#the listings will be quite limited - even if they don't sell I'll be taking them down probably before the end of next week

[tinyclove]

the restock basket is full - you know what that means >:) tomorrow (november 1st!) 5pm gmt, shop update!! 🎉

[aureatescars]

There is a part of him that wonders if he is still dreaming, asleep in his bed, his subconscious conjuring up scenarios that might make this situation more bearable. Another, more cynical part of himself waits for Leon to declare all of this to be a joke. But Leon seems serious about his plans to alter the cabin to accommodate Sasha better and confident enough in his abilities to pull it off, too.

"I'll help." His reaction is immediate. No matter that he is still coming to terms with his disability, he'll not leave Leon to do all the work by himself, especially not when he is the one these changes are made for. But then he leans back in his wheelchair. Reaching for his newly refilled coffee. "Just let me talk to him first. I don't know him too well, but my family has stayed here quite a few times over the years. That has to be worth something." Maybe it'll soften him up to the idea of letting a stranger make some alterations to his property. Sasha isn't particularly hopeful, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

They finish their breakfast while conversation moves on after Sasha declares he'll try and get a hold of the man who rented the cabin out to them after they're done eating. Instead, they go over their plans for the day, the trip to the lake on the top of their list, followed by the idea to maybe head into town again for a few things they didn't think to bring the day before and to stock up on some more groceries. Breakfast foods may be Leon's favorites, but there is a limit to how many pancakes Sasha can eat in a day. They come up with a few ideas for lunch and dinner for the coming days. Sasha suggests making some traditionally Eastern Slavic dishes, and is pleasantly surprised when Leon seems more than willing to try.

He's still smiling when he wheels himself back inside, Leon having agreed to take care of tidying up so Sasha can go make that call.

The warm and fuzzy feeling lingers until Sasha picks up the phone to dial. He can feel himself smiling up until the guy picks up on the other end and his gruff voice and heavy Slavic dialect is what finally snaps Sasha out of his daze.

The following conversation is curt and direct. After Sasha collects himself he explains their situation, his own most of all and what the problems around the place are. The answers he gets are ...what he expected, really. The owner agrees to the ramp and minor adjustments around the place, but anything that would alter the structure of the cabin itself, including the doorways is out of the question.

Sasha's expression falls. He may have expected this, but it's still hard to ward off the disappointment when the refusal comes. He looks up briefly as Leon enters the kitchen, putting things away and setting the dishes in the sink just as Sasha affirms to the man on the phone that he understands what they may and may not do around the house.

[Change what you have to to get by, but I can't let you just take power tools to the frames and doors. You'd have to buy the place from me for that, ha!] The man laughs. [I'd even make you a good price for it.] Sasha's mouth quirks up at the corners as the man says this. It's out of the question, but the offer is vaguely familiar now that he hears almost the exact same words again. [Didn't you try and sell the place to my father once?]

[Sure did. You plan on finally taking the offer?]

Sasha shakes his head, even though the other man can't see it. He huffs out a breath. [I don't exactly have the money for it at the moment.] Not that he would be actively considering it even if he did.

[Yeah, yeah. No one does these days.]

Sasha can hear the weariness in those words. The civil war's repercussions must have reached the outskirts of the country as well. Holigrad may have been hit hardest, but the capital wasn't the only place affected by a long shot. Sasha shakes the sense of dread that threatens to overcome him at the thought.

[Still, thank you for allowing us to do some small changes. It will make things a lot easier for us.]

They say their goodbyes afterwards and Sasha hangs up the phone, feeling conflicted. Sasha senses Leon looking at him expectantly and eventually he sighs. "He doesn't have a problem with the idea of a ramp or two, but anything that permanently alters the structure of the cabin itself is out of the question unless we are looking to actually buy the entire place off of him."

Sasha attempts a smile, but it comes out a smidge tired, doing nothing to hide his disappointment. "But it's something, at least." He tries not to let this get to him. It's still a small victory. This will still take some responsibility off of Leon and give Sasha some autonomy back. This shouldn't make him feel this dejected.

He forces his smile wider and slightly tilts his head at Leon, meaning to let the topic go for now. "Do you want to head down to the lake now?"

Thankfully the tension and anger from their earlier confrontation has completely evaporated by the time Leon and Sasha settle on the porch for breakfast. There is a slight chill in the wind, but the sun is still strong enough to make it a pleasant morning. Sasha currently doesn't even feel any side effects from his medication, no nausea or unbearable pain either, meaning he is able to actually enjoy the breakfast Leon provided.

