The curve to his lips softens if only slightly, and for a moment that glint in his eyes is almost gentle. “I remember, too. I remember how it hurt – both yours and mine. I’ll never forget, but perhaps I should remind you of why I left it there.” There it is again, that voice, smooth as silk and filled with that same dark desire that always simmers just beneath the surface. 

Cirice’s breath hitches, her lips parting slightly. She wants to scoff, roll her eyes, act unaffected by his choice of words, but something in his eyes, in the gentle brush of his fingers over her chest continues to draw her in, pull her closer into that guarded place of vulnerability that got her there in the first place. She rarely allows herself to feel. Astarion so often begs her to. 

His hand slips down once more. “When I see this…” he begins, his eyes fixated on how her skin feels under the warm pads of his fingers, “it reminds me of how easy it would be for us to tear each other apart.” His eyes flicker up to hers and there’s an unspoken question lingering in his irises. “And yet here we are…” 

Her hand moves to cover his, her grip firm as she holds him there, the faintest evidence of a smile ghosting across her lips. He speaks truth. “Yes,” she whispers, though steady, unwavering. “Here we are.” 

Their scars lay between them, permanently etched into their skin as a reminder of both of the nights where they dared the other to do their worst. The violence they endured, the power they constantly fought for, it would continue to be there, too. Always simmering beneath the surface ready to explode. But in the quiet intimacy of the moment, they were more than just marks upon flesh. They were testaments to their survival, their persistence to endure and stay on the very top. They were brought together and forged in blood in darkness. That truth will never leave them. 

Astarion’s hand lingers a moment longer, his fingers caressing her flesh with a reverence he would never dare to admit out loud. Cirice holds him close. She always needs him close in some way, even if sometimes the feeling of his skin makes her want to spill his blood. 

Then, with a final, lingering touch, the Ascendant steps back, his usual smirk returning to his pretty lips as he adjusts the collar of his own elegant attire. 

“Now then,” he says, his tone light, though the intensity in his gaze hadn’t faded as he offered the tiefling the crutch of his arm. “Our guests are waiting and we have much to do, my love. Shall we make an entrance?” 

She smiled and stepped down from the small platform where the spawn had dressed her, curling her arm around Astarion’s. “Lead the way, my lord.” 

And as they left the room, the scar lay exposed to the air and to anyone who dared to look in her direction, a silent reminder that despite the elegance and mask of civility that they wore like armor, the darkness inside them both would always be there, waiting, just below the surface.

[crush-zombie-drawan-sfw]

ITEMS PART FIVE! Including maybe the most labor-intensive part of this project-- the lantern!

I know I have better pictures of this somewhere, but the lantern I wanted to try to make. Well, not try-- I would do it because I'm bad at giving up.

Two challenges I encountered were 1- how to hide the wires going from under the light to the batteries, and 2- where to store the batteries. The batteries are pretty big, and they wouldn't just fit in the bottom or the top of the lantern. The whole thing, finished, is about 1.5 inches high.

I got a bulb and wiring from my older sister (2, actually, not pictured is the one I absolutely destroyed) with the plan that I'd have the wires go down through the bottom of the lantern, then up into the top through the supporting pieces.

Two of the bordering pieces would have to be hollowed to fit the wires and then covered up. I dunno how many times I super glued this thing back together, drilled holes, cut up new pieces because I drilled too many holes in them, etc.

To hang it from something poking out of the rafter(s) I needed something hollow that also could support the weight of the lantern, so I ended up cutting up a plastic lollipop stick, which worked!

The wires were hidden, and then I had to figure out how to hide the battery casing, so I made a little box to sit on the rafter above the lantern pole, and drilled a hole through it to feed the wires through.

Like so. And with everything in place I covered the lantern in the usual stuff; black construction paper, black wash, Mod Podge, and then painted highlights:

I put a little clay around the light to vaguely look like a candle? Ehgh lol

Then I secured the rafters to the roof of the workshop by drilling holes in the walls and the wood itself, shoving in thick wire and then dumping super glue in there, and then filling cracks with epoxy putty.

(Gen-chan judging me while I work on the battery case box)

Here's how the batteries fit inside. It's another shred up tealight, and I decided to give it a false lid to make it look like it's full of stuff

Little chunks of painted wood, wrapped up fabric and embroidery thread, some dyed moss and a piece of blue glass I picked up on the side of the road while I was hobbling home with my groceries on my back.

Complete wiring, which involved a little cutting and soldering of the copper wires.

Rafters and lantern complete ✨ And it lights up nicely:

Other items that hang out up there are some of the books I made, an unfinished hilt, wood, a tiny barrel and a black bone (prefab), because CURSES (blackened bones are common loot in FFXII)

My shitty attempt at an animal pelt (cream felt and paint)...

And this empty burlap sack that's just fabric and twine sewed together and then dunked in watered down paint.

Not much left to go now!

[sweetmonsooncos]

Styling a Jolyne Kujo wig

Following on from the debut of my handmade Jolyne cosplay (thank you all so much for the love btw, it's made me very emotional and soppy 🥹), I wanted to dive into some of the other aspects of the cosplay and today I'll be sharing how I styled her wig!

So to start with, I'll talk a little about the bases I used. All of my wig products came from Coscraft which is an absolute GOLDMINE of a website for any UK cosplayers! If I need to do a wig styling project, I always to go them and they also sell fabric, EVA foam and haberdashery stuff too which is very useful! I purchased the below for this particular project:

Lily Wig in Royal Blue

Skin Top Section in Lime Green

2 x Straight Wefts in Royal Blue & Lime Green

First thing I did was tackle her hair buns - I used foam clay to make the main base and I moulded a hole in the bottom to use as as anchor to secure to the base wig. I then painted them dark blue to blend with the hair better, then I took some Royal Blue wefts and wrapped them around the buns, securing them down with hot glue. I used hairspray to secure down some flyaways and any particular tough bits that stuck out I used some hair gel. Considering this was my first go at making buns, I don't think I did too badly on this!

Next, I moved onto installing the skin section to act as a new fringe. I followed this tutorial from Coscraft and managed to install it very nicely! After I had parted it, I cut the fringe down and used some shearing scissors to make the blue hair underneath the green parting less thick - as when I first tried it on, it was far too much hair and the blue was poking through a lot.

Finally, I curled the ends of the green fringe to sit better and then I got to doing the braids after glueing the buns down on top of the wig! I put a bit of cardboard on the bottom of the buns to give them something to anchor down on and used hot glue to secure them in place. I then took some of my Lime Green wefts and created braids, wrapping them around the buns and then glueing those in place. Lastly, I did the main braid at the back (although I may re-do this as it's a little bit too small) and then secured it with hot glue at the back.

And this is the final result of the wig build!!!! I'm super proud of this and extremely pleased with how it came out. It's also a really lightweight wig too and very easy to wear which will be great for future cons. I'm planning to share other aspects of cosplay building very soon so make sure you stay tuned for those 💙💚💙

[spockandawe]

Now, all the BONES

So, the first and most logical step was to get the big book as close as possible to its final dimensions before I made my next move. I prefer to work on all the things at once, but something would have one hundred percent gone wrong here. I had the text on my computer, but I couldn't commit to margins and sizes until I knew how big the physical books needed to be. I'm pretty sure I took this photo because that was when I was finally able to get those measurements, haha

Then I was able to subtract the square for my boards (I hoped) and get dimensions for my text blocks that I would have to print and cut to very precisely. NERVEWRACKING. The guillotine.... I love her, but she is a vicious, unforgiving thing. But it worked! And here, I'm pretty sure I was checking how I liked the small books with the cover fabric before I FULLY fully committed. You can see the back of those endpapers here! The front is like that, but shiny.

Then, the books were made. The dimensions looked about right, and it was time for Box. I have the Hollander's book that talks about making and covering a divided tray, so I felt confident! An unjustified amount of confident. But that's just my usual operating mode when it comes to crafts.

First issue: I didn't want those little books to get stuck in their little pit traps. I thought about doing a little curved divot at the top edge. But precisely cutting board this thick can be dicey, and I was also realizing that I would have just over a finger's width of space to work inside those spaces once the walls were all up. So I made a VERY good call and took a slice out of the wall all the way from top to bottom on the front and back of the little books. Nice and easy to pinch and extract!

Meanwhile, the rest of the tray was just a nice normal clamshell. I considered putting a wall on the back, but first, it's harder to delicately extract an eight hundred page brick with two fingers, and second, that spine turned out pretty and deserves to be seen. So I glued that all up, and then test fitted my books. You'll note that I hadn't titled the little books yet! I was pretty sure they would get spine titles, but was also waiting to see what would work best with the box. In the end, the holes were perfect for a bonus additional bit of titling.

Then it was time to COVER. The truly nervewracking part began. I decided to cover the front with a continuous piece, even though I'm not sure it's totally visible with the size of the pattern vs my gaps, then cut down the middle of each piece and turned it in. You can see how much space I had to work with getting down into those wells, haha. And they were MARGINALLY deeper than my fingers were long, so I did the bottom bits with careful poking from bone folders and a cheap dull letter opener I use for tiny spaces

I didn't take any pictures of me covering the rest of the interior because it was MUCH more nervewracking than expected, and I was increasingly afraid I would mess up something unrecoverable and have to start over. The last step, after the walls were done, was to cover the floors. Again, silk moire with one side covered in glue, carefully lowered down a pit already lined with fancy paper... twice. And then the main floor, which was easy, so I saved it for last, haha. But it worked!!

The rest was nice and easy! I built my other tray just fine. Three unbroken walls felt like a leisurely walk in the part by this time. And then I made the outer case for the trays. The very final step was to title it with foil, as seen in the first post up above!

But I do also have one bonus shot for you, an initial photo from the inside of that main tray, where the little book holes are visible. This box truly stretched my mind in new ways, and I had SUCH an incredible time figuring it out! It looks much fancier in midday light rather than at midnight, and on a clean table rather than my active work zone. But this is a project where I think the progress photos are so cool and fun, and I just had to share them with you all :D

Here's a big project I've been sitting on! All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, by our very own @ceruleancynic! And a box, naturally, building boxes for books continues to bring me immense joy.

What we have here is not just the main fic, or the main series, but also All That You Love (The High Hope Remix) alt pov short fic by byzantienne, and, a detail that I was really excited to include: the initial comment exchange between these two fantastic authors of m the first fic in the series. Did I title that second little book 'all that you meet cute will be carried away' as a silly placeholder? Did I then get super attached and refuse to change it? Uh-

Hell yeah, I refuse to be dignified about any of my favorite hobbies!

But the real secret delight here was that I've been looking for the right opportunity to get weird with boxes. Peller boxes, hinged slipcases, yes, fine, but those are like the box version of my sixfold book adventure. I'm still shooting for some parallel to my fourteenfold book, I'm looking for a way to go completely off the rails. I have some ideas, but it's hard, finding a good large chonk and a small number of equally sized texts, which made a unified and complete set, AND which excited me to work with. That might sound unnecessarily picky, but I swear, there was a good reason for it!

Oh baby. Oh baby.

This worked out so perfectly. I wanted a large book at the center of things. And I wanted two small books oriented in a different direction, placed end to end, at its edge. And I got it! I didn't want to commit too early, and it would have been heartbreaking to fail, but once the big book was together, and the preliminary typesets for the two little books were almost identical? I just HAD to try.

Tumblr is already silencing me and refusing to let me attach as many images as I want, so for this post, let's talk about the main book a little! Cute little quarto bricks are my new FAVORITE favorite thing, as I'm sure you can guess from my archives, and this one was a dream to put together.

It had to be a three-quarter leather binding, naturally. And I was sitting on some gorgeous iridescent maroon paper for endpapers (no photos in this set, it refuses to photograph well, as is the way of pretty iridescent things). I spent some time agonizing over my other material, and whether to use two different marbled patterns, but I went with it in the end. The vibes were distinct enough but the palettes overlapped enough that I really enjoyed the effect. And with the northcott art of marbling fabrics (my beloved) I was able to use lines of symmetry to get some nice fussy cuts for the big book and the little ones. All of the books have leather endbands, matching the spine. And the big book has the big thick faux raised bands I tried out with my last svsss! I don't have enough pictures to show off all the book interiors, but I used this cover plate for the series and main fics within it.

