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bitsandbobsandstuff · 5 years ago

Text

Ink on his heart

Summary: Here’s how Bucky Barnes got a haircut and then decided it was about damn time he controlled his own destiny - starting with a bit of ink.

Star Spangled Bingo Square: “A thoughtful gift”

Characters: Bucky Barnes x TattooArtist!Reader

Words: 7,400 Warnings: Tattoo experiences, a couple stories about war. Some swearing. Mostly lots of feels and fluff.

A/N: This one has been in my head a long time, I love tattoos and I love the idea of Bucky getting them! While I desperately wish I could draw the designs in my head, hopefully you get enough of a word picture to imagine. And yes, it is kinda long (I know, I know), but I couldn’t stop myself!

Want to find all my stories? Search #bitsmasterlist or try the link in my bio!

*****

Not that Bucky’s counting, but it’s been three days, 18 hours and 26 minutes and he can’t get over it.

In the damp, chilly hours before dawn, he sits on the floor of the tower living room, watching the marshmallows in his hot chocolate melt in white swirls. Now and then, he lifts his eyes to the windows, finds the faint edges of his reflection in the dark glass, and tilts his head. Tentative fingers scratch through close cropped hair and a slow smile appears. Even now, he expects long strands trailing through his fingers. Believes he can feel the phantom tug of a snarl.

It was just a haircut. What a simple, ordinary thing.

But Bucky Barnes has never been ordinary.

That small act triggered a startling transformation. Decades of heartbreak fell away with that dark hair, revealing the shape of a man he begins to remember, and it makes him think. About small things, about change. About simple acts making an extraordinary difference.

The last haircut Bucky remembers before the beginning of his first ending, was January 1945. The memory came back one evening, of a tent in Austria, the heavy silence of snow drifting down. He remembers Steve with a dull scissors, snipping carefully along his ear, remembers the catch of a knife gently shaving his neck. It was a ritual they shared for years. When pennies were tight and life was tough, they took care of each other.

And then? Then there was after.

After the fall, after capture, after the world went pear-shaped. Hydra wasn’t concerned with the formalities of self-care, a haircut was functional. Sharp scissors biting into his scalp, rough hands tearing his hair, a harsh slap if he considered resisting. Get it done and get it done fast. The Asset has work to do.

He despised those haircuts.

But now, here he is. No more handlers and horrors. No more running. No more hiding. No more ropes dragging him somewhere he doesn’t want to be.

Wresting back his independence was exhilarating.

When Steve had finished this haircut - because Bucky still preferred a Steve Rogers special to anything - he’d dusted off Bucky’s shoulders and waited. Sam stood behind him, and Bucky rolled his eyes, expecting a barrage of sassy comments.

But Sam just ruffled the freshly cut hair and laughed.

“Not bad old man. Still not as handsome as yours truly, but hey - maybe someday.”

Such a simple thing, a haircut.

It makes him wonder what else he might do, just for himself.

Fuzzy and disconnected, an old memory flickers to life. It buzzes in his brain, images and connections filtering through the cracks and Bucky lets out a breathless laugh.

“Yeah,” he murmurs to himself. “Okay.”

He closes his eyes and sips his hot chocolate.

*****

Steve yawns when he answers the door. Blond hair spikes in every direction and he rubs his eyes, looking for all the world like a sleepy, overgrown toddler.

“Hey, man. Everything okay?”

Bucky leans against the doorframe and chews his thumbnail while he gathers his thoughts.

“Sure, just - can I get a favor?”

Bemused, Steve ushers him inside and Bucky plops in the red bean bag chair Steve keeps tucked beside his dresser. Stretching out his legs, he waits for Steve to flop back into bed and snuggle his pillow, before he speaks.

“Remember back in ’37 when we were coming home from that shitty bar in Midtown, and we saw that sailor getting a tattoo?”

Whatever Steve expected, it wasn’t this. It takes him a moment to conjure the image, but when it comes he belts out a laugh.

“That terrified kid gettin’ a big heart on his arm? Looked ready to shit his pants?”

Bucky grins at the memory, a milk-faced kid with hair dark and shiny as an oil-slick.

“Thought he was gonna puke on the guy.”

“Yeah, and didn’t we stand outside that window arguing while you tried to convince me we both needed one? Something about good girls liking bad boys?”

“Hey, I stand by that statement!”

“Oh fuck off, you know exactly what your Ma would’ve said if we’d come home with tattoos.”

“Yeah,” Bucky chuckles. “God, she’d a skinned me alive.”

“Damn straight,” Steve agrees and they fall quiet, momentarily lost in shared memories of a woman with a voice of steel and a heart of gold.

Bucky leans forward and rests his chin on his knee.

“You know, all these years and I’ve never really - done anything like that,” he admits wistfully. “Gotten something done to me, I mean. Something I decided on my own. If that makes sense?”

Controlling his own destiny, choosing to do something by himself, instead of always accepting things done to him - the idea is intoxicating. He remembers the pained grimace on that sailor’s face and he relishes the prospect.

Pain you choose to feel holds a different meaning, than the torture he knows.

“S’never too late, Buck,” Steve says drowsily. “You can do anything you want.”

Bucky contemplates Steve’s words. He can do anything he wants. Heart beating fast, he takes a deep breath.

“So listen, I was thinking -”

*****

For two straight weeks, Steve works on ideas.

The floor of his bedroom is littered with sketches and concepts, crumpled sheets of paper dappled with flowing lines. Finally, after midnight on a dreary Thursday, he knocks on Bucky’s door. The moment it opens, he shoves his tattered leather portfolio in Bucky’s hands.

“So, I guess, uh - here.”

Steve crosses his arms, his toe tapping nervously, and Bucky chokes down a laugh. Some things about Steve Rogers remain comfortingly unchanged. No matter how incredible his work, all confidence seems to evaporate the moment Bucky lays eyes on anything.

—

“Give it back asshole!”

“God dammit Steve, YOU’RE the one who asked me to look!”

“Yeah well, I changed my mind, now give it back!”

—

Bucky remembers laughing while Steve chased him around their apartment. He remembers the neighbors banging on the wall, shouting at them to shut up, and he remembers the smell of their forgotten scrambled eggs burning. But most of all, he remembers that drawing - he tucked that portrait of his mother in his rucksack the day he shipped out and it stayed there, a good luck charm all through the war.

Steve had cried when Bucky told him.

Because Bucky’s opinion was always the one that mattered. Seventy years changes nothing.

Tonight, he opens the leather case, revealing three separate drawings. Outlines of black ink and a rainbow of colors paint over the curves and breaks of a human form and he pores over each page. Each drawing is utterly unique, telling the story of Bucky Barnes in metaphors and moments.

There are no words.

His throat feels suddenly thick, cotton lodged in his windpipe.

“I can redo them,” Steve blurts out. He snatches at the paper, but Bucky spins sideways, blocking the reach.

“The fuck you will. You ain’t touching these,” his voice cracks. Blinking back the flood of emotion, he looks up. “This is - they’re perfect, Steve. Thank you.”

Steve blushes petal pink and coughs to hide his delight. He fails miserably, of course, but that’s one more reason Bucky loves the little punk.

*****

One week later, Bucky stands before a demure brick storefront on a slow Brooklyn side street, the portfolio housing Steve’s three precious drawings clutched tight in a sweaty hand. Glancing at the address in his hand, he looks up to find stenciled letters curving across a glass window.

BROOKLYN INK ESTABLISHED 1973

“Here we go,” he mutters. Before he can lose his nerve, he shoves forward.

Three steps inside the tattoo parlor, he pulls up short.

Wow.

Black iron chandeliers hang from the ceiling, splashing sparkles across plush velvet chairs, rich violet and bright turquoise. The floor is an eclectic mix of reclaimed barn board, full of knots and whorls in every shade of brown. Artwork in black and white frames line the brick wall, tattoo designs, letters and fonts, photos of finished work. The entire space overflows with warmth, and Bucky feels instantly at ease.

The front desk is empty, but he hears someone rattling around back, so he takes a seat. Piled high on an end table are bundles of photo albums, full of work; he sinks into the cushions and starts flipping through.

Immersed in the images, he misses the sound of quiet footsteps.

“Are you James?”

The voice startles him and in one swift move, he manages to throw the album on the floor and tumble from the chair. Pages of photographs spill everywhere and he crawls over, hastily scooping them up and babbling one inappropriate apology after another.

“Shit! Sorry, I’m sorry! Shit, I mean I’m sorry for saying shit. Fuck, I didn’t - oh my god, I’m sorry, I’m not usually so - ”

Soft laughter greets him and he looks up in panic, a more refined apology on his lips, but the words evaporate.

Crouching beside him, graceful hands gather up the mess of photos, slipping them back into the album. Dropping it carelessly on the end table, she bounces back to her feet and offers him a hand.

“No worries,” she says with a breathtaking smile. “I shouldn’t have startled you.”

Although he has no need for the support, Bucky reaches mutely for her outstretched fingers because he can’t help but take them. When she tugs, he allows her to pull him up.

“I’m, um - Bucky. Please, call me Bucky.”

“Hello Bucky,” she says. She shares her name and he repeats it slowly. Clearing his throat, he takes a deep breath.

“Thanks for meeting me so late, I know it’s after hours.”

“Sure,” she says lightly. “So, what can I do for you?”

This is the tricky part.

“On the website, it mentioned you had experience with - with tattooing around scars,” he begins carefully. “Scar tissue I mean. Is that right?”

With his question, her expressions turns serious. She observes him for a long moment.

“Yes, I do. Can I ask how long you served?” she asks delicately and Bucky acknowledges her perception with a short nod. He toys with the zipper on Steve’s portfolio, debating his response.

“Seemed like forever,” he finally says, and it’s the most honest answer he has.

Nodding silently, she motions him behind the counter.

“Come on back, let’s see what you had in mind.”

Hugging the pictures to his chest, Bucky follows, eyes saucer wide as they weave through the work area to her space. The shop smells like the woodsy smoke from the candles sitting along her table, mixed with ink and latex and an odd sterile tang. He inhales and discovers he likes it, the strange scent lighting him up.

Dropping to her stool, she gestures for him to have a seat. Bucky sits gingerly, wide eyes still staring. When she catches his eye, he flushes.

“Sorry. First time I’ve been in a shop.”

“That’s okay, there’s lots to see,” she says easily. Looking at the portfolio still clutched against his chest, she grins. “Did you have some ideas already?”

He thrusts the portfolio at her. Propping it on her knees, she flips it open and he beams when he hears her astonished gasp.

“I like the colors there, if you think they’re possible?”

“Sure, might take some extra time, but I can do it,” she murmurs, pinching her lip. Turning the page sideways, she examines every minute detail, shaking her head in disbelief. “This is exquisite.”

“I’ll tell my artist. He’s a real diva sometimes.”