Sasha's gaze wanders across the treeline, he listens to the trees rustling, watches some of the colorful leaves falling. A bird calls somewhere close by. It's peaceful like this. It always has been and it soothes a ruffled, burdened part of him, hidden somewhere deep inside his soul. Here, nothing has changed, only he has and maybe he'll be able to change again, to heal.

Lost in thought as he is Leon's words catch him by surprise and it takes him a moment to fully grasp them. Sasha blinks at him, unsure if he's understanding what he is saying.

"You want to do construction work around here?" He asks, his tone incredulous, amber eyes round and wide, brows turning upward were they previously pulled together. Making him look a lot younger. "For me?"

When Leon doesn't immediately deny it, Sasha's expression softens and he can feel his heart beat a little faster in his chest. He brings up a hand to the back of his neck, embarrassed at how deeply this proposal touches him. No matter how sound Leon's reasoning, Sasha wouldn't have dreamt of asking anything like this of him. And most certainly not after what happened earlier...

"I'm not sure, but I can try calling him, see what he thinks about it." Sasha glances at Leon again. Still unsure what to do with the information that Leon even considered this at all.

Just how long does he really intend to stay?

Then, something occurs to him and he tilts his head at Leon. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

[jellolegos]

I really wanna start doing commissions and selling prints of my work, but I have no clue where to start 😭😭😭 any tips?

Oh this is a bit of a toughie, but I'll do my best. I haven't taken commissions in a year so I might not be the best source on that one, but I do know quite a bit about prints!

With comms: I would really recommend getting a firm pricing sheet with examples of your work (lots of artists do this so I'm sure there's plenty of examples you can look to), marketing yourself (announcing it in a post, putting it in your name [I've seen a mixed consensus on that one]), and really trying your best to take it in stride regardless of result (it's ok to start slow! if you don't get requests right away that is part of the process, its ok to take your time and use anything that inspires you to work on your craft).

With prints:

There are really two options and I'll list them out below (and some of the pros and cons) and tell you what I've done

using a 3rd party system: you've probably seen this in the form of Redbubble/InPrint/any other outside printing source- pros: upload your designs and they do all the legwork for you, super easy and you can be super hands-off cons: you cannot control the end product, what comes off of their press is what your buyers end up getting, and you also cannot control how much you are compensated for your work (at least that I know of?)

using your own site infrastructure: you can either make a site yourself or use a more hands off seller like Etsy that takes a smaller percentage of your sale/cost to list your item, pros: you have full control of the process, and can see your art before it goes off to those who buy it, you can control your own prices and sometimes see into analytics (they're limited on other sites), cons: controlling the process means you control all of the process (from the promotion to getting the prints themselves to buying the shipping material)

For me: There were a few reasons why I ended up choosing an independent store rather than 3rd party. I've been on a fairly flexible schedule and I've also been in the same place in America for the last four years (your country and audience might limit your options). I also was involved in a collegiate sport so I had to come back early from breaks to train and was pretty tied to my campus. I was very fortunate to have a local printing store close by where I could order prints once or twice a week, pack the orders in the evening and send them off in a post office around the corner. I had a few personal reasons that made me more inclined toward the latter option, and had the means to do it, so that was what I ended up with.

All of those factors made that option make sense for me, but every artist is different! I would recommend really thinking about what might make sense for you, and for you in the future. I know lots of artists who take both approaches for different reasons, and who change their minds at different points in their career (I am personally having to re-evaluate my own approach right now!).

I recognize that was quite a long winded answer, I apologize if that's not what you came for XD

[shall-we-imagine]

A dare is a dare! (Yukiya ReizenxReader AU)

Requested: 33. "I'm not weird. I am limited edition." + 34. "I turned out liking you a lot more than I originally planned." From this prompt list.

I'm so so sorry I know you've requested this ages ago and I took forever to write it so thank you for waiting. ❤ I've been in a horrible slump lately too :/ so consider this like a warm up and hopefully I'll write something cooler soon!

Genre: Fluff + humor

(Second person point of view)

"Your turn, Scarlett! Truth or Dare?" Amelia giggles.

"Dare!" Scarlett beams proudly.

"I dare you to order us some pizza; I am honestly very hungry." Amelia, the host of the sleepover, complains.