And then, like I showed you above, I put it all together. Marbled paper and silk moire for covering the box, a lot of very tense wrangling of glued-up paper in very small spaces, and, at one point, carefully lowering glue-covered pieces of moire bookcloth down these little pits (walls already covered) using that tab in the front like the world's awkwardest elevator shaft. But the EFFECT!

I'm very, very pleased with myself, and delighted to have delivered this book to its new home. I've been absolutely VIBRATING with a desire to share, so! I can't be contained by tumblr's image limit. Hold on for two seconds (approx.) and I'm going to reblog this post with some wip pictures and more detail about how I worked this thing out and assembled this box and modified my initial design on the fly

[littlest-dark-age]

Crawl on me, sink into me, die for me

Headcannons for perv!dark!eddie

tagging my bby who helped me brainstorm a fuck ton of this @omenhel

listen to while reading : rot away by jesse jo stark

tw for scent kink, possessive eddie, cry baby eddie, slight manipulation, mentions of periods and sanitary products, slight stalking mention, holding his dick while he pees, somno, pillow humping, slight cnc, anal, face sitting, wet dreams, cockwarming, mentions of a fleshlight, if I missed any please let me know

He would try to subtlely sniff you whenever the two of you would hug. Tucking his face into your neck and playing off his deep breath as a sigh of happiness from the affection. Thinks you smell so much better without any type of spray or deodorant on. Thinks your natural smell is much more pleasing, and loves it.

Constantly stealing little trinkets from your room/house. Used lip balm, partially ate bag of snacks, the lotion you use after you shower, underwear etc. He has a little unmarked box in his closet with everything collected. Plans to set up a display in the corner of his closet. Arranges "pictures" of the two of you for it, they're just clippings of different pictures of the two of you separate that he put together and created false scenarios for.

Eddie gets worked up whenever he sees what he thinks is you flirting with other people. Tears well up, lips poked out in a pout as he practically steams while you talk to them. When you're done, he looks at you with his big brown eyes and asks if you would rather go date them instead of some freak trailer trash. Not believeing you when you tell him that nobody could ever possibly replace him until you give him a kiss and he still clings to you for the rest of the day. Not wanting to let you up even to go the the bathroom, holding onto your clothes as he follows you around like a sad little puppy. Asks if he can come inside the bathroom with you and hold your hand during.

Bribes steve and robin to let him see what movies you've been renting, and for them to keep them back the next time they're free so he can rent them. Using the movies as another excuse to talk to you about anything he can.

Eddie would die if you ever asked to borrow his jackets because you got cold. The sight of you in them making his heart just about beat out of his chest, and later whenever you give it back, the idea of his scent on you has his eyes rolling back.

But on the other hand, he would absolutely steal your clothes as a way to be "closer" to you. Doesn't matter if they're too small and end up crop tops or if they're bigger and end up leaving him drowning in the fabric. He constantly is running his hands over the material, thinking about how many times you've worn it and the fact that you'll probably wear it once he gives it back. Not realizing the fact that he wore it and will be wrapping yourself with it, with him.

If he ever does a favor for you, the only thing he'll ever ask for in return is a kiss. Seeming so happy and smug when he asks for it, knowing you won't say no because what's the harm in a little kiss? None, as far as you're concerned. But it only fuels him and sends him deeper into the dark thoughts in his mind.

Eddie's such a cry baby when it comes to you. He whines whenever you get up from the two of you cuddling, pouting and trying to pull you back by your clothes. Practically has a tantrum like a kid who's favorite toy has been taken when he sees someone else interested in you. Which most of the time, is someone simply trying to make a friendly conversation with you. But Eddie thinks every body in the town of hawkins is trying to take the one good thing in his life away from him and he simply won't stand for it

Thought he went to died and accidentally went to heaven the first time the two of you shared a bed. Sticking to you like glue, no matter how much you might move in your sleep, he would follow and find out a comfortable way to wrap himself around your odd positions. Essentially turning into an octopus with the way he's able to cling onto you.

He can't stand the idea of you getting hurt and him not being able to help. Starts to stash first aid kits and whatever you might need for an injury every where. He doesn't want you going to anybody else besides him whenever you need something, especially when you're in pain or need help.

Will "visit" your work place every few hours to check up on you and make sure you're still there. Hates the thought of not knowing where you are and being able to get in touch with you. It worries him, even though the logical part of his brain knows you're probably simply just busy

(If you menstruate) Eddie would absolutely change out your tampon for you. On his knees, not caring if he gets anything on his hands. Looking up at you to make sure its comfortsble and okay. He'd make sure your pad is right where you need it, checking in with you that its positioned right. Always makes sure your cups are clean and that they sit right. His free hands softly stroking your leg waiting for you to make sure he did it good enough.

If you ever joked about holding him while he went to the bathroom, he would instantly agree. He doesn't see anything odd or weird about it. Gently instructing you on how to shake and everything needed. Now he brings you to the bathroom with him constantly, telling you that he has a special job he needs help with. He considers it, simply couple bonding.

He knows he shouldn't be so obsessed with you, shouldn't want to follow you like a lost puppy. But he can't help himself. Every moment, he realized, is spent thinking about you. If you'd like it if he wore a different shirt, if you needed help, if someone was trying to damage your image of him....

Eddie wouldn't know what to do if you started thinking the same way hawkins does. Thinking that he's a devil worshiper when the only thing he's ever worshiped is you. He would bow at your feet if it would make you happy, would let you take your anger out on him as long as it served you. He can't believe someone like you would let someone like him ever touch you. But he will never take it for granted. Thanking you for every caress of his hair, of every kiss, of every word uttered to him.

Nsfw

About cums in his pants the first time you even so much as lay your legs across his lap, much less sitting in it. He bites back a groan every time you shift ever so slightly, and thinks it's you teasing him about how hard he gets for you.

Has used your hand to jerk off when you're at his and staying the night, while kissing you as you slept.

Constantly sprays your scent on a pillow that's your replacement for whenever you have to leave. Clings to it and even humps it sometimes. About cries when he cums on it because then it won't smell like you when he washes it.

Eddie often sneaks into your bedroom, after a while of dating he convinced you too start to leave your window unlocked in case he ever wanted to surprise you. He "surprises" you a couple of times a week while you're asleep. Carefully climbing in, making sure to keep his steps light as possible. He stands by the window for a moment, watching your chest rise and fall with every breath, before slinking over to you and crawling under the covers. Running his hands up and down your soft legs, his eyes practically roll back as he nuzzles his face into your thighs. Pressing sloppy kisses up to your cunt where he doesn't even bother taking off your underwear and flattening his tongue. Lapping at you while he humps your soft sheets, his hands on your hips to keep you pressed against his face in case you move in your sleep.

Always has his hands under your shirt, sometimes just softly stroking your warm skin. Other times, his hands start to drift up to your chest. Feeling you up with the excuse of his hands being cold, while he pinches and plays with your nipples. Ignoring your whining about him being mean and that he shouldn't be doing it.

Eddie tries to convince you to do anal. Surprising you by pushing his thumb into your tight hole when you're on your hands and knees, slipping his tongue in while he gives you sloppy head. Anything he can do to convince you that he would make it feel good for you and that its not dirty.

The amount of wet dreams he has about you is embarrassing, especially because they're not intense or hard core. Most of the time it's you letting him explore your body and get to know every single inch of it. Or even, him sucking on your chest while you brush his hair out of his face for him.

Cried the first time the two of you had sex, which was his first time. Was nervous about telling you but felt it would be the best option. Stutters out the fact that he's still a virgin and expects you to laugh at him. Shock washes over him when you still climb into his lap, telling him that it's okay and that you'll take good care of him. Gets so loud while you ride him that at first you stick your fingers in his mouth but he's still too loud. You reach over and grab your disgarded panties and shove them into his loud mouth. Eddie clenches his eyes shut at the feeling of the already wet fabric in order to try to not instantly cum but it doesn't help. Loud moans muffled from the fabric and frantic bucking of his hips let you know he's about to cum in you.

Steals your body products all the time. Uses things like your lotion and body wash(if he's in the shower) to jerk off with. Just grins whenever you complain about running out of product. He's tempted to replace the difference in your lotion with his cum..

Will beg on his knees to get you to sit on his face. Head shoved into your lower stomach, grip tight on your shirt while he begs for it over and over. Showing you how desperate he is for your thighs to smother him, how he wouldn't want you to stop even if he was choking. He tells you he needs it like he need the very air he breathes.

"Oh god. Hah, fuck baby. You feel so good. Gonna squeeze me to death. Just like that, fuck yes, love you. Love you so much. No one else can make me feel this way. I'd do whatever you want as long as you let me stay like this! Hah"

Loves and lives for cockwarming, it always makes him feel closer to you. Being able to just be in you while the two of you snuggle or take a nap. He thinks its a good way for the two of you get closer, as if that's what your relationship lacked.

So loud. Just, so loud. He rambles during sex so much. You might get the cops called on you because he sounds like he's being murdered rather than having you ride him. Usually also crying from how overwhelmed he gets, but will pout and look up at you all bleary eyes if you stop. Sniffling and asking if something's wrong, if you'd rather be on bottom. Instantly starts trying to flip you over while his cheeks are still wet with tears becauee he thinks that's what you're asking for.

Went beet red when you found his fleshlight, tucked away in a drawer when you were looking for clothed. He tried to stutter out that it wasn't his but the two of you knew the truth. The tips of his ears turnjng bright red when you tease him and ask him if he uses it when you're not there, if he says your name and pretends its you he's fucking. The only response he can muster up is a shaky nod, hoping you don't notice how hard just talking about it got him. Cries and whines when you make him fuck it instead of you, telling him to show you exactly how he does it. Practically sobbing that he wanted to cum in you while thrusting into the plastic toy.

[pockwashereart]

Flaming Gavle Goat Ornament Tutorial

You Will Need:

Craft felt in light brown or 'straw' color of choice, red, yellow and orange

Red ribbon in 2 widths

Thread- I used red and yellow; brown, orange or white would give different effects

scissors

Needle for hand sewing

pins or quilter's clips

polyfill stuffing or fabric scraps

a poking implement

a lighter or Fray check glue

paper and pencil

patience / approx 2 hours to waste making a meme for the holidays

To start, I drew a rectangle approx 3.25 in wide by 4 in high and sketched out a geometric goat shape. You could go a bit larger, but if you go much smaller it will be difficult to stuff. Remember that the sewing and stuffing will eat up some of your edges.

Cut out your goat template and trace it on your light brown felt. I used chalk, marker may work depending on how neatly you cut.

(I'll add a nice vectored template to this tutorial later, but I'll have to fight with the scanner first. )

Cut 2 of your goat. It doesn't matter if they're not exactly the same, as you can fudge the edges a little when you sew. If your felt has a front and back you can tell apart, you'll need to pick a "right" side of the fabric and mirror one of the goat base pieces.

I cut my ribbon decorations in advance, wrapping it around the stacked bases to check the length - remember you'll be stuffing this later so you may need to add a tiny bit more to accomodate.

Out of the wider ribbon, you'll need one for each leg, one for the tummy and one for the bridle. The thin ribbon will be to hang the ornament with and to wrap the horns- I did not pre-measure the horn wrapping because I wasn't sure how long it would need to be. Finish the cut edges of the ribbon as you like- I used a lighter to heat seal them but fray check or white glue will work. Glue will be more difficult to sew through.

Start sewing the goat bases together. I used red thread and a basic whip stitch, but you could get a couple different effects by using white or brown thread, or by sewing a blanket stitch.

Here's where I made life difficult for myself- stop when you get to the legs and wrap the ribbon in place, tucking the ends in between the layers. This secures them and hides the edges but is fiddly to pin and sew. You can also wait until you have sewn most of the way around and tack or glue the ribbons on top if you're less fussy about the ends showing.

Continue sewing around the legs and body, catching the ribbons in your stitches and repeating for the bridle ribbon. Stop at the base of the horns so you have room to stuff.

I'm working with modern plastic materials, so sadly (or not) this goat isn't terribly flammable, just meltable. If you want to be eco friendly you can stuff him with scrap fabrics. I'm using polyfill.

Use a chopstick, paintbrush handle or empty mechanical pencil to poke your stuffing into place. Smaller lumps of fluff are better and more maneuverable.