“I’d say he’s earned that right,” she laughs, tracing the paper with a light finger. She flips to the second picture and tilts her head. “The grays and silvers might look nice with midnight blue for contrast?”

Bucky nods eagerly. “Yeah, I love that idea.”

She looks again, examining the intricate design.

“Can you tell me about your pain tolerance? The designs are beautiful, but they’re complex. Each will take multiple sessions to finish.”

Bucky drops his eyes. He heaves a sigh at the obligatory question.

“It’s high,” he mutters. “Very - high.”

Silence follows his admission. When he dares to look up again, he feels a twinge in his chest at the compassion he finds. He offers a rueful smile and she slowly returns it.

“Would you like to come after hours? It can get noisy during the day, if you prefer things quieter. Most soldiers like that better.”

There is a sweep of relief at her casual acknowledgement. He huffs out a shaky breath.

“That would be great. If you don’t mind, I mean.”

“Not at all. I’m a night owl anyway.”

“Yeah,” Bucky says quietly. “Me too.”

She looks back to the portfolio, carefully shuffling the pages.

The third picture appears.

And Bucky sees it, that precise moment when realization sinks in. When she realizes exactly who is sitting in her chair tonight. There is no doubt the drawing gives that fact away. Heart pounding, he flinches, steeling himself for the inevitable.

But nothing happens.

She meets his nervous gaze head on and yet - that gentle smile remains.

“Bucky,” she repeats and this time she understands. “Oh. It’s nice to meet you, Bucky Barnes. Come back tomorrow night, 9pm. Don’t be late.”

He leaves the tattoo shop feeling lighter than he has in years.

*****

TATTOO 1: FOREARM

“Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.” - Jack London

*****

Perpetually early for everything, Bucky arrives at 8:45pm the next night.

The bell over the door tinkles when he enters, and she looks up from the front desk and waves. His stomach unexpectedly leaps and he thinks it must be nerves.

“Hey, Bucky,” her voice is soft.

“Evening,” he says shyly.

“You ready to do this?”

“Could hardly sleep last night,” he confesses with a grin.

Sliding timidly into her black leather chair, he watches her arrange tools on a shiny silver tray. An arm rest is attached to his right side, and he dries his sweaty palm on his jeans before easing his arm onto the cushion, palm up. When she drops onto her stool at his side, he offers a weak smile.

“You got the email I sent with all the information, right? Did you have any questions?”

He scrunches his nose, recalling the long, detailed summary she shared. For each of the three tattoos he requested, she gave him a detailed analysis of the process for creating each design; broke down how long each session would take; gave explicit instructions on the healing and care process; confirmed each individual color and how it would be applied; clarified the tools that would be used, including their brand names and how each one worked; she even provided floor plans of her shop - outlining entries and exits and bathrooms and locations of fire extinguishers.

It was a novel of information that must’ve taken her hours, and he was inexplicably grateful for the time she spent just to make him comfortable.

“No questions, I just, uh - thanks. For putting all that together. It was helpful to have all the information. Helps me keep my head on straight.”

“Of course,” she says. “So this first design should take probably 5-6 hours. Since you’re new, we’ll start with short blocks and see how it goes.”

Bucky gives a jerky nod and she pauses, pressing her fingertips against the smooth skin of his forearm.

“Here are the rules. You’re in charge, okay? We can go as fast or as slow as you need. This is not a race, and I have nowhere to be but here. Any time you want to stop, you say the word and I stop. We can take a breather, grab a cup of coffee and start again - or we can call it a night. This is your experience, Bucky. You’re in control. Understand?”

There is a fierce surge of gratitude at her words. Gratitude for her kindness, for her acceptance. Gratitude for her.

“Got it,” he whispers.

And with that, they begin.

Bucky follows each step, while she measures his arm, while she considers the contours and angles of his muscle, while she cleans and preps his skin. When she finally applies a stencil, his heart is hammering so hard his teeth are chattering.

The low buzz of the tattoo machine fills his ears with a click.

When the needles touch his skin, sweat instantly beads his neck. Adrenaline drenches his tongue and for one wild moment, Bucky panics. Wonders if this was a terrible idea, because what idiot asks for pain, seriously Barnes, what the hell is wrong with you, why’re you so stupid all the -

And then - oh.

Huh.

Interesting.

Wide-eyed, Bucky follows her careful strokes, black lines appearing on his skin.

It does hurt - sort of. Obviously nothing he can’t handle; in the grand scheme of his life, this would register as a minor inconvenience, but there is a pinch.

But that spark of pain vanishes, when the raw symbolism behind Steve’s design hits him full force.

Holy shit.

How many times through the decades did Bucky Barnes die? And how many times did he rise, born again from the frozen ash of oblivion? It was simply what the Soldier did. But it was a shadow-life, nothing more. Bucky never knew how close he was to giving up, until that day above the Potomac, Steve’s bloody face beneath his furious fists. He was so far gone, so lost and forgotten, until those memories cracked the Soldier’s fierce veneer.

And suddenly he was Bucky again. Awake and alive. For the first time in 70 years he felt fire in his soul. For the first time in 70 years he could breathe.

Tears inexplicably fill his eyes.

“All okay?”

Through a tunnel, Bucky hears her voice. Hypnotized by the metaphor inking itself into his skin, his head feels waterlogged when blinks up at her.

“Sorry?”

She scans his face, her thumb rubbing the pulse thrumming at his wrist.

“Everything okay?” She asks again and Bucky feels a potent rush of euphoria.

“Yes,” he says slowly. The excitement bubbles over and he lets out an ecstatic laugh. “Yes! This is incredible. This is - fucking hell, this is amazing.”

Chuckling to herself, she bends back to her task.

“So I guess we’ll keep going?”

“Yeah,” he laughs. “Yeah, let’s keep going.”

Two hours later, the outline of the Phoenix is inked into his skin, crisp black lines like fresh paint. Long tail feathers are curled around his wrist, the lush feathered body splashed over his forearm, her wings spread open and curving around his arm, her head reaching toward the sky.

Born from ash. Alive again.

Bucky hates to cover it up, but she insists.

“Follow the cleaning instructions and it should be fine. We need to wait between the sessions, give you time to heal.”

At that comment, he fidgets.

“Actually, I heal pretty - fast.”

“I assumed you might. Usually I say 2-3 weeks between sessions, so how about you come back in 1 week and we can see. Let’s just make sure. Does that work?”

Bucky glances at the crisp white bandage on his arm.

“Okay, that works,” he says.

She squeezes his hand and he meets her eyes.

“You did great,” she tells him.

Bucky smiles in return. And he doesn’t stop for the next six days.

*****

When he walks into the shop for his next session, he carries a large coffee for himself and an extra large iced peach green tea for her. When he gets to the front desk, he thrusts the cup at her.

“Evening. Um, here. Saw you had one last time, so - anyway.”

“Bucky, thank you. I’ve been craving one all day.” She gives the straw an experimental bite, before taking a long drink and for some reason, the silly quirk makes his heart bounce.

After a quick check on how he’s healed, she declares him perfect and they get started, settling into a comfortable silence. After an hour of buzzing, Bucky clears his throat.

“Is it okay to talk while you work?”

“It is,” she affirms, dabbing at the ink. Glancing up, she sees hesitant blue eyes. “I’m good at listening too. Sometimes it’s nice just to listen.”

Bucky figures that’s a fair statement. He fiddles with a stray thread on his shirt.

“Do you read much?” He asks hopefully, picturing the teetering stack of books beside his bed. She perks at the question.

“I love to read. Have a pile of books on my nightstand waiting for me to find time. What about you? Are you reading anything good now? Any favorites I should know?”

Bucky swallows the happy surprise. If he could, he’d be content to spend the rest of his years with a comfortable chair, a cup of coffee, and an unending supply of stories. He could talk about books for days, he just normally keeps quiet, because most people aren’t interested in that facet of Bucky Barnes.

So he begins to talk.

He tells her how Natasha lent him all her Russian copies of Pushkin and Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, insisting that reading in the original language was infinitely better. He describes how he found a copy of Rumi’s poetry at a yard sale, and what an incredible treasure it was. He flusters recounting how much he cried reading ‘A Fault in our Stars’ and says he was scared shitless to even see a clown for a full year after reading Stephen King.

He talks and talks and talks, and when he finally stops to breathe, she glances up.

“It’s nice to hear a man who’s so well read,” she says and Bucky preens at the compliment. “Do you have an all time favorite? Something you never get tired of?”

A favorite? No question.

“Yeah, I do. Something I read during the war and kinda fell in love. It’s about here, I guess. About Brooklyn.”

At the description, her mouth quirks, but she keeps working.

“Did you ever think about a book quote for a tattoo?”

Now there’s an idea. He makes a mental note to think of a quote he could add as another tattoo. Or maybe another couple tattoos. Hell, one session in and he’s already addicted.

The comment tumbles free before he realizes he’s spoken out loud. He blushes at her laughter.

“It can be addicting,” she agrees. Bucky understands completely, seeing the vibrant crimson ink soak into his skin, painting the bird’s feathers. And then she pauses, meeting his eyes with a peculiar expression. “The right words can make you feel invincible.”

Setting the tattoo machine down, she rolls her chair back a bit and sits up straight. Lifting the hem of her shirt, Bucky sees a line of gold text inked below her ribs, his eyes following the flowing cursive.

“She was all of these things and of something more,” he reads aloud.

“‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ is my favorite book too,” she says quietly. There is a long, unbroken moment where they stare into each others eyes. He should say something, he thinks. Something intelligent or witty or anything, but instead he just thinks about the fact that he found a woman in Brooklyn to permanently carve pictures into his skin and she has the same favorite book as him.

Bucky always was a sucker for fate.

“That’s - that’s really - I love that,” he finally says instead.

*****

A week later, Bucky arrives with a bundle of folders and an exasperated expression.

“This is really annoying, but do you mind if I finish some reports while you work? Got behind, someone’s gonna have my ass.” Bucky raises the papers apologetically.

“No problem,” she says easily. “Let’s keep your ass safe.”

Bending back to her task, Bucky snorts a laugh. They’re just a handful of mission reports, normally he types them soon as he returns, but lately he’s been slacking, because lately he has other things he finds more interesting.

Like the scene in front of him.

Together they work, each with their own pen. Bucky writes, she colors, and the clock on the wall ticks along. After awhile, she takes a break to stretch. Rolling her shoulders, she observes him.

“Are you left-handed?” she asks curiously and it takes Bucky a moment to think.

“Oh. Uh, not really,” he says. “But I can switch. Never been a problem.”

At the confession, she raises her eyebrows.

“That’s impressive. I wish I had a talent like that.”

He ducks his head at the praise. And he keeps writing, of course. Maybe adds a bit more flair. After all, the old Bucky Barnes did like to swagger.