"That's your fault." You state, Scarlett nodding in agreement.

"A dare is a dare!" Amelia shoves her phone in Scarlett's face.

The blond shakes her head, but starts dialling the number anyway. "Shouldn't we order some for Yukiya too?" She wonders. Yukiya is Amelia's twin brother, and he's the only family member of Amelia's that's currently present at home; her parents are on an overnight trip of some sorts: you didn't ask for the details.

"Yeah, shouldn't we?" You turn to Amelia. Yukiya, in spite of being awfully attractive, is very shy and quiet, so you barely ever got the chance to utter more than a few words to him, if you even got to see him that is. Whenever you visited your bestfriend's house, he seemed to always keep himself locked up in that room of his. You sort of wished he didn't though, perhaps because of your undeniable crush on the blue-haired boy, just a guess though.

"Nah, he can eat leftovers if there's any." Indifferent, Amelia shrugs.

"You're so mean! I'll order one for him." Scarlett states. "Wait, what should I order for him?"

"Oh, good question!" Amelia perks up. Uh oh, that's never a good sign. "I wonder what Yukiya's favourite pizza is...(Y/N), you go ask him!" She smirks. You'd never really confessed to either of your bestfriends about the little thing you have for Yukiya, but you've always suspected they'd caught on, probably from the 'subtle' glances you'd give him whenever you get a chance to see him.

"Why me?!" Your cheeks heat up.

"It's your penalty for not doing the last dare you got." The two idiots nod eagerly, as if Scarlett's reason was very plausible.

"But this isn't fair! You turned my dare into a truth! Daring me to answer truthfully to your question isn't-"

"A dare is a dare!" Amelia shouts, cutting my complaints off.

"What are you scared of?" Scarlett inches closer to me smugly.

"Nothing!" I lie. "I'm gonna go ask him; I don't have a problem with that!" I lie again. Oh god, he's gonna see straight through me with those beautiful hazel eyes of his and just know I like him.

"Do I hear wedding bells?" Amelia sighs dreamily, as I was about to exit the room.

"Stop being weird! I'm only trying to get this over with; you're not the only hungry one here, you know!"

She scrambles off the fluffy, pink rug and rushes to her dresser, quickly and sloppily putting on her sunglasses. She crosses her arms, striking a 'cool" pose, "I'm not weird. I am limited edition."

After a few seconds of Scarlett and I staring in bewilderment, the former finally nods, "Yeah, that's definitely weird."

"You're both mean!" Amelia tears off her sunglasses and places them back on the dresser before taking her place back on the rug.

You shake your head in disbelief but do not say anything, leaving Scarlett to deal with that dork. Serves her right for selling you out anyway; you chuckle to yourself.

You tentatively walk to the end of the dimly lit hallway, purposely stretching out the time it takes to reach there by slowing down your steps.

Unfortunately but inevitably, you reach your destination. Heart pounding violently in your chest, you lift your fist up to knock on his door, but retract it to rehearse your lines a few more times.

After gaining the slightest bit of confidence you won't stutter the second he opens that door, you raise your fist again, but before your knuckles could collide with the wooden door, it flings open, revealing Yukiya in grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

"(Y/N)?" His eyes widen. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I-uhm, you know.." What are words? Cuz 'damn, you look good!' surely wasn't the correct thing I needed to say. "I- what pizza do you like?!" You blurt out, making it sound almost like a threat- like you were mugging him of his pizza preference.

Confusion spreads across his features, "Um, I like margherita? Why?"

"We're ordering pizza for you- I mean for us- I mean for all of us...including you." Yeah, go ahead, make a fool out of yourself; that's exactly what you planned to do!

He laughs. Oh god that beautiful laugh; you'd never seen him laugh before, but now he was laughing because of you. "Thanks." He smiles. Now, you might actually be hearing those wedding bells Amelia was talking about....

Speak of the devil. Amelia's door flings open, revealing the girls. "You're taking too lo- ooohhh, look at that!" The smug expressions they both wore were enough to drown you in humiliation and embarrassment.

"We already ordered the pizzas!" Scarlett exclaims and shuts the door, leaving you and Yukiya alone in the quiet hallway.

"What?! Hey! Wait, then why did you make me-" You shout but give up halfway through, knowing you'll recieve no answer anyway.