For firmer limbs stuff chopped up bits of your felt into the legs and head and follow it up with the polyfill.

My original plan for the removable flame was to do clever things with magnets, so if you want to give that a try this would be the point to toss one in before you close up the body. I was on a roll and didn't remember until I was working on the horns. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Remember you still need to put the tummy ribbon on and curse your clumsy giant fingers!! Getting everything situated and laying nicely may take a couple attempts. Once you've stabbed yourself with the pins a couple times, sew up the inner curve from the base of the horns on the neck to where the horns meet up again on the butt.

Be careful of where your thread tail goes and the direction of your stitches, it's easy to accidentally loop around the whole body or catch the horns.

There should still be a bitty opening at the base of the horns and at the butt (giggle here), if you flattened your stuffing during the last step and need to poke a teensy bit more in.

Tie your length of hanging ribbon into a loop and set aside.

This is another step where my need to hide the edges made life stupid and fiddly. Tuck the edge of a length of the thin ribbon between the layers on the bottom of the horns and wrap it around, and tack in place with a couple stitches. Loop it a couple of times until you get to the point you want to hang the ornament: I chose dead center, you may want him at a jaunty angle.

Fiddle with bendy felt, slippery ribbon and pins until your hanging ribbon's knot is sandwiched between the 2 layers of the horns and continue wrapping with the loose long piece, securing with pins or clips as needed and hopefully not making a big tangled mess of ribbon.

When you get to the end wrap it around a couple times and cut off any extra length, seal your ribbon and pin or clip into place.

Sew along remaining curves of the horn, making sure not to yank the hanging ribbon out of place and to catch the wrapping ribbon as you go. Accept there's no good way to tuck in this !$@!%%^$ slippery 1/8th BS ribbon and tack the butt end down with a few extra stitches.

Alternately, tack the hanging ribbon in place between the layers, sew the edges and then wrap and secure the horn ribbon with stitches or glue at either end. You could also skip sewing the edges of the horns together before wrapping them, but it will be more sturdy and secure with them sewn.

The fun part! fold some paper in half and draw your flames on the fold. Mine were a little over 2 in tall, and they should be a little smaller than the back of your goat at the base in order to fit in place. Cut out your fire and use it as a template for your felt.

The base layer will need to be on cut on the fold but the rest can be separate. Use as many or as few layers and colors as you like, it doesn't have to match exactly on both sides. You'll be folding this up so that you have 2 decorative sides facing out and a plain inside, so you'll be making two mirrored flames while it's still flat: one pointing up and one pointing down. Sew or glue the layers together.

I used a hidden stitch about a third of the way up from the bottom on the inside of the flame to pinch the sides together and pull it up into a V shape. This can be tucked up into the gap between the body and the horns and will hold itself in place pretty well if you have thick felt.

For more security/ shaping you could sew a loop of craft wire or an opened paperclip to the back side of the flame, or as previously mentioned do clever things with magnets.

Hang him on the tree with or without flames and enjoy!

Options for enjoying your handcrafted goat:

Pin the Flame on the Goat: Hide goat ornament on tree and give your participant (s) the flame (s), first to put them together wins.

Art Imitates Goat: Keep the flames to the side until/ if the real goat burns, and then apply to ornament. Celebrate with hot cocoa or warm winter drink of choice.

Voodoo Goat: Real Gavlebocken hasn't burned yet? Summon the flames by setting your ornament on felt fire! Celebrate with hot cocoa or warm winter drink of choice.

[pickleking8]

No one asked but I decided that I'm going to ramble about the different aspects of my cosplay anyway! :D

Hair: it's a wig, not much to it other than that.

Makeup: you can't see it in the photo because I blocked my face, but I had white eyelashes and eyebrows and used some blue face paint to contour and try to make my face more "dead" looking. Albeit a very dramatized impression of dead looking. On my arm I did the green fractal lightning sort of pattern because I like the head cannon of Danny having a permanent death scar from the portal and I thought that making it green would be fun.

Crown: It's made of cardboard! I measured my head, cut it out, and then glued it together. I used hot glue directly on the cardboard to get the raised lettering. To get the leather-ish creases and the black color, I used modge-podge to glue multiple layers of black tissue paper on the crown, wrinkling the paper as I went. Then, I used green paint to paint over the lettering and some of the creases. The lettering is actually a substitution cipher (aka I made up a symbol for each letter of the alphabet), but then I lost the key, so I don't know what it says. For the beads, I just got some green glass beads and a needle and thread, poked holes in the cardboard, and put the thread through that.

Cape: I bought a black cape with faux fur shoulders and the green fabric. You can't really see it in the photo, but the green fabric has kind of nebula/galaxy clouds and gold stars on it (because I like the idea of a space core Danny). I cut the fabric and sewed it as a lining for the inside of the cape! This ended up being kind of hard because I didn't have enough fabric to go all the way up the cape (you can see it stops a little above my belt), and I didn't want there to be a line of thread on the outside of the cape. So, I had to hold the outside of the cape and the cape's original lining apart from each other and try and handsew the green fabric only into the original lining fabric. That took a bit. Also, my sewing machine broke halfway through sewing the other sides :( Lots of hand sewing for me!

Jumpsuit/main body: I bought a solid black jumpsuit/coverall sort of thing to use as a base, and planned to modify it to add my designs. The first thing I did was cut off like 3-4 inches of the legs, and then redo the hemming, because it turned out to be way too long for my height. Next, there were several rounds of trial and error to figure out the best way to add the details. First, I tried cutting the pieces out of fabric (pinning them on did work to make sure I liked the design I worked out, so yay for that), but they looked too messy unhemmed. Sewing two copies of the design together looked weird and puffy and the designs were too small and oddly shaped to just hem them normally. Next I tried using regular white paint to paint on the designs on the bottom of the legs. This had worked for a separate cosplay, but it turns out that the jumpsuit was much more porous than the canvassy material I was working with previously, and trying regular paint did NOT go well. So, I cut off the black fabric for the legs and sewed on some white fabric to do the bottom bits. I'm not that good at sewing so it took some finagling to get it right. For the rest of the designs, I finally sucked it up and bought some actual fabric paint, which did, in fact, work as intended, though it took several coats. The belt is more of the same white fabric, and the horn is something cool that I got at the ren fair and decided worked with the cosplay pretty well. It does make the cow horn sound from the movies! It is very loud and very fun.

I just wore regular black sneakers for my shoes.

I think that's all! Overall, I was trying to lean more heavily on the angstier/sadder parts of the dp fandom by focusing on the portal and the burden of the crown that Danny has to bear, but idk if that came across. I was originally going to include the ring of rage, and make it a mini replica of the portal (with a big red on-switch inside, of course), but I ran out of time and spoons. Maybe I'll make it later!

If you've gotten to this point, thanks for reading my cosplay rambles, I'm really proud of what I accomplished and I worked really hard on it. I put a lot of thought into every aspect of the cosplay. Let me know what you think (aka: if anyone feels like complimenting me please do. I need it)

Hey, everyone! I realized that I never shared the Ghost King Danny Phantom cosplay I made, so I thought I'd upload some photos. I'm not really comfortable putting my face on here, so that's obscured, which is a shame because you can't see my awesome makeup, but ah well.

If anyone wants to hear me ramble about the different parts of the cosplay please let me know; I'm so proud. I made everything myself!

[sulphuryasecretcloset]

His children

(How did Davarax end up with his troubled children?)

“Davarax. A word.”

Slightly surprised, Davarax glances over as Mardsk walks towards him. The guy is one of the Teachers, one who rarely spoke to the Fighting Corps. Sure, Davarax had been a Teacher once too but that was years ago and most just consider him a Fighter now.

“What can I help you with, ner vod?” Davarax asks, curious.

Mardsk comes to a halt in front of him, seems to struggle for words and gives a big sigh before he just jumps into it. “Paz Vizla.”

Davarax frowns. The heir to the Vizla clan, he's seen the young boy around and knows he will one day be a valuable member of the Fighting Corps, judging by his size and love for battle. “What about him?”

“He's a problem.” Mardsk blurts out. “The boy is a bully. He keeps picking on my Spring Class, beats them up and terrifies them.”

Davarax' frown deepens and he crosses his arms thoughtfully. “Wait. Your Spring Class? Aren't they, what, three or four years older than him?”

“Yeah, so?” Mardsk replies with a slight edge to his voice. “The boy is a bully nonetheless. He's disruptive and constantly challenging my authority, thinking he's above the rules because he's a Vizla.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?” Davarax does not like where this is going.

“You train him.” Mardsk plows on. “You have experience with difficult kids and you know she would approve of us keeping the Vizla clan quiet.”

Not liking Mardsk using his connection to her one bit, Davarax still doesn't reject the request right away. He's always had a weakness for the outcasts. “Let me talk to him...”

And true to his word, later that day, Davarax hunts down the kid. He finds him sitting in one of the study rooms, reading on one of the datapads there.

Paz Vizla is big, Davarax has no trouble seeing how he can take on and defeat children years older than himself, but there is nothing menacing about the young boy right now. He is devouring the information on the datapad, which a quick peek reveals to be Mandalorian history. Interesting.

“Hey.” Davarax gets his attention. “You know who I am?”

Paz looks up at him, slightly curious but completely self-assured. “Yeah. You're Davarax. You're-”

Davarax nods. “That's me. Pleased to meet you, Paz Vizla.”

Now Paz frowns and he sits up a little straighter. “What do you want?” There is a challenge in his words as well as in the insolent stare. He is his father's son, alright.

“I wanted to meet you.” Davarax sits on the desk next to him. “Because they want me to train you.”

“Figures.” Paz scoffs with obvious contempt. “Mardsk is a coward.”

Amused, Davarax tilts his head and scans the kid's body language. It's a wonderful mess of arrogance and insecurity. He's angry, but also clearly hurt by Mardsk's action. Not completely corrupted by his father, then. Good. “He just knows when he's out of his league. That's not a bad thing, ad'ika. It can save your life outside the Covert.” Davarax sees the youngster wobbling between the lingering hurt and the inferred compliment. “So, would you be okay with that? Me training you?”

Paz looks at him, scans him in return and leans back in his chair. “Why would you want to do that? You're on the Fighting Corps. You don't do teacher stuff anymore.”

Davarax shrugs. “I might make an exception for you.”

“For me? Why? Because I'm a Vizla?” Paz drawls, suspicious.

“No.” Davarax says. “Because I think you have a lot of potential and you will do great things for the Covert. I also think that maybe you need someone who understands you a little better to help that happen.”

Paz shifts uneasily on his chair, his gaze flickers and ruins his pretend arrogance. He swallows and makes himself meet Davarax' gaze. “And that's you?”

“That's me.”

“And who is to say you won't just hand me off to some other teacher?”

Davarax shakes his head. “I won't do that.” His words are calm and secure, no doubt whatsoever.

Paz considers it, then turns back to the datapad and shrugs. “Fine. Sure. Whatever.”

And just like that, Davarax had the first of what would be known as the Fearsome Four.

It takes a long time for him to gain Paz' trust and respect, but with a calm and steady approach, not responding to Paz' tantrums but rather making him use his words; the boy's energy is eventually channeled where it is meant to go.

It doesn't mean Paz stops getting into fights, not by a long shot, but now he at least goes after the ones capable of defending themselves and guilty of some kind of offense, and not just some random victim that crosses Paz' path.

Then comes the morning when Davarax hears a knock on the door to his quarters, opens it and finds another teacher standing there with a tight grip on a tiny, skinny boy's neck.

The boy stares sullenly at the floor, curly hair poking up at all angles, the neckline of his shirt pulled a little to the side and showing a prominent collarbone due to his skinniness. His tiny hands are clenched into tight fists. That is how Davarax meets Barthor.

Unlike Paz, Barthor doesn't show much emotion at being 'handed off' to a new teacher, but those eyes speak volumes. He is furious and filled with spite. Being small and skinny in a society that values strength and fighting abilities can't be easy, but he's been getting back at them in inventive and sometimes fire hazardous ways. Davarax could smell the stench of singed hair through his air filter when the teacher had appeared on his doorstep with the little culprit.

Barthor had pulled one stunt after another,a proper troublemaker, but what Davarax admires is the fact that they were never able to prove it was him. Not once. That speaks of intelligence. So he agrees to train him as well.