*****

“Well, I think that’s it.”

It takes a beat before Bucky understands what she means. Confused, he peers up at her with a dopey expression and she gestures at his arm.

He feels his heart lurch.

It flames to life along his arm, painted in vibrant ruby red and rich crimson and deep plum, highlights edged in shining gold. Mesmerized, Bucky stares down at the lines of ink and he flexes, the tendons of his arm shifting, and the bird moves. For one wild moment, he believes if he stays still, it could leap from his skin and take flight.

It leaves him breathless.

“God, this is better - fuck, it’s so much better - than I ever imagined. How did you - wow. I don’t know how you did it, but - thank you. Thank you so much.”

Unanticipated emotion makes his voice tremble. Because this is the first time Bucky Barnes chose something permanent for himself. Serums and metal arms and bullets and blades, those were always forced upon him, his pleading refusals met with violence and sneering indifference.

But this?

This.

This is all his.

*****

TATTOO 2: BACK

“Wear your heart on your sleeve in this life.” - Sylvia Plath

*****

“So, uh, how exactly does this work?”

Standing beside the leather chair while she organizes her inks, Bucky wrinkles his nose. She looks up and motions for him to turn, straddling the chair with his chest pressed against the back.

“Are you comfortable completely removing your shirt? Or would you prefer to leave it part way on? I’ll just need it out of the way for the right side of your back.”

Bucky grimaces. Eventually she’s going to see his shoulder - he knows that - but he’s not in the mood to rip that band-aid off yet.

“Uh - let’s do part of the way if that’s okay?”

“That’s okay,” she confirms and he awkwardly tugs his right arm free, baring the broad expanse of his back. Tucking his arms in front of him, he slings a leg over the chair and rests his chin carefully on the headrest.

He says nothing, simply stays still while she absorbs the sight. Littered up and down his back are a litany of scars, puckers from the occasional bullet, thin lines from errant blades, and a few other marks he prefers not to define. His voice is muffled when he warily asks.

“Are you able to - work with it?“

“Absolutely,” she answers firmly and Bucky warms at the decisiveness in her tone. Her confidence makes him feel infinitely more positive.

This is the largest of his three tattoos, stretching from the tip of his shoulder blade and flowing down to his waist. It will also take the longest, but Bucky assures her he has no issue sitting perfectly still for hours.

It’ll be worth it. He can’t wait to show Sam - he’ll get a kick out of this one.

Once she applies the stencil over his skin, she goes to work, dropping into that headspace of deep focus. She works so quietly for so long, he falls into a trance, lulled by the melodic buzz.

When she speaks, it startles him.

“What made you decide you wanted a tattoo?”

He lays his cheek along the edge of the chair so he can see her from the corner of his eye when he answers.

“S’random, but back in ’37, me and Steve were out and I remember walking by this old tattoo shop over in Midtown. They had one of those big glass windows with the chair in front, so people could stand and watch. Anyway, we walk by and there was this kid sitting in the chair, and no fuckin’ joke, he was getting a big heart on his arm with ‘MOM’ written in the middle.”

“Ah yes, the ever popular ‘mom’ tribute. I’ve done a few of those,” she says and Bucky grins.

“Well anyway, I always kinda wanted something, you know? Thought about getting one before I shipped out, but I didn’t, and then it was - “ he pauses for a moment, but she encourages him with a questioning hmmm? and Bucky bravely pushes forward. “I had lots of years where I didn’t get to make my own decisions. And there was so much - bad shit that happened to me. Anyway, I guess I thought if someone’s gonna do something to me, I wanted it to be on my own terms. You know?”

“Yeah,” she murmurs. “I think that makes perfect sense.”

Bucky sits quietly, contemplating. The question has been rattling around his brain for awhile and it spills free before he can stop himself.

“The whole process, it feels sort of - intimate, doesn’t it?”

He flushes at the insinuation, but intimate is the best way to describe it, he thinks, this practice of someone permanently carving their art into your skin.

“It is intimate,” she says softly, leaning closer. “It’s almost like you’re - leaving a piece of your soul under someone’s skin? I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s what it’s always felt like.”

Bucky nods, watching her capable, artistic, beautiful hands as they move, slowly transferring bits and pieces of herself to him.

What a gift. He holds on tight.

*****

It was bound to happen at one of the sessions.

It’s been dark and rainy for days, buckets dumped from the heavens, the perpetual grumble of thunder always near. When Bucky comes through the front door, he feels like a wet dog. He shakes out his jacket, stomps his boots. He feels off base tonight, the result of bad sleep, bad dreams, and one particularly bad mission. He’s frustrated with himself for bringing it with him, thinks maybe he should’ve cancelled, but the thought of skipping his session - both the ink and her - was too depressing.

So instead of holing up in his room and moping under the covers, he braved the storm.

The one inside and out.

Searching for calm, he licks chapped lips.

“Hey,” he says, cringing when his voice cracks.

“Hey, Buck,” she turns cheerfully, but when she sees him squinting at her through the droplets cascading down his face, his shoulders hunched and tense, she stops. Looks him up and down and her expression softens. Beckoning him back, she digs up a towel and a dry t-shirt with ‘BROOKLYN INK’ stamped across the front, ushering him to the bathroom.

“Take all the time you need. No rush.”

Bucky mumbles his thanks and shuts the door. Gripping the sink, he glares at the mirror, at the smudge of dark beneath his eyes, at the clench of his jaw. Closing his eyes, he breathes slow and deep.

“You’re okay. You’re okay.”

He repeats the mantra, determined to settle. He’s been eager for this session all week, he’s sure as hell not ruining it because he can’t get his idiot brain to stop spinning.

When he finally emerges, he finds her arranging her work space. Halting in front of her, he keeps trembling hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes downcast.

“I’m afraid I’m poor company tonight,” he admits quietly.

“That’s okay. We can reschedule, Bucky,” she says softly and Bucky feels the disconcerting sting of tears. He rubs the heel of his hand against watery eyes.

“If it’s okay, I’d - I’d rather go ahead. Been looking forward to seeing you - uh, seeing you work, all week. It was just - “ he pauses and fights the temptation to spill his guts. No, he snarls internally, she doesn’t need to hear all your shit.

He clamps his mouth shut and shrugs instead.

She says nothing, but when she gives his hand a comforting squeeze, Bucky feels that familiar surge of gratitude. She guides him carefully toward the chair and he slumps into the seat, automatically tugging up his new shirt.

“Just close your eyes and breath. You’re okay.”

Bucky rests his chin on the edge of the chair. Troubled eyes flutter shut, and the comforting buzz of the tattoo machine fills his ears, muting the sound of the storm raging outside. When he feels the prick of the needles, he lets out a weary breath. And when he feels the easy pressure of her fingers, he begins to relax.

For hours, she works. Firm strokes, painting the story across his skin.

The dark night begins to fade before she finally sets her tools aside. When he climbs to his feet, she pulls him into a gentle hug.

Bucky sinks into her arms.

That morning, the sun begins to shine.

*****

Bucky’s been sitting for a couple hours now, eyeing the brick wall behind the chair. A question pops into his head and he feels like a jerk for not asking sooner.

“Hey - all these hours together, and I never asked you - what made you want to draw on people for a living?”

She hums at the question, and he can hear the happiness in her reply.

“Well, I always wanted to be an artist. For my eleventh birthday, my best friend Mike gave me this set of gel pens, there were a million colors. When I told him I wanted to be a tattoo artist, he let me draw pictures all over him for practice. He insisted on being the first person I inked, once I got my license. Would always tell people he was the ‘original canvas’ for my brilliance.”

When she laughs, Bucky chuckles with her; it reminds him of Steve.

“Sounds like a good man,” he says.

“Yeah, he is - he was,” she quietly corrects herself. “He was an EOD specialist in Afghanistan. Right before he left for his last tour, I drew up plans for the arm sleeve he always wanted; he planned to get it when he finished. A month later, he was in a convoy that was moving through the Gereshk Valley in the Helmand Province, when an IED hit his vehicle. He didn’t make it home.”

The story hits home like a kick in the face.

Too many soldiers, too many lives. Bucky reaches back to still her hand. He slowly turns to face her, gently tugging the tattoo machine free and setting it aside. Wordlessly, he offers his hand and she accepts it gratefully, weaving her fingers through his. It takes a few attempts before she speaks again.

“It took me a long time to get through that. One day I met a friend working down at the VA, and I heard a vet talking about the scars on his legs. He sounded so - sad about them, you know? Kept saying he didn’t recognize himself anymore. And I just stood there thinking, maybe I couldn’t help Mike, but I could still do something.” Staring resolutely down, she considers her fingers still entangled with Bucky’s. “I did some research and took some classes and - learned how to tattoo on scar tissue.”

Bucky gazes at her. He feels a sweep of pride at the way she turned her tragedy into something beautiful.

“I’m so sorry that happened,” he says and she finally looks up, meeting blue eyes bright with compassion. “But you should know, what you’re doing for people, it’s incredible. And if you don’t mind me saying, I think he’d be real god damn proud of you.”

A tear slips down her cheek and she ducks her head, her whisper so low he nearly misses it.

“Thank you Bucky.”

*****

Hours later, Bucky hears a clatter of tools and her huff of relief.

“All done.”

Wiping her hands, she pops excitedly up from the stool and Bucky pushes back from the chair to follow. Without a thought, she grabs his metal hand, tugging him impatiently over to a set of floor length mirrors along the wall. Bucky grips tight and obediently follows, his pulse racing. When she positions him at the mirror, she adjusts the panels so he can see himself from all angles.

“There, have a look.”

Along his spine, the single metal wing bursts free, so intensely realistic, Bucky’s jaw drops. It arches gracefully up, curving over his shoulder blade and sweeping down his back, razor sharp feathers tickling his rib cage before billowing out above his waist. Made from silvers and grays and shaded hints of midnight blue, it glows in the light. When Bucky reaches toward the sky, the muscles shift beneath the ink and it creates the strangest sensation of feathers unfolding.

All the scars littering his back, a flesh and bone patchwork of memories left by vicious handlers and fights too close for comfort, have disappeared. Blending into the steel of his new wing, their only purpose is to strengthen the image.

After all this time, he’s come to terms with the metal arm so unwillingly gifted all those years ago. But it’s remained a relic of a past life, something heavy, to drag him down.

But now, he rolls his shoulder back and his new metal wing lifts him higher than he’s felt in a long, long time.

*****

TATTOO 3: SHOULDER

“I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.” - Haruki Murakami

*****

“So our last session.”

“Our last session,” he murmurs.

Bucky thinks for a moment that she seems glum, but maybe that’s wishful thinking.

“This is a tough one,” she warns, “but I think we can do it in one session. I won’t try and cover them up, it won’t work. The best solution is to incorporate your scars into the design. Make sense?”