"Amelia already knows I only eat margheritas." Yukiya says quietly, a smile tugging at his lips.

"I figured as much." You sigh, accepting defeat.

After a few moments of awkward silence, neither of you knowing what to say, Yukiya breaks the silence with a gentle tone, "Well, do you wanna get a drink as we wait for the pizza?"

"Of course." You smile, and then smile even more upon viewing the way his face lit up at your agreement. Maybe you do have a chance.

You head to the kitchen, Yukiya leading the way even though you know this house about as much as he does, considering it's practically your second home. Amelia always invites you over, especially because her parents are barely ever home.

You take a seat at the dining table in their kitchen and watch as Yukiya rummages through their fridge. "Is chocolate milk okay?" He innocently holds up two small cartons of chocolate milk- the type kindergarteners would fall head over heels for.

You giggle, "Yeah, chocolate milk is perfect."

"Why are you laughing?" He sits opposite to you and hands you your carton.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just- it's cute; you're cute." The words come out before you get the chance to think them through. God, can the ground just swallow you whole right now?

A slight blush takes over Yukiya's normally pale skin, "Thanks. You're cute too." He mumbles.

Your heart did literal backflips. Well, maybe not literal, but it felt quite literal. "Thanks." You breathe out, fumbling with the chocolate milk carton in your hand before finally sticking the straw in and taking a sip of your drink.

For a while that's what both of you did, just quietly sip your chocolate milk, no words spoken. You wanted to say something; you needed to say something. It felt like a chance you had to take; you could finally catch the attention of your crush, but you're quietly drinking chocolate milk!

You open your mouth to speak, but the doorbell interrupts you.

"That must be the pizza." Yukiya gets up, dumping his empty carton in the trashcan before rushing to the front door. Dammit. Your time with him is over; did you really need to waste your time being so uncomfortable and awkward? Jeez.

Scolding yourself all the way towards the door, you almost lose hope of ever getting such a good chance to talk to him like that. But you see Yukiya holding up about seven boxes of pizza, looking like a frightened, confused puppy.

"Oh! (Y/N)! Could you help me? Just pull out the hundred in my pocket, please." He pleads.

"Sure." You rush towards him, quickly sticking your hand in his sweat pants' pocket, eager to release him of the struggle he's in. However, your rashness results in your hand brushing against something you didn't quite need to touch. Not at this stage of your relationship at least.

Your eyes meet his equally panicked ones. "I- um..I meant my jacket's pocket.." His cheeks turn bright pink to match yours.

You turn your head to look behind you- a coat rack with a single jacket hung on it. Yukiya's.

You could feel embarrassment radiating from both of you; you quickly pull your hand out of his empty pocket and clear your throat. "Sorry."

"Can y'all get it over with? I still have work to do." The delivery boy huffs, following it up with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." You quickly pull the money out of Yukiya's pocket and make the payment while Yukiya waits with his tower of pizza boxes.

After you shut the door, the awkwardness seemed to suffocate you both. God, it was going so well; why did that need to happen?!

"I didn't mean to touch your-"

"I know. It's okay; I should've made myself clear." He gives you a reassuring smile, but you could still see how red his face is. Maybe it was just him getting tired of the pizza boxes though, you tried to lie to yourself.

"Uh, here, let me help you." You grab some of the boxes. "They're such pigs; I don't know how they eat all that." You joke.

"And Amelia was supposed to be on a diet too." He adds, laughing.

You join him, "So was Scarlett!"

After that, the incident was completely forgotten and you were able to actually enjoy your time with Yukiya and the girls without thinking of how you touched your crush's penis minutes ago.

"Yukiya, truth or dare?" Scarlett asks before taking a huge bite of her slice.

"Truth."

"Booorriiinng!" Amelia boos.

"Shut up; I have a juicy one!" Scarlett shoves her palm in Amelia's face.

For some reason, that made you nervous.

And judging by the way Yukiya glanced at you for reassurance, it made him nervous too.

"Okay, Yukiya, do you like anyone?" She smirks and looks at me.

"Why are you looking at me?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not." She shrugs. "So? Yukiya?"

He stays silent for a few seconds but replies in a calm tone, "Yes."

The two girls squeal, scream, and jump around, but you could only sit there, your heart rate faster than the speed of sound. Your eyes meet his; now, if you were reading his invisible signals correctly, he was telling you it's you, but you could be imagining that, so no need to do anything stupid. Not again.