Where Paz uses anger and brute strength to intimidate, Barthor immediately tries to sneak his way into Davarax' brain and heart, mapping Davarax' mind to manipulate him while trying to act small and helpless to appeal to his protective instinct. Sneaky little thing. He's going to go far in life.

It turns out that once Barthor realizes that Davarax doesn't fall for his tricks, but treats him with respect and actually talks to him and not over him, the little one thaws and becomes his shadow.

It's kind of cute, really.

Paz isn't pleased at first, but decides the runt isn't a threat or a challenge so he ends up mostly ignoring Barthor, who keeps a wary distance in return. They focus on Davarax, not each other.

“Please...” A third teacher pleads some time later. He holds out his arm and pulls up the fabric and shows the painful mark there. “She bit me! I pulled her off a kid she was pummeling and she bit me. She held on for so long I considered prying her jaws open with a stick!” The man lowers his arm and shakes his head. “You gotta help me, Dav. Please!”

Now this one Davarax asks for some time to consider. He has heard a lot about Raga Saxon, have seen her in action, and she might be the one child he's not entirely sure he can help. He has no idea how to deal with that kind of volatile temper. There is fearless and then there is reckless.

Somehow Paz finds out that Raga's teacher has asked to move her to Davarax and the boy instantly starts to hassle him to say yes.

“She's awesome. She really is! You gotta see her fight.” Paz pleads, walking next to Davarax.

“I have seen that very thing. That is what worries me.” Davarax mutters. “There is no discipline to her. She's basically feral, Paz.”

“I know!” Paz' grin is the brightest Davarax has even seen on the boy. “As I said, she's awesome. You got to let her join us. I'll look after her, I promise. You won't even notice she's there. Please?”

Paz rarely asks for anything so Davarax promises him he'll think about it. And the next day, he stays hidden and watches Raga. He sees the energy crackling under her skin, the wild hair and her complete lack of fear. It's the kind of personality that can ruin a mission and get other Mandalorians killed, but then he sees her with Paz and observes, to his surprise, the other side to her. She 'is' capable of team work, she can be still and patient, and for some weird reason it seems like Paz is the one who brings that out in her.

Fine. She deserves a chance as well. She's a tough little fighter, like a Mandalorian should be. They just need to work on her mean streak.

Bringing Raga in changes the dynamics as she instantly goes after Barthor, like a predator sensing prey. Davarax hopes that Paz will put an end to it, but no such luck. The bigger boy just chews on his snacks and watches with lazy amusement. Davarax is on the verge of interfering when Barthor strikes back.

Raga's shrieks of fury echoes through the hallways, Barthor runs for his life, while Paz chews his snacks with lazy amusement, and Davarax struggles not to laugh. Yeah, Barthor is going to be fine. He doesn't need help.

It is almost a year later when he opens a hatch and finds a frightened boy staring up at him. His name is Din.

Davarax reaches out a hand, Din takes it.

When the request comes if Davarax can train Din too, there is a lack of teachers and Din is severely affected by the trauma he's been through, Davarax doesn't hesitate. He found the boy, he feels responsible for him.

And against all odds, Din is the glue that makes them all stick together.

Paz' protective instinct is triggered hard, Raga senses Paz' approval and actually behaves for long enough to realize she likes Din, and Barthor is so happy to no longer be the lone one against the other two that he reaches out a hand in friendship as well. And Din finds safety from his nightmares in their presence.

It shouldn't work. Not at all. But it does.

He even finds them, more than once, sleeping in a pile together.

And as they learn, as they grow, they keep amazing him and there's not a single day that goes by where he doesn't feel proud of them. They are difficult, yes, complicated, definitely, but they are good students and will do good things for the Covert, he knows this.

The others start referring to them as the Fearsome Four, but Davarax calls them his children and he knows in his heart that he will love them until the day he dies.

[howtolongfurb]

How to Long Furb

For whatever reason, furbies have taken over the internet. It’s beautiful and terrifying and I desperately want one. Original 1998 furbies are hard to acquire but that doesn’t mean you can’t make one of your own. Imagine the potential for neck pillows with long furbies! I’m going to walk you through step-by-step how I acquired the supplies and compiled these monstrosities. Note, this is not by any means a comprehensive guide, just my personal experience. I am an ameteur. There is a huge community of furby fans online with tips and tricks on executing a variety of furby modifications. Read more below!

I will start off by saying there were many points throughout this whole process where I got frustrated and set the project aside for weeks at a time. I initially started hand-sewing long furbs but was disappointed with the poor craftsmanship. That’s when I impulse bought a cheap Singer over the 2020 holidays and retaught myself how to use the machine. The point I want to make here is to persevere. Every furby is beautiful! Crooked faceplates and chunky bellies just give a furby more personality. They say practice makes perfect, right? So let’s get started. The main components of a furby are:

1) The faceplate: unless you can get your hands on an original furby, finding a faceplate for your project can be tricky. There are a variety of people online selling furby faceplates. You can also 3D print faceplates using files from thingiverse. I’ve even seen faceplates pressed in resin. My favorite faceplate is from MrDsPrintedCreations on Etsy. The iris of the eyes are recessed so you can easily insert glass eye chips. The first thing I do with my faceplate is glue a piece of fabric behind it so it’s easier to sew into the head. I paint my faceplate with acrylic craft paint and top it off with a clear gloss coat. 2) The spine: for a poseable long furb, there needs to be a flexible inner piece. I thought thin wire from Menards would do the job, but once it’s in the plush it doesn’t hold it’s shape. I found plastic doll armature works well as a spine. It even creaks when bent for that extra spritz of cursed, spooky energy! You can also use a flexible coolant hose as a spine. I’ve ordered doll armature online from CR’s Crafts: the 1/8th and 1/4th size works well. The 1/2th inch armature is hard to stuff around. 3) Fabric! Fur and belly piece: In order to make furbs, I knew I first needed a sewing pattern. Tumblr user Cavity Sam created a template based on the 1998 furby and I used this to make my first furb with my new machine and scrap fabric lying around. My friend Gunnar 3D printed a rudimentary faceplate to use. After using Cavity Sam’s sewing template, I modified the pattern to use for long furbs specifically. You can download that sewing pattern here.

You’ll need the following supplies per one 3-foot long furby:

quarter of a yard faux fur fabric (9 inches x 44 inches)

patterned fabric for belly, ears, feet (~3 inches x 44 inches)

sewing machine (thread, needle, scissors, pins)

faceplate, 14mm eye chips, eyelashes

E600 glue, scrap fabric

paint (acrylic or nail polish), paintbrushes, clear top coat

spine (plastic doll armature)

cotton stuffing (I cut open cheap pillows from Walmart)

Step one: Use the sewing pattern to cut fabric pieces for the head and body. When cutting on fur, make sure to trace the pattern on the flat backside of the fabric with the fur flattened in the right direction. For example, the hair on the Y-mane piece (back of the head) should be pointed downwards. I made notes on the paper pattern pieces where you can eyeball more or less space. The mane piece should have more rounded corners, for example. I made my furbies 3 feet long, so the front belly piece was 2 inches wide by 3 feet long. The back fur was 6.5 inches wide by 3 feet long.

Step two, feet and ears: Depending on how small you cut your fabric, it can be really hard to combine two separate pieces. For the feet I folded a piece of fabric in half and sewed the C-shapes before cutting them out. Using tweezers made it much easier to turn them back right-side-out. After cutting the ear pieces (making sure the hair on the fur was pointed in the right direction, inside out) I pinned them together before sewing. Turn back right-side-out. 

Step three, head: Line the pattern pieces up so the Y-mane is in the middle. Sew the sides of the head to the mane first. Once that is one solid piece, fold it in half to sew the top curve of the head. I have pinned these pieces to ensure they don’t slip when going through the machine. Slow and steady wins the race; make sure to turn the fabric as you’re curving the top of the head. Finally you can sew the piece under the ear together, leaving a gap for the ear to go in.

Step four, ears: Everything up to this point has been done on the machine. I haven’t figured out a way to attach the ears with the machine, so this step was done by hand. With the ear facing right side out, pin the ear to the inside-out head. Make sure the patterned part of the ear is facing outwards (where the faceplate goes). By hand, sew the ear to the hole in the head. After the ear is secured, turn the head right side out and voila!

Step five, body: Lining up these pieces is important and a little tricky. You’ll want some excess belly fabric on the top to merge with the bottom of the beak on the faceplate. See the diagram; rotate everything 180 degrees to begin sewing. The fur hair needs to be pointed upwards and the belly fabric pattern is facing down on top of that. After sewing the belly fabric to the fur, fold it over to sew the other side. The fur should be on the inside of the sausage/ body piece. Once you’re finished sewing, the finished piece needs to be turned fur side out.

Step six: Faceplate break time! This step can be done at any point in the process, up until you hand sew the faceplate into the head. To start, glue a piece of fabric behind the faceplate. The faceplate itself should just be the eyes and the beak, making it easier to sew into the head of the furb. You don’t need that extra plastic around the bottom of the beak (or at least I haven’t figured out how to sew that in convincingly). I used grey scrap fabric and E6000 glue to adhere the faceplate. Then you need to paint the faceplates. In earlier furbs I used acrylic paint topped with clear DecoArt gloss varnish on top. You can also use colored nail polish with a clear coat on top. In the pictured furbs I tried sealing the faceplates with mod podge but it dried tacky/ uneven. Optional: you can accessorize your furb with jewelry!

Step seven, inserting the faceplate: You need to sew this part into the head by hand as well. Start from the top center (head inside out, faceplate facing into head) and work your way down the right. Make sure to use a thicker needle and poke the needle through as close as you can get to the faceplate to ensure the fabric fur is flush to the face. The needle may be stubborn (poking through the hardened glue) so use a thimble or bottle cap to help push the needle. When you get to the bottom corner of the eye, the fabric may not line up perfectly. Use excess fabric to sew a seam, effectively acting like a cheek. This part takes a little finessing. Finish attaching the fur fabric one third of the way down the beak. This is where the belly piece will connect to. The final step (later) will be to put the eye + glass chip in. 

Step eight, attaching the head to body: I was able to use the machine for this part. Turning the head inside out, pin the head to the outside of the back fur. The head and back should line up so a gap is left for connecting the patterned belly to the bottom of the beak (that step comes later). After the head is connected to the back, I do a second pass to make sure there isn’t any gap in the seam. When turned right side out, you’ll see that excess patterned belly spills out the top. Keep the furb inside out to connect under the beak. 

Step nine, connecting the belly to the beak: On the excess patterned fabric sticking out the top of the body, trace the shape of the “M” to cut out. See the highlighted yellow portion in the picture, as well as the printed sewing pattern piece. The piece directly below the beak needs to be done by hand. If you can manage it, you can sew a diagonal line with your machine before trimming the patterned belly. I found it easiest to start from the right and work my way to the left. The acute angle under the cheek will need finessing, but with small and tight enough stitches the end result is good. Turn the furb inside out to see your long sausage of a creation!

Step ten, spine insertion and stuffing: Now THIS is where I may have messed up (i.e. got frustrated multiple times) and need feedback from the furby community. The furby is essentially complete, it just needs the butt and feet attached to seal it off. Because of this long sausage of a furb, it was hard to push stuffing all the way up into the head/ ears, even using a yard stick. Maybe if I printed my original sewing pattern at 115% or 130% size, the completed project wouldn’t have been so narrow. (The ears are a perfect size now that I think about it, so maybe just the head pieces need to be bigger.) This resizing would make for a larger in diameter, plushier furby too. I thought I could insert the spine after stuffing, but the opposite is true. Insert your wire or doll armature after the ears and head are stuffed but before you begin stuffing below the beak. Alternatively, you can fasten the top of the spine behind the faceplate before stuffing. I taped a cup to the end of a yard stick and that helped push handfuls of stuffing into the furb at a time. Leave 2 to 4 inches of the bottom unstuffed so it’s easier to sew on the bottom circle. We will leave a small gap for the rest to be stuffed before totally sealing it off. 