Bucky pictures the pattern Steve drew, bright green leaves and vines tracing the seam of his arm, melding with the thick ribbons of raised tissue. It doesn’t matter, but he timidly asks anyway.

“Will it hurt?”

“No,” she says gently. Pressing her hand to his galloping heart, she shakes her head. “It won’t hurt much there, but you need to tell me if it hurts here. You need to tell me if I should stop. Remember, you’re in charge, okay?”

“Okay,” he whispers.

Steeling himself, he whips off his shirt, balling it up in nervous hands. The cool air blowing through the shop is a relief for his overheated body.

“Do you mind if I feel the skin here? So I can make sure I approach it right?”

“Yeah, ‘course,” Bucky mumbles. Staring at his hands, he waits.

Leaning close, her fingers brush over him, feeling the lines and ridges, assessing the canvas. For ten minutes, she tests his skin, lightly pushing and pressing, observing the scars and bumps where metal meets man.

“Does it still hurt?”

She doesn’t want to ask, but needs to know what she’s working with. With a grim smile, he shrugs.

“Not really. Aches sometimes, but doesn’t hurt. Can’t feel much there besides some pressure.”

Nodding, she pinches her lip. “I was thinking last night, um - would you want to add anything else into the design? Nothing big, but a few flowers? Some daisies maybe?”

“Sure, I’d like that. Any reason for daisies?” Bucky asks curiously.

Pulling out a few additional bottles of ink, she absently touches the necklace at her throat, and Bucky sees a silver daisy spinning.

“Daisies represent new beginnings. Thought it might be a nice way to end, if you like?”

Does he like it? The idea of having this small thing in common?

Hell yes he likes it.

Maybe - maybe he even more than likes it?

“Yeah. That sounds perfect,” he says softly. He swallows hard and she nods encouragingly.

“Okay. Remember - stop me if you need a break.”

This one, Bucky knows will be hard. It was the reason he left it to the end - the mental fortitude required here is much different.

As she begins, he contemplates the pink furrows gouged into his skin. The memory of how they got there flashes before him, a sick image of shredded skin raked bloody beneath his blunt fingernails. Faint screams of a past life echo in his ears, the smokey cry of his own voice desperate for relief from the pain.

Cold sweat slides down his face and he slams his eyes shut, but that seems to make it worse. The images glow technicolor bright, and he grunts a frustrated breath.

And then, through the thin latex of her glove, he feels her cool hand press against his pounding heart. Cracking an eye open, he finds her calm face and he focuses on her, until his breathing begins to ease. Blinking rapidly, he drinks in the curve of her nose, the shape of her mouth, the beauty of her eyes.

His heart stutters, stunning him into a different kind of breathless.

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” he murmurs, wide eyes locked on hers. “Yeah, I’m okay. You can keep going.”

When she bends back to her task, Bucky melts. It occurs to him, that perhaps if she might let him, he could be content watching her forever.

But for tonight, this forever lasts only a few hours before she’s done.

And there it is.

Shades of green line his shoulder, the vines curling and winding around his scars, blending them seamlessly into the foliage covering his skin. Spidering vines trail across his chest, and it seems incompatible in a way, something alive bursting from the stark metal, but the leaves look so real, he swears they flutter with each breath he takes. Strewn throughout the greenery, small splotches of yellow and white reveal her daisies and he sucks in a breath.

For the first time in his life, Bucky stares at his scars and a foreign word comes to mind, one he never, ever thought to use.

“Beautiful,” he breathes. “They’re beautiful.”

*****

And so, after 3 months and 30 hours together, they were done.

Hands in his pockets, Bucky gazes at her. Ink on her hands, ink on his heart. It hits him then, this is it. They shuffle, making small talk, neither ready to say goodbye.

“Promise you’ll come back if you decide on anything else. Tattoos, piercings, anything,” she teases and Bucky laughs.

“Told you, I might be a little addicted,” he admits, knowing full well he means to tattoos and to her. “Soon as I can think of a reason, I’ll be back.”

“I hope so,” she says. There is a brief moment where she seems to gather her courage and then she leans in to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “You’re a work of art, Bucky, but - you were before any of this. Remember that.”

Dazed, Bucky touches his cheek.

Indelible and perfect, the tattoo of her lips inks itself straight onto his heart.

*****

When she arrives at the shop the next day, there is a new sight sitting on the front desk.

Daisies, their white petals and yellow faces as fresh as the afternoon sunshine filtering through the window. Bemused, she looks around the bustling shop and spies the card propped beside the overflowing vase, her name scrawled across the front.

“When I got home, I stood in front of the mirror for hours, staring at your artwork. Every time I told myself to go to sleep, I found something new I loved. The tail feathers on my Phoenix or the petals of your daisies. What you’ve given me is more than I ever hoped - I can never thank you enough.

But anyway, I remembered what you said - how this kind of art is like leaving a piece of your soul under someone’s skin.

Well, I won’t lie - you must have done, because I miss you already.

So at the risk of being forward (although I did break into your shop and leave this, so maybe this won’t seem that forward), would you have dinner with me?

I think there’s another new beginning waiting out there, if you’d like to find it with me.

Yours,

Bucky”

At the bottom of the note, a phone number is printed.

Brushing her fingers over the delicate white petals, she pictures him, that dark haired man with eyes like blue ink, so heartbreakingly beautiful inside and out. She feels the unconscious pull of her heart, telling her all she needs to know.

A new beginning.

She says yes.

*****

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #SSB2020 #bucky fic #bitsmasterlist #tattoos #tattoo trope

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ragingpancake · 3 years ago

Text

Times Like These - Chapter One

Summary: In which Rodney is very much not happy when his boyfriend suddenly finds himself six years old again, courtesy of those wacky Ancients. I, I'm a new day rising I'm a brand new sky To hang the stars upon tonight I am a little divided Do I stay or run away And leave it all behind?

“Unscheduled off-world activation!”

The sound of the Gate activating tears through the control tower, startling Elizabeth from her office. There’s only one team off-world and they weren’t due back for another day and a half, their next scheduled check in much later that evening.

“Who is it?”

“I’m reading Teyla’s IDC, ma’am,” Chuck says and Elizabeth gestures for him to open up a channel, arms crossed over her chest as she waits for Chuck’s nod.

“Teyla,” she greets, “a little early for your check in. Everything alright?”

There’s a muffled response that sounds suspiciously like Rodney before Teyla speaks, and though her voice is calm, the entire tower can pick up on the slightest bit of concern in her tone. “We have run into a… bit of a problem,” she hesitates and Elizabeth nods for Chuck to lower the shield.

“Is anyone hurt?”

“Not exactly, but perhaps it would be best to explain to you in person.”

“The shield’s down. Come on through.”

“Very well.” Another pause. “Elizabeth… it might be wise if you have Doctor Beckett on standby.”

“We’ll have a medical team brought in immediately.”

“Not a full team,” Teyla warns. “Just Doctor Beckett will suffice.”

There’s another beat, Elizabeth’s head cocking to the side as she considers. “What exactly are we dealing with?”

“If I told you now, you wouldn’t believe me. We are coming through the Gate.”

The radio cuts off and less than a moment later, AR-1 steps through the event horizon, or at least three of them do. Elizabeth comes down the stairs, eyes scanning her people for any sign of illness or injury as she waits for Beckett and for John, but the event horizon closes and something catches in her throat.

“Where’s Colonel Sheppard?”

Teyla and Ronon share a look and for the first time, she notices the lump in Ronon’s arms, covered with a jacket.

“In case you’ve missed the memo,” Rodney snaps, gesturing broadly to Ronon, “this entire fucking galaxy is littered with stupid machines courtesy of those wacky Ancients that have horrible, no good, completely asinine purposes and so here we are.”

“Rodney,” Teyla admonishes gently.

They’re all saved a response with Carson arrives, looking a bit confused and Elizabeth can sympathize, because she still has no idea what’s going on. “I’ll ask again,” she says, keeping her voice even, “where is Colonel Sheppard?”

Rodney moves as if to pull the jacket from Ronon’s arms, but Teyla stops him with a hand to his chest and very carefully, gently, she pulls it back to reveal a small child with a crop of dark, unruly hair. He’s asleep (or unconscious, likely, given how the commotion has not woken him), long lashes brushing against pale cheeks. “Bloody hell!”

“Is that--?”

“Colonel Sheppard, yes,” Teyla finishes, tucking the jacket around the tiny body again, hiding him from view. “I am certain that the Colonel would appreciate it if we could move our discussion from the gate room.” She settles a hand on Ronon’s shoulder as Carson steps forward as if to get another, closer look at the boy, but he must see something on Ronon’s face that stops him short.

“Right. Er… c’mon then, bring the lad this way. We’ll get him to the infirmary, under some scans and find out exactly what we’re dealin’ with.”

“What we’re dealing with is another example of how it’s not actually the Wraith that are the bad guys in this narrative, but the Ancients,” Rodney says scathingly and while the team sets off for the infirmary, he starts in the opposite direction, intent on locking himself in his lab until all of this blows over.

Or at least intent on scouring the database to figure out what he needs to piece that god damned machine back together after Ronon blasted it into six million pieces.

Easy.

---

They all wait with baited breath as the scanner makes another pass over the little boy—over John, she has to remind herself. He’s still unconscious and the circles under his eyes look darker now in the harsh infirmary light and Elizabeth crosses her eyes, never pulling her eyes away.

“Okay,” she says, lifting a hand to chew on her thumbnail. “Walk me through this again. You were exploring an Ancient outpost.”

Ronon growls in frustration, hands digging into his dreads at the thought of having to go through this again, but Teyla remains unbothered.

“Correct. Rodney was picking up a strong energy signal. The outpost was empty, but there was a machine in the very center of a large dais, pulsating. Once Rodney determined that it was the cause of the signal, he decided that perhaps we should get a closer look, fearful that it might have been similar to the one on M1B-129.”

“The one that caused the hallucinations.”

“Exactly.” Teyla’s eyes returned to the boy’s face before she continued. “John stepped up onto the dias to get a better look and the next thing we knew, he was surrounded by a blue light, screaming.”

“Then what happened?”

“Then I shot it,” Ronon answers.

“You shot it,” Elizabeth repeats.

“Uh huh. And I’d do it again. We had no way of knowing what it was doing to him, but he needed help and we needed to get him out of there.” It’s almost as if dares Elizabeth to challenge his decision, though she thinks after studying his face for just a moment, perhaps he’s reconsidering himself.

“Yes, well,” Teyla says, reaching to settle a hand on Ronon’s wrist as if to calm him. “Once the machine shut down and the blue light dissipated, John was… well.”

“Do we have any idea what this has actually done to him?” Elizabeth asks and she glances at Carson for answers, but he has none. “Is he still… him? Will he have his memories or--?”