"Who is it?!" Scarlett practically jumpscares the poor guy.

"You already asked your one question. These are the rules, aren't they?" He smiles.

"Ugh, Yukiya, come on, don't ruin it!" Amelia groans.

"Cut it out! You can't force him to do whatever you want." You defend, earning a thankful smile from him.

"Yeah." He nods, to which the two girls slump down in annoyance. "(Y/N), your turn. Truth or dare?" Were your eyes playing tricks on you or did he just smirk at you? Oh god, he's too hot for existence.

"Dare." You gulp, hoping he's as nice as he seems.

He frowns.

"What's wrong?" Your eyebrows furrow in concern.

He chuckles sheepishly, "I didn't think of a dare."

"I did!" Scarlett volunteers. "Can I pick her dare?"

Before you could say No, absolutely not! Definitely not in a hundred years!, Yukiya had already agreed. Well, shit. Nothing good was about to come out of that little devil's lips.

"(Y/N), 7 minutes in heaven with Yukiya, that's your dare." She grins like she just won some sort of battle.

"That's a different game! Stop twisting the rules as you please!" I complain.

"A dare is a-"

"Oh my god, Amelia, if you say that one more time, I might punch you."

"Someone needs a hug." Amelia pouts sarcastically.

You sigh. If this was a cartoon, steam would be rushing out your ears by now.

"It's okay; we just need to stay in a closet for seven minutes, right?" Yukiya's hazel eyes bore into yours, delaying your response for a few seconds.

"Um, uh, yeah."

"No problem then." He grabs you by your wrist gently and leads you to Amelia's closet, both of you choosing to ignore the wolf whistles coming from the two girls on the floor.

"Okay, this is too cramped." You breathe out after the closet door was shut.

"Tell me about it." Yukiya lets out a light laugh.

"On the bright side, we get to escape their teasing for seven whole minutes." I propose.

"True." He agrees.

Silence consumes the small space after that.

It was fairly hot outside the closet, so inside it was just hell, basically. Plus, you weren't a fan of not being able to see anything. You were also scared of moving at all because you really didn't need any more accidents.

"Yukiya?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you actually like someone?"

He remains silent for longer than you would've liked but eventually gave a response.

"Yes."

"Do I know her?"

"Yes."

Curiosity was getting the best of you. "Can I get a hint?"

"Technically speaking, you can, but that doesn't mean you will."

It was extremely unusual for Yukiya to tease someone, from what you knew at least, so that made you feel special in some way.

"Pretty please?"

"I don't know. What would I get in return?"

You paused for a few seconds. Then did something extremely brave. A side effect of the darkness, or maybe the heat had melted your brain to a puddle.

You blindly reach out for him and work your way up to his neck. You stand on the tip of your toes and pull him closer to you, praying your lips collide with his and not have some awkward interaction where you kiss his chin or something. Then, you'd have to move to Ireland and hide your real identity for the rest of your life.

By some miracle, it happened. Your lips and his moved against each other with ease. His lips were slightly swollen due to his habit of biting on his lip when nervous, but they were soft nevertheless. Easily, what you'd planned to be a quick peck had turned into a passionate kiss.

You pull away, slightly panting. "Does that work?" You tease.

"Better than anything I'd dreamed of." He rests his forehead on yours. "I guess I turned out liking you a lot more than I'd originally planned."

The door to the closet flings open, leaving you feeling vulnerable and humiliated for some reason.

"Are we interrupting something?" Scarlett wiggles her eyebrows at the two of you.

"Ewww, I can't believe you just kissed my brother." Amelia whines, earning a smack from Scarlett.

"We planned that, you scatterbrain."

"I know, but still."

"I hate you both." You step out of the closet.

"Why? We got you a boyfriend." Amelia stares.

Your cheeks heat up. "Just shut up, will you?"

"Honestly, if anything, we should hate you; where are our boyfriends, (Y/N)?" Scarlett complains.

"That's not my fault!"

"You're saying there's something wrong with us?!" Amelia fake gasps.

You face palm and turn to Yukiya, who just gave you a sympathetic smile. "Yukiya, you have more of that chocolate milk?"

"Lots and lots of it." He laughs.

"Off we go then." You link your arm with his, turning him towards the door.

"You traitor!" Your bestfriends call out after you.

Well, it's their fault for 'getting you a boyfriend' after all.