Step eleven, connecting the feet and bottom: Stuff the feet and seal them off with a couple stitches. Don’t stuff the feet completely full, the top seam should lay flat. Place the two feet on the bottom of the belly, pointing upwards. Sew the feet onto the belly in a straight line. Now comes the part that takes more finessing, the bottom. When you line up the bottom circle, make sure the hairs of the fabric are pointed backwards. If you can manage it with the machine, sew the bottom circle to the bottom of your furby where the feet connect to the belly, about a third of the way around the full circle. The fur of the circle should be facing down, touching the belly of the furb. Once you’ve attached the circle to the feet, you can fold the circle back to see the butt starting to take shape! You can give it another pass on the machine, sewing the opposite side/ flip the furby so you can see the backside of the belly. Leave enough room to stuff the rest of the cotton and close the gap by hand sewing. Now that your furby is essentially complete, you can add the finishing touches! I always leave the eye chips for last so I don’t scratch them in the process of turning my furb inside out. You can print or paint the eye designs to place behind the glass chip. Use clear glue like superglue or E600 for the best results. Gluing eyelashes on with superglue is an optional last step.

Aaaaaaand the furbies are done! Again, I’m an ameteur sewer who’s learning as I go. I’m always open to suggestions and feedback; if there’s a way to revise this process to make more efficient and better quality furbs, I’d love to know. Thanks yall and enjoy making these cursed friends!

[puff-the-cereal-box]

[Image ID: screenshots taken in dark mode of the following tags: #yes! screws and nuts and bolts and repairability are the vibe! #though there a bit more nuance to how and why we choose fastenings (not to get away from the point im just gonna nerd out a bit) #first point: your smartphone does have screws! theres a lot! #they're tiny and finicky and if you put the wrong one back you destroy your entire hard drive and brick your phone! #not fantastic when you want to repair but it is possible (think screen/camera/battery/etc. taking it apart further gets more complicated) #this ties into intention being an important part of the design bc what's the style of screw head? what lengths? what kind of end point? #how far up does the threading go? can they stick out or do they need to be flat to the surface? what is the surface? #...............sorry got distracted thinking about screws and design lmao anyways #second point: there are several reasons why something might use an adhesive as opposed/in addition to screws:

#2a) sturdiness! screws are great fasteners esp when it comes to things like wood BUT they are functionally A Single Point #the issue with this is that means that the forces acting on the two connected pieces are all being placed on That Screw #and the issue with this is that it can lead to things like warping or even breaking in the material

#and sometimes this is a good thing (ex i recently took up a layer of flooring held in by screws and we were able to bend + rip off pieces #when the screws were too buried to find with a screw gun) and sometimes it is a bad thing (ex we were ripping out the floor to begin with b #it had cracked and bent away from the sub floor where it wasn't connected) #so when you're looking at a piece where long term it is not intended to ever separate even when being replaced like joining two pieces of w #using glue in between can be a better/sturdier choice bc it applies the forces across the entire surface where the two are connected #rather than just the points where the screw comes through

#2b) material! the fastening method you use is very dependent on the kind of materials you're putting together #wood for example is generally fantastic to use screws with but sometimes its something like balsa where the force of tightening the screw #could cause problems with denting/cracking/splitting the wood bc its so thin and fragile #metal to wood is another good moment for screws + bolts (tho you have to do some prep to the metal first and drill screw holes) #metal to metal using bolts as fasteners is good but it takes upkeep esp if the metal pieces move a lot bc they can spin themselves loose #and depending on what it is that can be disasterous

#welding is another option that has a number of benefits (its watertight if its good!) and is sturdy but is even less removable than glue #for things like fabric staples and tacks are good options but glue has many instances where it is useful #just in small portions like fray checking edges or larger tasks like stiffening a shape or laying completely flat (like wall paper!) #for paper. well. to stick together? glue or adhesive. to bind together? sew or have brads/rivets but those should prob get a bit of adhesiv #to have a studier attachment point so it doesn't rip out being used often #this has gotten so long I'M lost on what my point was oops also i hit the tag limit hang on

#ok tags pt 2 here we go: Glass #You Can't Screw Through Glass Without Immense Difficulty. it Shatters. #this is where the method used by modern tech happens: taking an double sided adhesive shaped like the glass/frame and pressing it in place #this allows for a couple of things: 1) its pretty consistently smooth and flat around the entire piece and nothing pokes through allowing #for max space behind the glass 2) it takes up very little space with a strong adhesive allowing for the thin bezel (frame) around the scree #thats the 'look' for modern equipment and 3) it takes a very small amount of material (ie money) compared to alt methods #(side note: i consider these 3 alongside the sleek+seamless modern aesthetic to be the most likely reasons for this tech trend ESPECIALLY 3 #im gonna cover the downsides a bit but the difficulty in repairing is more likely to be a side effect thats beneficial enough to not bother #engineering out as opposed to the driving force behind this transition but thats a little more opinion than the rest of these tags lol)

#anyways downside to this method: like op said its not particularly replaceable (i would argue 'permanently breaking the bond' is a bit #extreme bc you can reglue things if they didn't break individually. putting things together with glue is actually super easy #that's why its such a common fastener. its the Taking Things Apart that generally presents the difficulty) #but replacing Most adhesives is generally just putting new versions of it in the same spot rather than reusing so the lifespan is shorter #BUT! There are alternatives! #the simplest is to build a frame around the glass and then fasten That material into place (like how most windows are done) #however bc of the way the glass has to be held in a track/lip and room left for fasteners its bulkier and takes more materials than adhesiv #another way is to line the glass with metal (this does take adhesive however) and then essentially weld them together (like stained glass) #and (no longer about glass) somethings are made on a scale that Just Can't be fastened using standard methods like screws like a lot of th #drives and cards and etc that are found inside the computer have pieces that are unrealistic for nonadhesive fasteners

#third point: (this is mostly terminology things) not all adhesives are a glue! many many many of them are but things like tape/cement/ #tar/silicone/epoxy are also adhesives and they all have different applications and traits in terms of removeablity and reuseability #also you group clamps in with glue against the mechanical fasteners but. #clamps are Very Much a mechanical fastening that can be reused extremely often. their purpose is kinda just straight up to be #clamped in place > taken off > repeat for however many years until they wear out #i think what you're thinking of is 'Crimps' which are Very Intentionally meant to be Not Removeable Under Duress #and this has very important applications in terms of like suspending things in the air using cabling (knots weaken the metal) or attaching #wires into connectors for outlets and etc that you don't want coming loose/breaking connection/shorting out/connecting in the wrong place

#fourth point: Did You Know Tumblr Has A Thirty Tag Limit? I Didn't. Guess How I Found Out. #addenedum: the phones i have taken apart are like 5yo so its entirely possible the new ones Don't have the external screws but it is likely

End ID]

oh thanks! i'm into design and also overthinking things lol. i find the concept of trying to balance renewability versus usability versus ease of access to be a really interesting problem when designing because like, yeah screws and things are reuseable, but they're not infinitely so, so at what point does the material cost of the screws outweigh some option that won't need replacing as often. And even in terms of repairability, where yes everything Should be repairable, but certain things that are intended (and do!) make an item Need Repair Less also have the effect of making those repairs more difficult.

Anyways that's a bit further into the pedantic since you can argue yourself in circles for the rest of all time but eventually you will just have to Attach The Damn Thing. In any case, go forth and fill your futures with a wide variety of properly selected sustainable fastenings!

Something that I think should be an important part of solarpunk aesthetics is screws.

Look at your smartphone. No screws. You've got to have specialized tools to get inside your phone to repair something. There are certain pieces of tech that are glued in place and glue can't be undone without permanently breaking the bond.

But screws!

You can take apart a broken old radio, repair what's broken, and, if you were careful in taking it apart, you can put it back together and have a fully functioning radio and all you need is a common screwdriver!

It's hard to build screws and other mechanical fasteners because it requires more planning than clamps and glues, but isn't that what solarpunk is all about‽ It's about care and sustainability and and a radio or a computer built carefully with repair in mind is a sustainable computer that stays out of landfills and in use.

[thefloorisbalaclava]

you make loving fun

pairing: frankie “catfish” morales x f!reader

warnings: none

a/n: the title comes from a fleetwood mac song. not surprising at all lol.

Frankie never really understood why you liked grocery shopping so much, but he loved how excited you would get. You always had a list but ended up getting much more than you needed.

“You never know,” you’d tell him. And he went along with it because he loved you and you were almost always right.

“We should get brownies. I’ve been craving brownies,” you said as he pulled into the parking lot of the store.

“With walnuts?” he asked, and you nodded excitedly. “All right, baby. Let’s do this.” He always made it sound like you were going on some kind of mission.

The first thing you did was grab a cart, but Frankie decided to be playful today. He eyed you and you eyed him and before you knew it, you both were running towards the cart return trying to see who would grab one first.

“Ha! It was me, Frankie! I got here first!” You began pushing the cart towards the store and he ran up behind you, wrapping his arms around you before placing his hands on top of yours, helping you push. “Are we gonna walk like this the whole time?”

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“It looks like we’re stuck together like some weird alien or something.”

“Stuck to you like glue, baby.” He kissed your cheek. “Besides, I still don’t think I’m as stuck to you as those jeans are,” he said before tapping your bottom and moving to walk beside you.

“They’re not that tight.” You looked down and pulled on the extra fabric at your thighs. “See…there’s some room.”

“Hm…not much. And I’m not talking about there so much as I’m talking about here.” He poked your butt and you gasped then giggled as you walked into the store.

“Hands to yourself or I’ll get security.” You pointed at the sleeping man sitting at a table by the door and Frankie burst into laughter.

“Oh, I’m terrified. Please don’t.” He put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Come on.” You head down the aisle and, of course, what you need is on the top shelf. You’re sure Frankie can see you struggling and when you look at him to ask for help, he’s standing there, arms crossed, smiling. “Frankie…”

“I just love watching you stretch like that.” He walked over and sneakily squeezed your butt before reaching what you needed easily.

“Okay, you creep,” you teased.

“Oh, I’m a creep now, huh?” He grinned and held you close.

“Yup.” You tapped his bottom this time.

“Nothing there, remember?” He chuckled.

“It’s enough for me, my love.”

“You have enough for the both of us and those people over there.” He nodded towards another couple down the aisle.

“Shut up, Frankie,” you laughed. He took your hand and kissed it as you pushed the cart again. “It’s hard doing this with one hand.”

“Let me do it then.” So, he took over, still holding your hand as if letting it go would hurt him.

“How come everything I need tonight is on the top shelf?” you asked as you struggled a bit. Frankie was busy trying to figure out which Pop Tarts he wanted. “Uh…mi amor…”

He looked up and immediately put the boxes down to help you. “Shit…sorry, babe.”

“It’s okay. The s'mores ones are better,” you said pointing at the box.

“You’re right.” He put them in the cart.

*

After getting everything you needed and more, you waited in line with Frankie standing directly behind you, giving your cheek little kisses whenever he could. You giggled and the cashier looked at you and smiled.

“Y’all are so cute,” she said.

“Nah, she’s the cute one,” Frankie said. “I just got lucky.” Another kiss to your cheek.

It was your turn to pay for the groceries but as you went for your wallet, Frankie cut in front of you and handed the cashier some cash.

“Frankie!”

“You can pay me back.” He looked at you and winked. He put the bags in the cart and you both said goodnight to the cashier and walked out. “Come on.”

“What?”

He tapped the lower bar of the cart with his foot. “Stand there and hold on.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Come on.” He was serious.

“You better not let me fall,” you warned as you stood on the lower bar and he put his hands on the cart on either side of you. He began pushing slowly but soon you two were flying through the parking lot, laughing, and whooping. When he finally stopped at the car, you both were out of breath from yelling and laughing so much.

“I think I see why you enjoy grocery shopping so much now,” he said.

“You make it fun for me. Everything is more fun with you,” you told him.

“Really?” he asked as he put the bags in the car.

“Yup.”

He closed the trunk then wrapped his arms around you, kissing you deeply.

“Are we really making out in the parking lot of a grocery store?” you asked.

“Romantic, huh?”

You played with the super soft hair at the nape of his neck. “The most romantic.” You kissed him again. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

[magickaltoadstool]

Human Hair in Witchcraft

Most of us have it, sometimes not enough, sometimes too much or where we don’t want it 😂

It comes in a multitude of natural colours and textures and can be a huge part of a persons identity, culture or even religion.