“He has been unconscious since the machine shut down,” Teyla answers. “We are not sure exactly what the outcome will be.”

“His scans look good,” Carson answers, sighing as the machine comes to a stop. “Well. For a six year old boy, anyway. I see no ill effects from the machine, other than the obvious, but until the lad wakes, we won’t truly know what we’re dealin’ with.”

“But he will, right? Wake up?”

“I see no reason why he shouldn’t. But perhaps we ought to prepare for the worst. There’s a chance that he’ll wake up and have no idea where he is or who any of us are. Perhaps we should clear out, leave one person in here to lessen the confusion or fear.”

“I’ll do it,” Ronon answers immediately, and Elizabeth is unsure of the most delicate way to thank him for his offer while gently declining. Thankfully, Teyla speaks up again.

“No,” she answers and she smiles up at Ronon before she turns her attention back to John. “I will stay. Why don’t you go find Rodney and see if he’s managed to find anything in the database that could possibly provide answers as to what’s happened to John, but importantly, how to reverse it.”

“I’m going to send a team back through,” Elizabeth decides. “See if we can find any spare parts that weren’t destroyed that we may be able to use to retrofit one of the Ancient devices here.”

“Aye,” Carson agrees. “Teyla, if he wakes—”

“You’ll be the first to know, Carson.” And he gives her a smile, dropping a hand to her shoulder to squeeze gently. “Perhaps,” she says as he moves to take his leave, “you would be able to dim the lights? It may be startling with the bright lights once he wakes.”

“Of course, love,” and then he’s gone, leaving Elizabeth and Teyla alone.

“Never a dull day in the Pegasus Galaxy,” Elizabeth tries to joke, but she feels like it falls short when the child on the bed snuffles and turns his head to the side, face relaxing just a bit as the lights in the infirmary dim. “Keep me posted, okay?”

“Of course, Elizabeth,” Teyla replies graciously and as Elizabeth takes her leave, she thinks she hears Teyla humming something quietly… almost like a lullaby.

#sga fic #stargate atlantis #john sheppard/rodney mckay #john sheppard #rodney mckay #mcshep #elizabeth weir #teyla emmagan #ronon dex #carson beckett #de-aged!John #hurt/comfort #angst

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tinderboxofsillyideas · 5 years ago

Text

ARTISTS! COMIC DUBBERS! ATTENTION, PLEASE!

I have a story for y'all and this story is not so bright and beautiful. I thought I would not talk about it in public, but I can't leave the situation like this, because it's important. I just have to do that, because I don't want people get in the same situation.

I will talk about you @undertalecomictv. No offence.

One year ago I get a message from David - owner of "Undertale Comic TV” and "Sans Comic TV" on YouTube. He asked me about promotion and using my videos (animations and memes) on his channels. I had a terrible headache at that day and this offer was a little bit strange to me. I asked to clarify how it supposed to work and for some reasons I said "yes" at the end. That was a dumb decision, because I didn't realize what I'll get and why I even said yes. But I don't have any regrets, because I can say a lot of things now. This how our first dialogue looked like:

I have to mention – we DID NOT talk about comic dubs as well, I just made a suggestion like "It will be cool to see comic dubs from you in the future, but that's just a thoughts". We did not talk about any agreement, I just said it and that's all. After half of the year, I got a message with dub of one of my Kustard comics. I was happy to see it, because this dub was very cool and this was the first time when somebody made a dub for me. I was too happy and did not see what I missed. I just… enjoyed. They leaved a links on me in the description and in the video too, so that was totally fine and I shared this dub with my followers in both communities – foreign and Russian.

All was good, I got a couple of more dubs, and I loved them really much, but in one day I saw something what made me feel like "???". I saw a video on SCTV with a frame from my animation (Bloom meme). It was used as a thumbnail, with erased reply from echo flowers. This video contained comic of my friend @nsfwgarbagedump

The most important – there was a several pages what me and @hakkids has colored. In this video was no credits in description. Only nicknames of Crude and me (Hakki was not even included but we worked together on coloring and we're still making colors for the rest of the pages). I was confused, because frame from animation was cropped out of my video (I did not post this pic anywhere, I remember that). When I gave a permission to use my videos I did not think they will be used in this way. That's just not nice.

I saw a part two and there was my art again, but none of my content in the video. There was rest of b&w pages and I can't understand why my art was used for the thumbnail if there's none of my stuff in the video. They could use one of the pages or frames from comic for a thumbnail, but they used my stuff because it looks good? That's a clickbait, you know?

Crude had a conversation with them and after that they deleted their comic, both of the parts. I was sad about the fact they did not leave the credits on us like LINKS, because some of the people having a problems with searching artists, and that would be better to leave the links, not only nicknames:

I was too disappointed and had a thought about ask them to stop making dubs on my stuff. I messaged them with this offer, even if I loved their dubs before – there was no way out. I got an answer like this:

After that, I was confused a bit more. They made a dub of our modified Kustard before in one of the compilations. I was happy to see that at first, but Hakki told me one thing, which turned all the tables. They messed up with voices and some specific details, includes the fact they DID NOT asked about permission from Hakki about using Ras (modified Red) in the dubs. Yes, those comics was made by me, but Ras belongs to Hakki and I got a permission to use him in my stories, because hell – we are friends, so we allowed to use our boys in our comics.

If somebody giving you a permission to make comic dubs (but they did not get a permission from me on this either if we look at the situation a bit closer) you have to ask again before using Fan-Characters/Original Characters in dubs. They can have some specific differences and it's always better to ask. Much better to send SAMPLES too, because some people can be picky. If you don't want to make all those "difficult" stuff – just do not touch FC's and OC's. And ask ALL the artists if you want to make dubs with two (or more) characters which belongs to different people. The first one can say "yes, sure!" and the second one can be against it. Respect people! Ask them about their characters!

I asked to delete all the videos with our modified Kustard (or at least cut out the fragments with them), and when I told this was not only my desire, I got a message which made me super confused and angry at the same time. I got an excuse like "we worked so hard, give our permission to keep your videos". I was triggered about it, because I'm already told about the reasons why I asked to delete those videos.

I told about that again and said about I worked hard too, because that's true. Artists spend a lot of time when they working on one picture, so that's no need to talk about making comics or animations. So I had to ask to delete the modified Kustard, OR I'll ask to delete ALL my stuff from the channels. If they'll refuse – I'll strike them down. You can see my full answer below:

And who knows what I will get on my simple ask to delete only modifications…

I don't know, maybe I'm cruel piece of garbage or what, but I HATE when people use excuses like family and stuff. That's super lame and I can explain why I think in that way. You know, all of us have families, somebody has children too but people didn't use this fact as an excuse to make shit and break the rules. If you have a sweetheart and babies – how can you use them like this? It looks like you're only worrying about yourself, and did not want to pay attention to feeling of the artists which works you're using in dubs. I can understand all those things, because I have a family too, just like other artists do. I even have some ill people in my family and we have to pay big amounts to help them, plus bills, buying food, etc. BUT! I DID NOT use all this stuff for this kind of situations! I just continue to work and that's all!

That's the same situation like ask the artist to make you an art for free because you're poor little creature and you have no money to pay for your bills, clothes, etc. NOBODY have to work for free and nobody have to break the low to get something what they want! That's an awful shit, don't do that!

About monetization, huh? You know I don't like liars, I disrespect them, but I disrespect the greedy ones liars even more. My videos was monetized on those channels and NOBODY WARNED ME ABOUT THAT. I just got an excuse like "I asked some artists in the past and they was okay with monetization". Well duh? If one person said "yes" that doesn't mean you can just being a sly shit and don't ask people about monetization their content ever again. You HAVE TO ask artists about that! Somebody can be against it! This content is NOT YOURS, so that's terrible to make moneys on works of artists who probably get NOTHING for their works. Nothing but love and appreciation, and sometimes they even doesn't have this too. And that's sad.

I can understand you have to pay dubbers for their voices and work, David, but you had to ask about monetization anyway. That's just not cool. I don't know about people in your crew and I don't know are they even know about that, but I'm really disappointed. I can say thanks to Jordan Woollen for his voice. Btw – he's good in voice acting and I can be grateful to him for those minutes of happiness. I don’t think that is his fault.

If keeping of these channels is too hard for you – maybe you should find something what will fits you more? Something where you will not need to lie to people or making something like this. I dunno, maybe you can be a better person? Or you just like to make people feel bad or thinks about they're cruel with you… Who knows? You told my stuff has been deleted from your channels, but you didn't. Some of the videos are hidden, and I can see that because I have links. So why are you lying to me again? Just delete them, I'll not allow to bring them back. Because I can't trust you now.

Limited is not the same thing as deleted, my friend.

That was heartbreaking. I LOVED those dubs with all my soul and I couldn't even imagine all will end like this. I just disappointed and this story was broke me on a couple of days. But after I recovered myself, I decided to make this post. I just can't hold it in my soul anymore…

If I got a true apology with something like "yes, I understand how hard to be an artist and how much strength you spent to make arts and comics, so I'm sorry. It was my mistake that I did not tell you" maybe I could allow you to continue to make dubs. But you started to feed me with excuses about how hard that was for you. You totally forgot about my feelings. I don't have any hate to you, David. And I don't call people to hate you for what you've done. I just told them my story. Maybe you lied some of them as you done with me, and now they will decide what to do by themselves. But think about it and stop acting like this to people. Please.

Dear voice actors, I begging you – please, ask permissions before making dubs, talk with artists about all the issues. Ask them about monetization, about their characters, credits, etc. Please, respect their feelings and make a good things! I love dubs and I'm always want to support good dubbers, so don't play with feelings of people. We're doing are best to make a cool stories which you could dub. And some of us ready to pay you for this. Because you’re bring some good vibes with your dubs when you making them with love and desire.

Dear artists – be careful with some kind of offers. Talk with dubbers and ask them about everything. Do not be shy to make it, and if you don't like something – tell them about it before it's too late. Don't be such a softie like I was.

Guys, do not be a dicks, respect each other and try to become better on the next year. Artists, comic dubbers – y'all great while you respect the work of each other. We all have hard work, so be good people and don't lie to anybody. Thank you for your attention, Marry Chrysler and happy holidays!

#long post #signal boost #text post

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thesimpanions · 5 years ago

Photo

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Go watch the video here: https://youtu.be/WjZLkPg6Loo

CC Links:

1. AFRO SHORT EDIT V2: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/tagged/BustedPixels%3A-Hair 2. AFRO SHORT EDIT V1: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/tagged/BustedPixels%3A-Hair 3. BLOOM HAIR: https://blushchat.tumblr.com/post/171514103804/bloom-hair-my-first-hair-so-there-might-be-some 4. XANDER HAIR: https://wild-pixel.tumblr.com/post/171964427252/xander-hair-a-de-poofed-version-of-the-male-hair 5. LIVING LOCKS: https://nolan-sims.tumblr.com/post/185801937518/nolan-sims-here-2-releases-in-one-day-you 6. BOY PROBLEMS: https://luumiasims.com/post/141006773464/boy-proooblems-whos-got-em-i-got-em-too-a 7. HORIZON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/29880379 8. AFRO SHORT EDIT V3: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/182410787760/afro-short-edit-x3-base-game-compatible-hair 9. AFRO SHORT EDIT V1 RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/182410787760/afro-short-edit-x3-base-game-compatible-hair 10. AFRO SHORT EDIT V2 RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/182410787760/afro-short-edit-x3-base-game-compatible-hair 11. AFRO SHORT EDIT V3 RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/182410787760/afro-short-edit-x3-base-game-compatible-hair 12. AUGUST HAIR: https://maxismatchccworld.tumblr.com/post/186257872125/alexander-goth-official-august-hair-15-colours 13. SMOOTH ASF HAIR: http://modthesims.info/d/567912/smooth-asf-hair.html 14. BRAD HAIR: https://saurussims.tumblr.com/post/185953051413/prom-2019-collection-by-joliebean 15. MILES HAIR: https://saurussims.tumblr.com/post/185953051413/prom-2019-collection-by-joliebean 16. EZEKIEL HAIR: https://saurussims.tumblr.com/post/187531604918/ezekiel-hairs-well-im-sure-you-know-by-now-im 17. THE TEMPEST HAIR: https://xldsims.tumblr.com/post/167448734254/a-hair-edit-of-the-cd-pompadour-undercut-hair 18. LUPERCAL HAIR: https://s-imarillion.tumblr.com/post/187444078525/simarillion-lupercal-hair-another-edit-of-one 19. NICE GUY HAIR: https://s-imarillion.tumblr.com/post/186565867840/simarillion-nice-guy-hair-i-really-went-all 20. DANTE HAIR: https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/187194346870/axa-2019-official-release 21. CHASE HAIR: https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/187194346870/axa-2019-official-release 22. JACOB HAIR: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/188148341396/jacob-hair-inspired-by-jacob-seeds-hair-from 23. SUSPECT HAIR: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/188044882336/suspect-hair-ea-mesh-edit-ea-color-palette 24. LEVI HAIR V2: https://wyattssims.tumblr.com/post/167413524806/levi-hair-version-ii-male-version-heres-a 25. BRYCE HAIR: https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/164569831566/brycen-hair-bgc-18-ea-colors-some-colors-may-be-a 26. BRETT HAIR: https://zombietrait.tumblr.com/post/181681421765/brett-hair-mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmye-ah-male-teen 27. EASTON HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184430789544/easton-remy-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 28. NOAH HAIR: https://wyattssims.tumblr.com/post/165379763721/noah-hair-details-base-game-compatible-male 29. ELIAS HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/186049778634/elias-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom-thumbnail 30. WASTED HAIR: https://amelylina.tumblr.com/post/183671353061/rigel-sims-amelylina-collab-here-are-some 31. OPIE HAIR: https://llazyneiph.tumblr.com/post/186192141516/opie-hair-a-nasty-fuckin-grossboi-mullet-w-shaved 32. EMBER HAIR: https://okruee.tumblr.com/post/187650670186/ember-hair-yes-i-named-this-after-morgyn-info 33. PUPPY DOG HAIR: https://houseofabsurdities.tumblr.com/post/180923613159/heres-two-new-hairs-puppy-dog-is-a-hair-that 34. JOSH HAIR: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/186633529146/1000-followers-gift-pt-4-josh-hairstyle 35. KOJURO HAIR: https://meghewlett.tumblr.com/post/177126385726/jumin-hair-requested-by-nonnienot-actually-looks 36. CUPID HAIR: https://chocolatemuffintop.tumblr.com/post/156908658607/download-cupid-hair-dropbox-mirror-link-download 37. CASEY HAIR: https://okruee.tumblr.com/post/180924410651/casey-hair-casey-frey-voice-can-i-sing-for-u 38. JUMIN HAIR: https://meghewlett.tumblr.com/post/177126385726/jumin-hair-requested-by-nonnienot-actually-looks 39. DIEGO HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/187621959254/diego-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-3-personal 40. RAPHAEL BUN: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/187428401731/2000-followers-gift-%C2%BD-raphael-bun-v1-ea-mesh 41. MAD MOHAWK: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/186603883611/1000-followers-gift-pt-1-mad-mohawk-this 42. SMOOTH AF HAIR: http://modthesims.info/d/567912/smooth-asf-hair.html 43. NASH HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184642988504/mason-nash-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 44. WOLFGANG HAIR: https://www.patreon.com/posts/27834491 45. MARK HAIR: https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/175153229576/mark-hair 46. AFONZO HAIR: https://maxismatchccworld.tumblr.com/post/185718112395/vevesims-afonzo-hair-full-18-ea-swatches 47. SAMUEL HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184574812004/samuel-edwin-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 48. ROGER HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/185040420319/roger-daniel-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 49. KPOP HAIR ( ADFLY WARNING): https://love4sims4.tumblr.com/post/150038970673/sulsul-sulsul-kpop-hair-a-new-mesh-for 50. WILLSON HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184390074419/mark-willson-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 51. BRENT HAIR: https://kotcatmeow.tumblr.com/post/171487993938/a-new-hairstyle-brent-for-your-male-sims-i-hope 52. NIKLAUS HAIR: https://grimcookies.com/post/159185260235/niklaus-hair-im-more-impressed-by-the-cute-sim-i 53. BRAXTON HAIR: https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/167329634491/braxton-hair-a-less-poofy-version-of-that-hair 54. KIMANI HAIR: https://dbasiasimbr.tumblr.com/post/184745592256/this-hair-mainly-inspired-by-this-picture-i-saw 55. SIMPLE GENTLEMAN HAIR V1: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/187781931636/simple-gentleman-hair-v1-ea-mesh-edit-ea 56. MARK HAIR SHAVED: https://aharris00britney.tumblr.com/post/175153229576/mark-hair 57. CANCER KING HAIR: https://simandy.tumblr.com/post/181878784381/finally-closer-view-been-working-on-these-for 58. SLEEK & SWEPT HAIR: https://simsationaldesigns.blogspot.com/2016/10/sleek-and-swept-hair-for-guys.html 59. EAGLE HAIR: https://simandy.tumblr.com/post/178748585791/unedited-and-without-reshade-preview-hey-guys 60. RICHARD HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/186259999084/richard-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom-thumbnail 61. WUCAN HAIR: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wucan-30699375 62. DANIEL HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/185040420319/roger-daniel-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 63. HEART BREAKER HAIR: https://luumiasims.com/post/119407522939/special-thanks-to-niteskkysims-for-making-this 64. MED WAVY PARTED EDIT: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/166423735655/sp01-med-wavy-parted-male-hair-edit-base-game 65. EDWIN HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184574812004/samuel-edwin-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 66. ADONIS HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184804854629/adonis-adonis-v2-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 67. QUIETLY SUMMER HAIR: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/186540192956/quietly-summer-hairstyle-hairstyle-ea-mesh 68. PART SHAVED CONVERSION: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/168925958230/ep04-part-shave-conversion-male-hair-base-game 69. DARIUS HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184713065189/zero-darius-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 70. JAKE HAIR: https://liliili-sims.tumblr.com/post/187798238631/jake-hair-18-swatches-ea-color-hat-compatible 71. SIMPLE GENTLEMAN HAIR V2: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/187781953331/simple-gentleman-hair-v2-ea-mesh-edit-ea 72. PAYTON HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/186117349094/payton-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom-thumbnail 73. GABRIEL HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184926325689/gabriel-gabriel-v2-hair-full-18-ea-swatches 74. LUCIANO HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184535297714/owen-luciano-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 75. PART SHAVED CONVERSION RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/168925958230/ep04-part-shave-conversion-male-hair-base-game 76. EAGLE HAIR RECOLOR: https://intricately-silly.tumblr.com/post/179348873328/eagle-hair-simandy-recolor-11-request 77. MED WAVY PARTED EDIT RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/166423735655/sp01-med-wavy-parted-male-hair-edit-base-game 78. DREADS OF THE WOLF: https://ts4mmcc.tumblr.com/post/171321037065/buckgrunt-dreads-of-the-wolf-male-hair-bgc 79. REMY HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184430789544/easton-remy-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 80. METROPOLITAN SLICK: https://xldsims.tumblr.com/post/150770015749/unsurprisingly-ive-got-yet-another-hair-for-you 81. PAUL HAIR: https://isjao.tumblr.com/post/175859191176/hello-im-here-to-give-to-you-acess-to-my-and 82. LUIS HAIR: https://isjao.tumblr.com/post/175859191176/hello-im-here-to-give-to-you-acess-to-my-and 83. THE DOUCHEBAG: https://xldsims.tumblr.com/post/148686149549/guess-what-its-another-hair-p-i-dont-know-why 84. TKO HAIR V2: https://grimcookies.com/post/171682456335/tko-hairs-not-much-to-say-other-than-i-love-the 85. JONAS HAIR V2: https://okruee.tumblr.com/post/184698036176/jonas-hair-v2-just-a-closer-cropped-version-of 86. JONAS HAIR: https://okruee.tumblr.com/post/183820221841/jonas-hair-shouts-out-to-the-jo-bros-this-ones 87. MED CURLY CONVERSION: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/166490071075/sp07-medium-curly-male-hair-conversion-base-game 88. couldn’t find 89. MEDIUM WAVY EDIT: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/164860626945/male-hair-edits-base-game-compatible-hairs 90. KIAN HAIR: https://ice-creamforbreakfast.tumblr.com/post/186989799890/download-details-basegame-compatible 91. TIGHT CURLS HAIR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/164894155820/sp12-tight-curls-conversion-male-hair-edit-base 92. HERO HAIR: https://okruee.tumblr.com/post/183143220376/hero-hair-so-after-a-lot-of-thinking-i-decided 93. CAMERON HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/186677982199/cameron-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-3-personal 94. MEDIUM WAVY RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/164860626945/male-hair-edits-base-game-compatible-hairs 95. TIGHT CURLS HAIR RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/164894155820/sp12-tight-curls-conversion-male-hair-edit-base 96. MED CURLY HAIR RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/166490071075/sp07-medium-curly-male-hair-conversion-base-game 97. OWEN HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184535297714/owen-luciano-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 98. ACE HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/186792804694/ace-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-3-personal 99. MATTHEW CURLS: https://s4simomo.tumblr.com/post/186022195111/matthew-curls-ea-mesh-edit-ea-color-palette 100. JAYDEN HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184354319944/jayden-trevor-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 101. ALEX HAIR: https://tekri.tumblr.com/post/185889179104/alexa-or-alex-v2-slight-misunderstanding-led-to 102. GEMINI KING: https://simandy.tumblr.com/post/181878784381/finally-closer-view-been-working-on-these-for 103. ROYAL RUMBLE HAIR: https://simandy.tumblr.com/post/184606902246/flowy-hey-im-back-now-look-at-my-precious 104. POET HAIR: https://simtric.tumblr.com/post/185158535886/poet-hat-compatible-all-lods-18-ea-swatches-no 105. PRINCESS HAIR: https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims4-hair-hairstyles-female/title/princess/id/1446651/ 106. LUCA HAIR: https://zombietrait.tumblr.com/post/187178068149/luca-hair-the-story-behind-sims-who-have-this-hair 107. WOOD’s TWIST DREADS: https://birkschessimsblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/16/woodstwistdreads/ 108. HUGO HAIR: https://zombietrait.tumblr.com/post/186902507404/hugo-hair-put-it-on-your-hugo-villareals-base-game 109. MARK HAIR: https://vevesims.tumblr.com/post/184390074419/mark-willson-hair-full-18-ea-swatches-custom 110. LOVE BUN: https://maxismatchccworld.tumblr.com/post/182817270855/cupidfizz-love-bun-by-cupidfizz-ignore-this 111. AMARU HAIR: https://hellagoodsims.tumblr.com/post/171461416453/amaru-fade-hair-asymmetrical-high-top-fade 112. PEACHY HAIR: https://simandy.tumblr.com/post/183356232956/back-with-the-hairs-thought-yall-would-get-rid 113. IMANI HAIR: https://nolan-sims.tumblr.com/post/183797653813/nolan-sims-here-after-seeing-this-picture-on 114. DAMASSO HAIR: https://simmerstesia.tumblr.com/post/182121326831/organic-flavors-hair-dump-4k-followers-gift 115. MIRTILO HAIR: https://simmerstesia.tumblr.com/post/182121326831/organic-flavors-hair-dump-4k-followers-gift 116. FRANKIE FRO 117. MAN BUN: https://simsontherope.tumblr.com/post/109508088301/the-man-bun-haircut-for-the-sims-4-it-must-be-the 118. UNDERCUT PONY: https://love4sims4.tumblr.com/post/175246421928/nemesyms-undercut-pony-ea-mesh-edit-hat 119. NIGHTCRAWLER HAIR 05: https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims4-hair-hairstyles-male/title/nightcrawler_%28c%29am_hair05/id/1306303/ 120. SHORT SWEPT HAIR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/166456610570/ep01-short-swept-male-hair-edit-base-game 121. SHORT SWEPT HAIR RECOLOR: https://bustedpixels.tumblr.com/post/166456610570/ep01-short-swept-male-hair-edit-base-game 122. SWEETENER HAIRSTLYE: https://simplifiedsimi.tumblr.com/post/175379265844/sweetener-hairstyle 123. BADU BANTU HAIR: https://savvysweet.tumblr.com/post/187702352493/badu-bantu-bgc-hat-compatible-ea-18-swatches 124. BLOSSOM HAIR: https://imvikai.tumblr.com/post/170427911904/blossom-hair-by-vikai-it-feels-like-every-cc-i 125. GALATEA HAIR: https://nolan-sims.tumblr.com/post/150218623858/nolan-sims-here-by-request-quiddity-jones 126. HYPE HAIR: https://qwertysims.tumblr.com/post/183125492704/hype-by-qwertysims-this-hair-is-called-hype 127. WOW HOW EDGY WHAT A ROCKER HAIR: https://qwertysims.tumblr.com/post/186565603809/can-i-start-naming-my-cc-the-way-fall-out-boy 128. TRIP HAIR: https://maxiematch.tumblr.com/post/183549216521/witching-hour-recolour-trip-hair-by-qwertysims 129. HALF UP LOCS: https://pigeonhome.tumblr.com/post/183467372373/half-up-locs-by-pigeonhome-im-still-brand-new-to 130. PIECE HAIR RETEXTURED: https://johnnyzest.tumblr.com/post/182150661877/piece-hair-retextured-mesh-by-redheadsims-cc-is 131. BENJI HAIR: https://stephanine-sims.tumblr.com/post/186212206316/benji-hair-its-been-a-while-since-i 132. JOSHUA HAIR: https://stephanine-sims.tumblr.com/post/186376699405/joshua-hair-two-male-hairs-in-a-row 133. RIZAL HAIR: https://marsosims.tumblr.com/post/186749816981/rizal-hair-this-hair-is-named-after-the-filipino 134. ALON HAIR: https://marsosims.tumblr.com/post/185886304881/alon-hair-this-has-been-in-my-mods-folder-since 135. JUAN KARLOS HAIR: https://marsosims.tumblr.com/post/186223928501/juan-karlos-hair-i-decided-to-try-out-a-new