Hair in the craft can be a very potent ingredient for personalisation of a spell, any hair can be used but hair from the head tends to be the most commonly used today next to pubic hair which has associations with carnal magick.

The general associations of hair is strength, psychic protection, virility as well as the connection to the person it directly came from.

Due to its nature and the fact it doesn’t decay and breakdown as quickly as the rest of the human body and is easy to legally obtain and keep, this material is an excellent material for those who wish to work with their ancestors.

Fun Fact - Those accused of being witches often had their heads shaved as it was believed that this would render them powerless.

To aid in getting a confession the bodies of accused witches were shaved bare to avoid the concealment of the devils mark.

Ways of Utilising Hair…

**Braiding**

One for those with long hair or even partners/children with long hair.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but a simple braid on its own done with focus and intent can work wonders.

Strengthen or further focus your will using coloured ribbons, flowers, threads or beads with relevant correspondences for the desired effect.

**Knot Work**

As with ribbons and cords, long hair can be knotted easily and lends itself to this way or working.

You can use a single strand or more if you wish. These could be from multiple people especially if you are working something that may involve binding or tying them together. We all know it’s almost impossible to unknot hair when it’s pulled tight.

Knotting will also fall into creating witch ladders.

**Felting**

Ah yes; this may gross a few of you out but this is what made me think of sharing this information with you all.

If you have long hair and a lot of it you will be familiar with the brush full of hair that greats you after a good grooming session.

There are methods (and they are easy) of using human hair for felting. It’s not soft and cuddly but if you are willing to put in the time and effort it is possible to create a felted effigy of someone.

Due to the amount of hair required this one is better suited to those with long hair and looking to work on spells aimed at their own well being. I’m personally planning a little felted poppet to represent myself that I can later embellish with small drilled gems in places I require healing or help.

**Sigils**

Long strands or hair can be used carefully as fine thread and really lends itself to a creative witch who wishes to personalise something with an embroidered or cross-stitched sigil, symbol, name or word. This could be done on fabric, cushion or even on a poppet.

**Stuffing**

Using hair to stuff a poppet or cushion.

This will work for both long and medium length hair. It would also work for short hair but a double layer of fabric may be required to avoid hairs poking out too much.

This can be used alongside other ingredients that you may want to have inside such as herbs or a few crystals.

**Cuttings/Loops/Curls/Locks**

It was very common in the Victorian era for women to collect locks of hair from their loved ones and have them in books or if they wanted to keep them close, in lockets.

Locks of hair can still be kept this way and used for personalisation but it’s also a lovely way of keeping a piece of a loved one for ancestral workings.

The ends of the loop can be kept together using general wax or as I prefer; sealing wax. The persons initial can also be pressed or carved into the wax and be kept as a trinket of sorts that can be used for focus and calling on them if they have passed.

**Art Pictures/Embroidery/Cross-stitch**

Get creative with the glue, resin or wax and use shorter hair clippings mixed with a medium.

Alternatively there are a huge number of art forms that can be created with long hair and I would strongly recommend searching online for ‘Victorian Hair Art’.

Create works of art using Hair from your family members and use it to focus spells that you want to blanket your family unit (protection).

**Bottles/Jars**

Just shove it in 👍🏻

**Hair Care**

Remember that this stuff is on you 24/7 and washing it in specially created shampoos, floral rinses or even a natural hair spritz means you will carry your intent with you all day.

Setting intent whilst bushing you’re hair is also an option. As brushing also generated energy (static) it’s also a nice way of charging and storing energy.

I personally love washing my hair when I’ve had a really bad day and enjoy feeling all the heaviness and turmoil wash away down the drain. I find it really helps me focus myself as well as relax.

**Matting**

Matting hair from someone to bring on bad luck. This can be achieved easily by rubbing long hair between the palms of your hands.

**All words and images are my own, please make sure that credit is in place if you reblog or share it**

[that-gt-and-vore-stuffs]

Two Snakes and a Rat

Alrighty! Y’all asked so here’s my QuickFang story!

For those who don’t know the QuickFang AU is an au in which Vore exists. Davey is a mob boss known as QuickFang who is feared by all of Manhattan. This takes place some time into the plot and doesn’t touch on past plot points but they’re there I swear! I can expand if y’all want later. Anyway, here we go!!

Also this is shippy and Jack decides to be....Jack so uh yeah. Have fun!

Vore under the cut :3

——————

“Those fucking idiots.” The words were growled, slowly gaining volume and morphing into a yell as the door slammed against the wall. This was the last straw for him. “First the stunt pulled at the most recent brawl, then those imbeciles getting arrested and almost giving away our location, and then them letting a spy in! Why I ought to put a bullet through their heads the moment they’re shoved through that door.”

“S-sir!” A female voice called, the young woman in question running after the man as he entered the room. At least she wasn’t tripping over a skirt in the suit she had been gifted after having accepted her job as one of the man’s own spies.

“That’s- nevermind.” The man growled, anger barely showing for the first time in hours as he walked to the back of the room. One of the cabinets opened, revealing a multitude of dishes, silverware, and glasses. He grabbed the nearest wine glass and sighed. This. All of this. It was all at risk. All because of those bafoons.

“Ah! Right! Sorry, Boss-Sir.” The young lady corrected as a few more goons as well as a second man with a silver broach that separated him from the rest walked in. She made her way to the side. Standing against the wooden wall, a strand of her bronze hair that pulled itself out of the tight bun it was styled in blowing softly in the breezes made my the movement of the others in the room. Four goons, varying in height and muscle, stood at her sides in the same position as she. Hands together behind their back, standing up straight, with the straightest expression they could manage.

“I’d watch Yer words there, pretty lady.” The man with the silver broach hummed as he closed the door. “The boss doesn’t have the clearest mind while like dis. I’d say keep yer mouth shut.”

“Oh give me a break, Wits,” her boss, the man with the golden broach, growled as he filled his glass with the bitter red liquid from the wine keg he kept on the table behind his desk.

“I’s just sayin’, Mr. QuickFang!” The silver broached man said, hands up in a nonchalant surrender as he paced closer to the desk. “Yer mind, see- it does this thing when You’s is mad. It’s like you’s a bull and all you see is-

The brunette- legal name Marcell, mob name Scarlet- squeaked as her boss whipped around, pointing a blade directly at the throat of his right hand man. Dear god-

“Watch. Your. Mouth. Wits.” QuickFang growled, grip on the blade tightening to the point where his hand began to shake.

“Hey, is that not how I got my name? What about you, Mouth~?” Wits cooed in return, a cocky smile sitting on his face with eyes to match behind his mask.

“I- you fucking ass.” QuickFang grumbled, arm jerking to the side and the knife going flying. A dull thud sounds as the blade sticks itself right in the wall mere centimeters above Marcell’s head, drawing another squeak from her as she stares up at the knife. Oh sweet Jesus.

“I thought you loved that part of me though, baby~” Wits cooed, cupping QuickFang’s cheek in his hand for a second. The mob boss’s eye twitched, a growl forming in his throat.

“I do. You fucking know I do. Right now though I want to tear your vocal chords out with nothing more than a dull, rusty old spoon,” spat the man, slamming a hand on his desk as he took a sip from his wine glass. “Damnit. Where are they?! They were supposed to be here-“ he pulled up his sleeve, checking his watch, “-two minutes ago!”

Just as his sentence finished the door clicked open and in were shoved three men, each with their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths filled with fabric gags. Wits moved around the desk, leaning against the bookcase behind his boss now. His boss in question setting his wine glass down in favor of pulling yet another blade out of his pocket.

“Well well well. Look what we’ve got here~” he cooed, a sick smile spreading to his face. “Two traitors and a pathetic excuse of a spy.” He slammed the blade down into his desk, the metal cutting into the wood enough to make it stick upright.

The three on their knees stared up with wide eyes as the man known as QuickFang circled around his desk to stand over them, glimmering blade in hand. This- oh no. No no no. This is bad.

“Now, give me one damn reason why I shouldn’t gut you three like fish and roast you over an open flame for the next dinner party I host.”

The three on the ground shivered, eyes shaking as they stared up. They couldn’t speak. Oh god they couldn’t speak. They couldn’t give him a reason. He was gonna-

The man in the middle froze, feeling the cold tip of the metal blade press into the nape of his neck. Not enough to cut, but enough to remind him it was there. No. No. Nonono.

“You’re lucky I care about my carpet and floor. Blood is awfully hard to clean, you know,” QuickFang growled, removing the blade favoring to twirl it in his hands as he paced around them yet again. “Though I must do something. Letting you three go would be a death sentence to me and my group here and that’s the last thing I want. One of us has to go though to keep our little secret safe.”

There was a mumble of something under one of the three tied up’s breath. Something that sounded an awful lot like an insult. Something that relit the white hot rage in QuickFang’s core.

“Ah so you have a death wish!” He snapped, whipping around and pressing the blade into the man furthest to the left’s neck, Slicing a thin line. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to leave a little trail of blood dripping down. The crazed look in his eyes was something that would burn into those who saw it’s brains. “Those always make things more fun~! How do we start, hmm?”

Before he could do anything else, Wits rushed in behind his boss, arms wrapping around his waist and face burrowing into the crook of his neck. He breathed softly, feeling the tension in his lover melt away. Taking deep breaths, he cooed, “Good….good boy…..”

“Mmggh….baby….not here..” the taller groaned as he melted in the embrace, “...not now. You gotta- mmgh….wait….”

“Shhhh. I know. My mind is on something else though, darling~” the second in command cooed, gently placing a kiss to his boss/lover’s jawbone. He shot a glare to the five against the wall, a growl in his tone when he spoke. “Out. Now.”

And out they all went, Marcell closing the door behind her.

“What’s with the boss and Wits?” She asked, rushing up beside one of the older goons. Surely he knew.

“Those two have been inseparable since the day Wits joined. He stuck to the boss like glue and became his right hand man soon after.” The goon explained, voice rough. “He was captured once. Taken hostage and put in danger at one of the fights in the square. I’ve never seen the boss so mad. The only time he calmed down was when that boy was back in his arms and spoke to him once more. In short, the boss would end the world for that boy. Don’t cross either.”

“Ah. I see…” Marcell hummed, walking off to the spy’s quarters. Surely there was something for her to do there.

QuickFang groaned softly, lidded eyes looking to his partner. “Jackie….what are you planning?”

“Shhh...you’ll ruin the surprise if ya keep askin’ questions, Dave.” Wits, more commonly known as Jack, cooed, letting go of the boy in his arms. “Now be a good boy and go sit in that throne o’ yer’s, kay? Let Wits handle this~”

Davey groaned, stumbling his way to his chair and falling limp into it. “You’re a man of mystery, Jack Kelly. I’ll never understand how you do it.”

“Do what?” Jack asked, poking another one of the three men on the floor. Well, two now- oh! Only one.

“Make me melt like that. I don’t- mmgh- get it.”

“Heheh oh. That. Well Dave,” Jack cooed, smiling as the third man seemingly disappeared as he tucked them between his arm and his chest. “Telling you would ruin the fun~! Now, from how your belly felt my little baby is hungry. Is that the case? Does my little darling want a nice squirmy meal to fill his tummy~?”

Davey’s eyes locked on the three men in Jack’s hold. Oh. Oh boy. A squirmy meal did sound very very nice. But...he wanted to tease a bit. Just a bit. He looked to Jack with pleading eyes, cocking his head just a little. “Please?”

“Hehehe awe. Look at that~” Jack cooed, setting the three on the desk. Next to them he set the knife, blade glimmering in the light. With a grin he stepped back, hands up again in surrender. “The floor is yours, baby~”

Slowly but surely that same evil grin pulled itself across Davey’s face. Oh yes~ He was quick to grab hold of the knife’s handle again, twirling it for a second before stabbing the blade down in front of the three tinies. His weak state was wiped from his mind, being replaced with the confident, sinister mob boss who had a grip on all of Manhattan known as QuickFang. “And once again the games begin~”

The three tinies on the table felt a shiver shoot up their spines as the knife came slamming down in front of them, narrowly missing one of their feet. Sweet Jesus. What was he getting at?!

A low evil laugh rang in the boy’s throat, the knife being pulled from the table to be placed under one of the tinies chins and tilting it up to face the evil, icy blue eyes of the boy.