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meowlayn-art · 4 years ago

Note

I'm reading all your posts about reposting culture and I 100% agree. But one thing you dont mention is links. One way people share from an original source is to post the link to the image, and on some social media sites, it gives a thumbnail version of the image. They aren't reposting, and in order for anyone to see the full image, they have to go to the link (i.e. original source/ you). What is your opinion on this behavior?

Hi Anon! :)

Thanks for reading my posts about reposting culture (°◡°♡) You are right! I didn’t mention this indeed because it’s not a repost.

I think what you are describing is Facebook, which does show a preview when you post an external link (= a link that is not a native Facebook post.) (If there are other social media that work similarly I haven’t heard of them).

It’s not reposting, that’s just the way Facebook was designed. It doesn’t show the whole piece + if you click on it you are automatically redirected to the artist’s original social media/website so it gives potential exposure which is cool (just no notes to the artist, obviously).

So it kinda looks like the way a Pinterest pin works (I said “pin”, not “upload”, which is a repost and not okay) BUT. There is a major difference between the 2.

- imo, the only reason why people click on the shared link on FB is because they can’t see the full artwork and it makes them curious, otherwise I am pretty sure they wouldn’t even bother clicking on the link to discover the original artist (people are lazy, that’s user behavior 101).

- on Pinterest however, problem is that pins redirect to an external url BUT they show the ENTIRE ARTWORK (no cropped preview like FB) and enable people to directly save the image from Pinterest. Which means people don’t have to bother clicking on the link (again, because we people are lazy). To me, it’s basically a repost “with credits”, that’s why lots of artists do not appreciate pins either - I am one of them. :)

Hope it answers your question, Anon! Have a great day/night :)

#repost culture #don't repost #ask #anon

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youarejesting · 4 years ago

Text

BTS365 Prompts.Week 45

[Full Masterlist] [Prompt Masterlist] [Tag yourself here]

Please tag me in your work if you use my prompts. I want to see your work. Ever your Jester. Tell me your birthday and I will tag you on your special day!

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Nov 5th - 11th

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Kim Seokjin - Task

Since Kim Seokjin’s name was called from the goblet of fire, he had been a bundle of nerves. He somehow made it through the first and second tasks, how? was beyond you, but he was actually not coming last. He was sitting comfortably in second place. With that being said this task was scary than all the rest, he didn’t know if he would make it out alive.

Why was asking someone out to the yule ball worse than any other task he had faced so far. Maybe it was because it was you.

Min Yoongi - Devil

“You look like an angel, walk like an angel” you sang walking around the almost empty diner, spinning around to the music playing from the quiet jukebox. “Talk like an angel”

Spotting the customer on his laptop a lot of equipment on the table working with earphones on, his cap low, and mask pulled under his chin to slowly eat some breakfast. He had friends previously sitting at his table but they were asleep in the truck stop overnight and stayed on a big bus. His cup was empty so you grabbed the coffee jug and fluttered over raising the jug in question. He nodded smiling politely to thank you.

“But I got wise, You’re the devil in disguise,” you sang pouring the coffee looking up connecting eyes before you blushed looking down again, “Sorry.”

“No, it was really nice” he hummed.

Jung Hoseok - Eggs

BTS in the soop was a hit, as were all the bon voyages. But this time it was farm bang, where the boys would have to go to the countryside and learn how to take care of the animals and crops. They woke up early each getting dressed in cute overalls and jeans some with cute straw hats or light flannels. They were each given tasks, Hoseok was to collect the eggs from the chickens.

He excitedly ran to the coop and began talking cutely to the chickens “Owaaaaah Chicken Chicken, ahahaha annyeong chicken eeee ah Namjoon-ah look at the chickens!”

“Hoseok-ah they have little piglets over here, ahhhh so cute wow!” The leader of the group called back across the farm.

Hoseok was quick to step into the pen and immediately he froze up, he was afraid of the little chickens that would peck him. “Excuse me miss chicken I have to collect the eggs,” the whole process was scary but soon he had the eggs in his hands and he stepped out.

Running across the yard he shouted, “Yoongi, look, look I got the—” The hyperactive rapper tripped, falling and crushing the eggs in his hands. The whole group started laughing and he whined upset. “No, I broke the eggs!”

“Gwaenchanh-ah?” Jimin said lifting up the older male, “Hobi-Hyung comes first,”

Kim Namjoon - Common

“Namjoon! Are you okay?” A phrase he had heard multiple times this week when he fainted, vomited, when his nose started bleeding, and when he had refused to eat his favorite foods. This time it was because he couldn’t stop coughing something must have been going on. Something major and scary.

He was referred to your clinic as someone whose job is to investigate and pinpoint illnesses you looked over his blood tests and sighed. “Ah, mister Kim, it seems you have a common cold, my recommendation would be rest and perhaps some chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side” Your grin was cheeky letting the idol know you were a bit of a fan.

Park Jimin - Men

Jimin was searching youtube for the latest trends, music, and funny videos. Just anything to pass the time, he saw something that caught his eye. It was a thumbnail of himself and something he wasn’t too sure what it meant. “The Jimin effect” He read the English title slowly.

Clicking on it he watched a 13-minute compilation of men and women falling in love with him making the idol, giggle his cheeks a brilliant pink. It was funny watching things from a different perspective. He never saw these looks people were giving him because he would be turning away or facing a camera.

Kim Taehyung - saxophone

Taehyung was meeting your parents, it was a really serious thing. Your parents were kind of strict and they didn’t know anything about, Taehyung, South Korea, or Asians in general besides stereotypes. Your parents were kind-hearted people they were just ignorant.

So when you introduced Taehyung to your father the two shook hands, Taehyung making a polite bow and your father stood there pretty awkward. His only idea was to strike up a conversation. “What do you do for work?”

“I’m a sexy porn star” He grinned

“You’re what?”

“No dad, he pronounces it a little odd he said Saxophonist, see, I have pictures of him playing the saxophone”

Jeon Jungkook - diary

Jungkook was staying with your brother Namjoon, he did that every now and again during the holidays. You had only been crushing on the boy since you saw him your first year at Hogwarts, he was in Namjoon’s year but you were the grade lower.