“Now now. Why the long face~? I thought you three liked to play risky~” he cooed, twirling the knife in his hand. QuickFang’s eyes burned holes in the three on the table. Oh how stupid they had been to have pulled this stunt. “I’m not gonna….pull anything~”

At his own words, Davey promptly grabbed one of the tinies by their bound hands. He brought them to eye level, stomach growling as he stared them down. A sound that struck fear in the hearts of the other two.

“Now you must know that by now I’m positively starving and in desperate need of a good meal.” The calm tone in the boy’s voice was enough to rattle the three tinies to the core. How could one be so calm while talking about something so….so…..terrible?! A Yelp, muffled by the gag, sounded from the poor tiny who was being dangled by his arms as the warm, squishy muscle of the boy’s tongue dragged itself up him. It repeated. Again, and again, and again until-

*clack*

Those on the desk still froze as their friend was closed in behind the pearly white gates of Davey’s teeth. They watched with drowning horror as the caught spy was pushed around, sucked on, and even nibbled at by the man. It was torture to see. Seemingly impossible to bear. Until things got worse-

Ulp~

Way. Worse.

They’re forced to watch as the spy slips further and further down the young man’s gullet, squeezing and slipping past the wet, soft, squishing muscles. To watch as the squirmy lump that was the man side down down down until it was out of sight. Oh but the gurgle from the boss’s stomach let them know where he was.

“Ahh~! Much better. One right where he belongs~” QuickFang hummed with a sigh. Oh to have something squirming fill his belly. The taste of vanilla sat on his tongue as he licked over his lips, a glob of thick warm drool dripping onto his desk. His gaze snapped to the two on the table once more, his grin turning sinister yet again. “And how lucky I have two more~”

The two goons on the table tried to wiggle away in hopes of escape. In hopes of living another day because they knew the moment they entered their boss’s gut they weren’t leaving. Ever. This was terrifying as is, even more so when they were seconds too late and were grabbed up in a tight fist back to back.

“Ah Ah Ah! Now where do you think you’re going~?” The man with the golden broach cooed, grinning at the two like some crazed lunatic. His teeth parted to reveal a soaking pink, plush tongue and shimmering fangs along with the dark, unforgiving tunnel of his throat. As if things couldn’t get worse, the slimy muscle of his tongue pulled itself up their tiny bodies as they squirmed in the leather glove’s grip.

“Mmmm….oh my. Tell me, why do people lacking the most brains taste the best~?” His signature grin spread on his lips, a thick layer of saliva coating his teeth as he licked them over. A low rumbling growl sounded from his gut, the tiny inside squeaking. “Oh who am I kidding. Look at me. Talking to my meal. Heheh. Oh I must be losing it. Well, down the hatch before I get worse!”

The jaw of the predator opened up like a gate, throat twitching at the end of their path. Their end. The thought made them shiver as they landed roughly on the slick surface of Davey’s tongue. Their shoulders dug into the taste buds as they skidded back. Back further and further until-

Glp-

Glk-

Glrk~

Down they go.

“Ahhh~ Oh...oh that’s good~” Davey sighed, a pleased tone to all he said as he fell back into his chair. Now that was good. His hand came to rest over his stomach as the two remaining snacks slipped in, causing a small bump to form under his shirts. A light blush dusted his face, a shudder coursing through every cell of his existence as the small bodies continued to writhe about in the dark, deathly confines of his gut.

“Awww heheh. Good job, baby~” Jack cooed, walking up behind the boss in the chair. He grinned, gently cupping the boy’s face to turn him to face him. “Awe. Dat’s the face of a full, happy lil Pred, now ain’t it~?” He slowly drew his hand back, drinking in the sight of the mob boss following it as if begging for more contact. A warm chuckle bubbled from his throat as he reached for the glass, holding the rim to Davey’s lips. He hummed small instructions to drink, giving praise once the action is done. With a smirk on his face he turned to leave, a hand grabbing his and stopping his movement.

“Oh? What’s that, Dave?” Jack asked, cocking his head. The most he got in response was a groan. “Dave. Words. Or you don’t get what you want~!”

“Mmmghhh…..Cuddles…..now….” the boy groaned, pulling at Jack’s hand weakly. A smile spread onto his face as Jack came to sit in his lap. He wrapped his arms around the boy, nuzzling into his shoulder.

“Heh someone’s snuggly~” The boy’s voice was smooth, calming to the boy who’s lap he sat in. A gentle kiss found it’s way between their lips and they relaxed in the room. Before long soft snoring sounded from the boy with the golden broach, pulling a small laugh from his right hand man. “Sleep well, Dave. Yer belly’s got a job to do. I’ll run this joint for ya while ya sleep. I’ll see ya when you wake up~”

[paint-lady]

Faux Stained Glass

I posted a while back and a portion of yall mentioned you wanted to see some of my work, so here’s one of my best pieces...Faux Stained Glass. This was for my university’s production of Into the Woods. 

Looks like hundreds of individual pieces right? Yeah. Its actually 8 pieces of plexiglass. The process was one of the smoothest I had ever done, and I am really proud of my management skills as the charge artist for this production. This took a crew of 4 dedicated painters, and anywhere for 4-6 shifts of students completing hours for their courses. In total man hours, this took a week to complete.

So how did we do it? Well I got the draftings and renderings and looked at the designer and said, “so this is a translucency right?” A translucency is a process of stretching fabric with starch instead of white paint or sizing mixture (glue and water), which allows light to pass through the piece. Translucencies are challenging because you have to get the painting right on the first try- any layers inhibit the light passing through. Additionally, the watery consistency of the paint required has a tendency to bleed onto other areas. Regardless, I sat down and started formulating plans to make this and the designer looked me in the eye and said, 

“No. It’s on plexi-glass.”

“Glass?”

“Glass.”

“How is the paint supposed to stick? It’ll just peel off!” 

“Figure it out.”

So I got to work. I began testing how to make the paint translucent yet thick enough to bind onto the glass. The process involved “roughing up” the surface of the glass with sandpaper- this would give the paint something to “grip” and hopefully allow it to last longer through the show. 

I eventually came to the conclusion that the paint needed to be mostly white glue, which when dried yellowed a touch. This helped “age” the glass. And then I could add dyes and liquid pigment to create the colors I needed. 

For at home recipes it is a 2 to 1 ratio. For every 2 cups of glue you needed 1 cup of water. And then add your dye (drops!!). At home, you can use food dye or vivid acrylics, since I assume it isn’t normal to have 165$ worth of liquid pigments on hand (self drag). If you use paint, you will need more than drops for the color to show and you might want to switch to clear glue- as it might get too opaque or crack. However much pigment you add, whether spoonfuls or drops, you start by adding the same amount of sealer. This helped create a “shine” to the paint that my designer wanted. Once I had it all figured out, I put it in bottles. You’ll see why in a sec.

Once the paint mixture was finalized and tested to the designer’s liking, I was simultaneously figuring out how to make this process as simple as possible for a bunch of first year students to work on. A lot of the students were actors looking to fulfill their one semester requirement of a tech class. And stagecraft is an easy twice a week lecture and 2 hours of studio a week. So a lot of them haven’t taken an art class in a while. 

So I made it a giant paint by number. 

I spent about two days redrafting the piece in scale and printed it on the plotter (which has a max width of 2′6″) and lined it up. We laid the plexi on top and traced the lines with black caulk (easily available at your local hardware store). We let the caulk dry overnight. 

In reality, the caulk doesnt need overnight to dry. It really needs like... 4 hrs to be workable. However, if for whatever reason it is not set properly, the color will bleed underneath it- and we don’t want that!

Before we can color, we have to make sure the surface we are working on is perfectly level. I came by with my yardstick level and checked before they started and made slight adjustments by propping parts of the glass up. 

If the surface is not level, the paint will run and pool unevenly, ruining the illusion of stained glass.

Then came coloring. I printed out a big Key and labeled all the paints with numbers. I taught them how to flood as if we were making pancake or cookie art (most of them had seen those on instagram). You start on the outside, outlining, and work your way in. The paint should ooze a bit, so one student was given a variety of toothpicks, brushes, (i discouraged using fingers but some still did) to “smooth” the flood. It is very important that the colors don’t bleed or overflow the black caulk leading. 

Some of the glass had “gradations” in their coloring. I had my skilled painters handle those. It was all about how the paint swirled together and was agitated (poked with a stick) as it was drying. 

The trees were the most difficult and I ended up supervising those. 

Once the piece is done, it is left to dry overnight. And this is where it needs to not be touched. At all. Dont look at it, dont touch it, dont breathe on it, dont think about it. I ended up taking over a far corner of the tiny shop. I pulled the welding guards (no one was welding anymore, it was all assembly for the carp crew at this stage) to block any debri and shield off the area. 

You should monitor the piece as it dries, check every couple of hours to make sure nothing is pooling in strange ways, nothing got stuck to the surface, and nobody moved it. I had keys to places and abused that power, and would wake up in the middle of the night to check on them. Don’t tell my professors. 

This image above is a partially dry one. 

Once everything was dry and moveable, I handed them to my Technical Director and said they are ready for install. And after a nail biter of watching them precariously dangle in the air to their new home...they were in!

And the show went up! I felt so relieved when I finally got to see the glass lit up, I made sure I got gifts for my fellow students and went a little wild at the tech party on opening night. 

Feel free to ask questions about this process! Asks are open! If yall want an at home tutorial, I can make that happen in the new year.

[whaleiumsharkspeare]

I was so inspired by the headcanon made by @letthemsayfuck and expanded upon by @newsies-of-corona about Varian’s season 3 outfit that I had to write a quick one shot about it! It was such a cute idea and I couldn’t get it out of my head, I had to write it down. Hope you enjoy!

New Threads

It had been a couple weeks since Rapunzel had returned to Corona, and things were starting to return to normal after the Saporian attack had been quelled. Well, almost normal. Thanks to the attack, Frederic and Ariana were not currently fit to rule since their memories hadn’t yet been restored, and as a result, Rapunzel was now the acting queen of Corona. The people of the kingdom were grateful to have their beloved princess back, and Rapunzel was happy to be back as well, even if there was a certain empty spot in the castle that was hard to ignore. Coming back to Corona after losing a friend was hard, but even though she’d lost one friend, Rapunzel was happy to have gained back another one. Now that Varian had turned over a new leaf and was back on the right side of history, he and Rapunzel had managed to start laying down the bricks of their rebuilt friendship. He was a lot happier now that his father was free, and he was almost never not by his side, stuck to him like glue. Rapunzel was happy for him. She’d truly felt awful that she had let him down all those months ago after being unable to save his father, and watching Varian go down that dark road, feeling so lost and broken, had been difficult. Rapunzel never, ever broke a promise, so finally being able to keep hers had been a wonderful feeling. But even though Rapunzel still cared greatly for Varian and had forgiven him for his misdeeds, it didn’t mean that the kingdom had. Varian had never exactly been a very popular boy, not very well-liked in his village, and now he was reviled even more. True, Varian had helped save the kingdom from the Saporians, but not everyone in Corona was as quick to forgive as their princess. Varian couldn’t hardly go anywhere alone without having insults and sometimes objects hurled his way, so he hadn’t been around much since Rapunzel came back. As a result, if Rapunzel wanted to see him, she had to go visit Varian in his own home. Today was one of those days. Rapunzel journeyed happily to Old Corona, hoping to see her young friend. As she walked through the village, the people who had come back after being displaced smiled and waved at their beloved princess. She returned their greetings, happy to see her subjects out and about. She climbed the familiar steps of Varian’s home and knocked on the door.

“Oh, Princess!” Quirin greeted, opening the door.

“Hello, Quirin!” Rapunzel smiled. “How are you?”

“I’m doing much better, thanks to you.”

“That’s great to hear. I’m really glad I could help,” said Rapunzel. “Is Varian home?”

“Yes, he’s home,” Quirin replied. “He’s in his lab. You can go on in.”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you, Princess,” said Quirin as he stepped aside to let Rapunzel in. She smiled as she walked past him and went over to Varian’s lab. She stood outside the door for a moment, listening to the familiar sounds of Varian’s tinkering. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering her friend of before. But he was still her friend, and hearing the usual cacophony of his lab helped her remember that. She pushed open the door and went inside. Looking around, she spotted him in the corner working on some new machine she hadn’t seen before.

“Hi, Varian!” she said brightly. He looked up suddenly from his work.

“Oh, Rapunzel! Hi!” he looked at her with a smile on his face.

“What are you working on?” she asked as she peered at his machine in curiosity.

“Oh, this?” he stepped aside to give her a better view. “This is my newest invention. It’s a machine that’s designed to reverse the effects of the Saporian memory wand and restore your parents’ memories, since I, well...” he trailed off, his smile fading. After a moment, he sighed softly. “I’m sorry, Rapunzel.”

“It’s...well, it’s not really okay, but I trust that you’ll figure something out. You’re a smart guy. You can fix this,” she assured him.

“Thanks. For...for trusting me,” said Varian quietly. “I-I know I don’t really deserve your trust, but-“

“Varian,” Rapunzel gently interrupted. He looked up at her. “I know you feel sorry about everything. And the fact that you’re working to help me already shows me that you’re worthy of being trusted.” He gave her a little smile.

“Thanks.” He loosened up a little after previously feeling a bit tense. “So, uh, what are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d come and check up on you, see how you’re doing,” Rapunzel replied. “Do you need any help with your machine?”

“Actually,” said Varian, his eyes brightening. “If you could pass me my tools when I need them, that’d be great.”

“You got it!” Rapunzel said cheerfully, handing him a screwdriver.

Rapunzel spent the rest of the afternoon in the lab with Varian, helping him out with his machine, watching him work, and listening to him explaining its function with rapt attention. He also talked a lot about the past couple weeks that he’d been reunited with his dad. He spoke excitedly about how happy he was to be back and how much he missed the simple things they used to do together, like having dinner in the evening, but how glad he was to get to do them again. Rapunzel loved listening to Varian talk about the things that he was passionate about, and hearing his sweet laughter again after so long was a pleasant and beautiful sound. Watching him work and hearing him talk, it made Rapunzel feel like nothing had changed. But things had changed, even in very subtle ways, and there were many indicators about just how much time had passed. As Rapunzel watched Varian tinker away on his machine, she noticed that he wasn’t quite so little anymore. Granted, he was still a “little guy”, as Eugene had called him, but Varian had grown. He was taller than he had been the last time she’d seen him all those months ago before she left. It was evident in where he now stood in comparison to Rapunzel and in the way she noticed him absentmindedly tugging on the sleeves of his faded blue shirt every now and then, as if trying to bring them down further on his arms. It could have also been a subconscious desire to cover his hands, since he was now working with his hands exposed because the black gloves he used to wear had melted off while Rapunzel was in her trance. Looking at him, she could tell why he always wore those gloves, since working without them had left behind tiny cuts on his hands from the lack of protection from his alchemy and metalwork. Really, he had simply started to outgrow his outfit. Even though Rapunzel could tell that Varian was a little bit skinnier now as a result of eating nothing but the prison food for months on end, she still noticed that his old blue shirt was starting to be too small. The way Varian shifted his feet around while standing and talking indicated that his shoes were too small as well. And even if his clothes fit him perfectly, the patched sleeve of his shirt and the old, worn fabric were signs enough that he was in need of a new outfit.

Surely he must be uncomfortable she thought as she watched him working. Then, realization struck her and her heart sank as she thought about why Varian was still putting up with clothes that weren’t exactly fit to be worn anymore. Not everyone in the kingdom had forgiven Varian yet. There were still some people who were harboring fresh wounds and weren’t ready to extend him a helping hand yet. He couldn’t even walk around without his dad nearby for fear of being harassed in some way. Even if Varian wanted to go out shopping and buy himself some new clothes, he couldn’t do it without facing persecution from the citizens who were still angry with him. But not everyone was upset. Rapunzel saw in him a good heart and she knew he had changed for real, and when she saw that a friend was in need, well, she couldn’t just sit idly by without trying to help. So when it was time to leave and she told Varian goodbye, she headed straight back to the castle with newfound determination and an idea burning in the back of her mind.

“Hey, Sunshine!” Eugene greeted warmly when she arrived back home. “How was your visit to Old Corona? Is Varian doing okay?”

“It was good,” she replied. “It was really good to see him. He’s doing a lot better. He’s back to inventing and doing alchemy.”

“That’s great to hear,” he said. “I’m glad the little guy is starting to become more like his old self.”

“I am too.” She smiled at the thought. But then she remembered what she’d been so fired up about. “Oh! I have to go see the royal seamstress,” Rapunzel said as she began walking off towards the beauty room where the seamstress worked.

“You planning on getting some new threads?” Eugene called after her.

“Something like that.”

Rapunzel entered the quarters where the seamstress worked, sewing up new clothes for the royal family. She looked around through the curtains of dresses and suits that hung all around.

“Faye?” she called.

There was a ruffling sound and a bundle of fabric was suddenly tossed through the air and a short woman with pins in her mouth poked her head out from behind some more rolls of fabric.

“Oh! Your highness!” said Faye, the seamstress. She took the pins out of her mouth and pushed them into the mini pincushion she wore on her wrist. “How can I help you? Is there something wrong with your dress?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Just as beautiful as ever! But I have a special request for you,” replied the princess. She took out her journal with a new painting on one of the pages and showed it to Faye. “Do you think you could make me something like this?”

Faye studied the picture Rapunzel had made, looking over all the details and specifications.

“Absolutely, Princess! I’ll get started right away.”

“Thank you, Faye!” Rapunzel said cheerfully. “I know it’ll be just great!”

***

A few days later, Rapunzel once again made the trek to Old Corona, this time with a package in her hands. She had a skip in her step as she thought about her little surprise. When she made it to Varian’s house, she entered his lab enthusiastically.

“Hi, Varian!” she announced, her voice bright.

“Oh, Rapunzel! I’m glad to see you,” said Varian. “I wanted to tell you more about my progress with the new machine.”

As he spoke, Rapunzel glanced down and noticed his hands.

“Hey, new gloves!” she observed.

“Oh, yeah,” said Varian, looking down. He was wearing a pair of new alchemy gloves, dark brown this time, with little pressure gauges on them. “Dad bought these for me the other day when he went into town. I had mentioned that it was harder doing my alchemy without gloves, and I guess he was worried that I would burn myself or something. But I’m glad to have them, it feels more normal. Anyway, I’m not quite finished with the machine yet, I’m still working out the kinks,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “But in the meantime, I’ve been working on some potions that I think could help with restoring your parents’ memories. I’ve just gotta test them.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy,” Rapunzel said.

“Yeah,” Varian agreed, laughing lightly. “So, what brings you here so soon after your last visit? Not that I’m not happy to see you,” he added quickly.

“Do I need a reason to come visit?” Rapunzel teased.

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“Maybe I just wanted to come say hi! But actually I do have a reason.” She brought the package out from behind her back and held it in front of her so Varian could see it. “I have something for you!”

“For me?” Varian looked down at the package in her hands in surprise. “W-why would you get me something?”

“Can’t I just be nice?”

“Of course, you’re always nice. But, why me?”

“Because I thought you could use it.”

“What is it?” Varian asked.

“You are seriously missing the point of a surprise,” Rapunzel replied. She pushed the package into his hands. “Just open it and see for yourself.”

Varian set the package down on a nearby table and used the sharp edge of one of his tools to open it up. He peered inside and his eyes went wide.

“Wait, Rapunzel, really? This is for me?”

“Of course! I hope you like it. I designed it myself and I had the royal seamstress sew it up based on my pattern. What do you think?” she asked. Varian lifted the carefully folded clothes from the box and held it up to himself.

“I, wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, go on!” Rapunzel said, making a shooing motion with her hand. “Go try them on! Let’s see how it fits.”

Varian picked up the box and left his lab, going up the steps of his house and to his room. A few minutes later, Rapunzel could hear footsteps coming down the stairs and Varian came back into the lab, and Rapunzel smiled at his appearance. Instead of his old blue shirt with the patched sleeve and his pants with frayed edges, he was now wearing a new dark maroon vest with gold buttons going down either side, and underneath that was a beige long-sleeved shirt with a collar. He also had a new pair of pants and a belt, plus a new shorter tan apron that tied at the waist rather than higher up on his chest like his old one. He even had a new pair of boots, with a thicker toe on them to protect his feet better from broken glass or just the usual chronic clumsiness that Varian seemed to suffer from. Rapunzel’s eyes lit up when she saw him.

“Hey, you look great!” she complimented him warmly. She got up and looked him over. “That’s a nice color on you, and it looks like it fits you better than your old shirt. Hmm, except for the sleeves,” she noticed, seeing how the cuffs almost covered his fingers. “But that’s okay, we’ll just get you some sleeve garters to wear and it’ll help with that. How do your boots feel?”

“Rapunzel, I...I can’t accept this,” said Varian softly.

“Why not? Should I have gotten you blue instead? You seem to like blue.”

“No, it’s not that.” He paused briefly. “I just don’t deserve something like this.”

“Varian, why would you say that?”

“Rapunzel, just look at everything I’ve done. I-I stole the sundrop flower, I kidnapped the queen, I tried to hurt you, worse, even. I took over the kingdom, I erased your parents’ memories. Why would you want to be nice to me after everything I did? You saved my life, you saved my dad’s life. That’s more than I could ever ask for. Why would you keep on giving me things? I don’t deserve your gifts,” said Varian sadly, nervously rubbing at the too-long sleeve of his right arm. Rapunzel put her hands on his shoulders so he’d look at her.

“Varian, it’s true, you did a lot of things that hurt me. But I can see that you’re sorry for them, and you’re working to make up for them. I know you have a good heart and that you really are a good person. You had a pretty...rough patch, let’s say. But don’t think for one second that you’re any less valuable as a person because of it. You still deserve to be treated with kindness because I can see that you still want to give kindness to others, and you’re a human being just like everyone else. That means you make mistakes just like everyone else, and it means you deserve to be treated kindly just like everyone else. I know you’re mad at yourself and that takes time to get over, but please don’t think that you’re unworthy of love or friendship because of your past. What you need to focus on is the present. Don’t talk badly about one of my friends,” she said earnestly.

Friends. Varian’s eyes lit up at the word and he gave her a smile. He liked the sound of that. He took a step back and turned around to look at himself in a mirror in his lab. He smiled at his reflection, turning to look at himself from different angles.

“So, what do you think?” Rapunzel asked eagerly.

“I think...it looks good.”

“So you like it?

“Of course I like it.” He ran his hands over the fabric softly. He’d never had such fine clothes before. “And you’re right. This is a nice color,” he laughed lightly. He looked up at Rapunzel.

“Thank you, Princess.”

“You’re welcome, Varian,” she replied with a smile. She gave him a hug and she stuck around to listen to him talking about his further progress with his machine. When it was time to say goodbye, she waved and headed back to the castle. And for the rest of the day whenever Varian caught a glimpse of his reflection, he couldn’t help but smile.

***

Not too long after, Rapunzel decided to raise her kingdom’s spirits by bringing them together for a community project, namely to help rebuild the castle’s throne room after the Saporian attack had damaged it. Several members of the kingdom had volunteered to come, and Rapunzel was both surprised and delighted to see that Varian was one of them. Finally shaking off his fears of traveling to the capital city alone, he showed up at the castle with a backpack full of tools, ready to help.

“Hello, Varian! It’s good to see you out and about,” she said.

“Thanks. It’s good to be out and about. I know I’m a big part of why the throne room is damaged, and I’m sorry about that. But I’m ready to get to work rebuilding,” he replied.

“Well, thank you. I appreciate it. We can use all the help we can get.”

At that moment, Eugene entered the room and spotted Rapunzel talking to Varian. He looked him over in surprise.

“Varian! I like the new outfit! You’re looking sharp, buddy.”

“Thanks,” Varian replied with a smile. “New outfit, new day, new me.”

And it was true. The new, special clothes looked good on Varian, and not just because the color was nice. It was a different, more mature look and it reflected Varian’s growth, in more ways than one. It was still perfect for alchemy and inventing, he hadn’t lost that part of himself. He was still the same sweet boy he’d always been, but he was changed. He really was a new person, still with all his same quirks, but now he was bigger and stronger, and not just in size. His return to kindness had ushered in a new change, and change looked good.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!