He had helped you with your flying lessons even though you were a natural, unlike your brother, but you let him anyway. There was a whole collection of entries in your enchanted diary about him, it was enchanted to never run out of pages.

The diary would only open for those with innocent intentions. You didn’t know where you had put the diary, last you remember writing something whilst in the kitchen that night but when you got there it was no longer around. Thinking your brother perhaps took it and was trying to break it open you raced upstairs. He almost managed to break the spell, the evil genius and you wouldn’t tempt fate this time.

When you stepped into the room you shouted “Namjoon put down my diary!”

“Namjoon isn’t here and sorry, I didn’t know it was a diary and I see you all the time with it I thought it was a good book and when I opened it I saw my name and I read a bit and I am sorry, I was just curious”

You snatched the diary and he frowned, “I think you are really cool y/n, it’s just that”

“I get it I am not your type,” You laughed not turning towards him.

“No, you are definitely my type, it’s just, Namjoon is my best friend and I can’t with you because he will actually destroy me with some elaborate spell that will remove my knee caps and I like my knee caps” the boy was rambling “Albeit, I like you more and would gladly give up my knee caps, ahhh, this was a bad example. Namjoon would kill me if I tried anything”

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miloloveswrestling · 5 years ago

Text

How to gif ~

(a very partial tutorial)

Hey everyone, I’m Milo, fandom contributor since 1887. It had been brought to my attention that some of you might want to learn how to do gifs so I’m here to share the knowledge. Of course it’s only how I do gifs, and it’s not the only way, probably not the simplest way but heh, it’s mine.

First of all: you need to choose the couple of seconds you want as a gif. Seriously, it’s half the work. Think about how your gif will loop, what the first image (and thumbnail) will be and most importantly: work with your platform of choice’s limitations. 1 gif at a time on twitter, 440×220 min, 10 gifs on tumblr, 500px wide, 5Mo, etc.

Material:

Giffing Tool: a powerful tool, free of use but if you have a couple bucks to spare, it’s Pay What You Want.

Photoshop: The portable CS4 version by Majax31 exists. It’s old but it does a tremendous job, also, it’s light, ready to use and easy to find. It’s still not legal though. I happen to use Photoshop CS4.

Let’s say you want to gif a close-up of some Pro Wrestling Noah boys like any other sane person. Well, excellent choice!

Pause your vid a couple of seconds before the right moment, open Giffing Tool. GT works as a way to record your screen.

New > Hold your click to select the zone

Play your vid, don’t move anything. It looks like nothing is happening but GT is recording. When the scene you want is finished, tap esc and GT will compile your gif, give it a bit of time. The closer you are from the actual size you want, the less time it will take.

In GT’s window, you select the length of your gif a bit better (1), click the size to avoid losing quality in an unwanted resize (2) and save it with the appropriate icon (3, shortcut is S). Step 2 is super important, you need the actual size to be the same as the size your gif will get out. If GT change the size, you will lose quality.

Saving with GT takes time, you can continue to use your computer normally while it does, be patient.

If you bought the full version of Giffing Tool, you can decide to resize your gif here and be done with it! But if you didn’t GT will add a banner you might want to cut with Photoshop or of course you might want to play with colors, size and decide on all the frames you want or don’t want, to the next level with you!

So yeah, now’s the time to edit your gif in photoshop! Hooray! After a lot of trials and error, I found some secrets to make this work. First open Photoshop then it goes like this:

File > Importation (down there) > Video frames to layers

I don’t know about the newer versions of Photoshop but you’ll need to write the name of your gif (with the extension) in the File Name to find it, it will not appear otherwise. Write it when you’re already in the right folder. By the way I remember now that you need Quicktime for this to work but it’s a pretty basic log so I guess this shouldn’t be a problem. Anyway, import it even if it does not appear (as long as you have the name of the file right, it will work): [Mark frame animation] must be checked in the next window and we’re good!

Now comes some work with Photoshop. Before you get started, you’ll need to get the animation window (Window > Animation). You only have to get it once, it stays in your setup for later uses. In that window you can check your gif frame by frame, delete duplicates (fair warning though, deleting too many duplicates will make your gif lighter but also will alter its rhythm, again, trials and errors, test everything!), decide on how fast you want your gif,

Another warning: what you change on the first image of your gif will apply to all the frames. If you wants to change only one, select the one and the layer associated with it. If you wanna change only the first, duplicate it (first icon in 2).

1/ You must use that tool to select the part of the image you’ll need. If you didn’t pay for Giffing Tool, you can use that tool to cut the banner they add. Once your image is selected, use Crop (here Recadrer). With Image Size (here Taille de l’image) you can resize your image depending of your platform’s limitations (on tumblr 500px wide).

2/ The animation window as I already said is super useful, you can delete, duplicate, move around frames.

3/ Don’t get there too fast but this is where you can edit colors and light. Experimentation is key here. Only one thing I can add: remember to select the first frame in the animation window if you want your edit on all frames. BUT put your edit on an empty layer on top of all the other layers in the layer window. If you know nothing about photoshop, a word on layers: here Layer/Calque 1 is hidden, you can make it visible by clicking the empty square next to the preview. If you do that then do the same on Layer 2, layer 2 will hide layer 1. The layer on top is always the one showing first. You can also erase some parts of a layer to show the one under it. Everything is possible in photoshop! Add a frame on the first layer so it shows on all the other layers! Add stickers! Most importantly: try things! fail! learn from it and do it again! If you have questions, I’ll answer them as best I can.

Last thing I’ll add is how to save your gif. You need to use Save for Web... in the file menu. You’ll get a preview, on the upper right corner, change the second setting as GIF.

1/ Check the format

2/ This is where you can check the size of your gif, super important depending on where you want to publish it.

3/ Save... You did it!!!!

It might sound complicated but it really isn’t that much, all the work you’ll do the first time will be useful forever, you’re learning a new skill but thankfully that skill is super easy to remember. And allows all sorts of awesome things! A whole new horizon is opening!

@kazuchikaokada 😌 i’m not sure you’re gonna learn much with all that ‘cause your gifs are already so nice?! it depends a lot on vid quality I guess but really you’re probably already doing all that? Maybe if you don’t use photoshop yet it could give you a whole new set of possibilities?! Anyway, sorry if this didn’t help, I hope it’s still useful for someone out there anyway!

#long post #tutorial #animated gifs #photoshop #giffing tool #milo did dat

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mysticsparklewings · 5 years ago

Photo

ToonMe

Yeah, yeah, look at me super-late to the latest popular Art Challenge as usual. :P In my defense, this challenge came at like the worst possible time, just after the whole drawing tablet fiasco, and so at first that combined with me not liking posting pictures of myself that often because I am uber paranoid about turning into a True Crime documentary subject, I was pretty convinced I wasn't going to hop on this particular bandwagon. But I kept seeing other people posting there's, and I noticed that quite a few used a few tricks to hide or almost disguise the photo/face part. And after a little while, though still mildly frustrating, I did get more accustomed to the new set up I have for digital art, and well...after more time spent trying to get just the right photo of myself than I care to admit, here we are. The #ToonMe challenge is unique in that it challenged me to find the right balance between my usual style and something more realistic. My proportions are usually very cartoony, borrowing heavy inspiration from Winx Club and Anime. Sometimes my coloring is softer and slightly more realistic, and sometimes I go for hard, cartoony cell-shading. And this isn't the first time I've been challenged with drawing myself, either. The main things I wanted to do/accomplish with my take on the challenge included: • A seamless, almost hard to notice transition between the Toon Side and the Real Side (as I'd seen on others' and taken a liking to) • Capture my physical, real-world style but also not over-complicate what I'd have to draw • Capture my drawing style accurately but without compromising too much of the look of the photo • Make it unique to me. Naturally, a lot of how this process was going to go relied pretty heavily on me getting the base photo just right. I tried a few other looks and some different angles before finally getting the photo I used here out of the mix. And yes, I could've just used a photo I already had on hand like I'm sure many other artists did without hesitation, but I wanted this to be fun and just in general when I take photos of myself I like them to be just so. It's very rare that I take photos of myself, let alone ones where I'm not prepared for the world to see me. I wanted to do this right. Once I finally had a photo I was happy with, then came the real challenge of toon-ifying half of it. (Well, probably more than half, but you get the idea.) Naturally, my used-to-be-bangs didn't want to cooperate with me when I took the photo, so my solution to that was to use my hair part/line as part of the dividing point. This also works out because I feel like dividing the hair more towards the center would've made the overall diving line more obvious. Using the part as a base makes the two halves blend together better when viewed from far away/as a thumbnail. Other than that, I kept it pretty half-and-half, including leaving one cat ear on the photo side and one on the toon side. (And ironically the cat ear and the shirt are the two most realistic things on the toon side.) I found the easiest way to do the toon-ifying was to start by just tracing the real lines for the toon parts, then going back and stylizing/adjusting them as necessary. The biggest adjustments I made were the very noticeable stylization of the eye and bringing my neck and shoulder in to more closely match my usual drawing proportions. And, technically the hair, but as I said I knew going in I was going to have to deviate from the photo to get the look I wanted, stylization aside. (My hair does cooperate and look like this sometimes, it's just when I was taking photos for this it decided not to and I couldn't be bothered to put off taking photos until a day where it chose to behave. If I didn't think it was authentic to me, I wouldn't have done it.) I do wish I had reconsidered my jewelry choices because it was only after I started working on it that I realized the extra challenge I had added for myself in choosing the necklace that I did. Likewise, I know very well the chain is not super realistic, but I could not be bothered to draw all the individual little chain circles by hand. So I took a short cut in drawing two lines, one relatively straight (following the non-existent curve of the necklace in the photo), one wavy, and then erasing the second one as necessary to create the illusion of a chain instead. Also, I specifically wore those earrings because I thought they would be cute and relatively simple to draw. And while I'm very sure I could've made much more complicated choices, I was still a little overly optimistic in just how easy these would be. One of the trickier parts of the lines was actually the lips. A lot of the time I skip drawing lines for the lips, because I normally do full-body drawings where the face is relatively small and it's hard to get the lines to look right on such a small scale, but if I wanted the seamless look from toon to photo, it was necessary here. I must've re-drawn both the top and bottom lines like ten times each before finally getting something I could live with. Additionally, while I could've gone back and added weight to the lines in some places, it seemed more natural here to leave them pretty much as-is. Anyway. With the lines done, I could move on to coloring and shading. And I was actually surprised by how relatively smoothly that process went. It did take a few layers and some back-and-forth, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be to get the semi-realistic soft shading I needed so the two halves would blend together nicely. Sidenote: You can hopefully see here that I try my best to be fairly accurate with my color choices when I draw myself these days, right down to the grayish-blue of my eyes. The main things with coloring turned out to be 1. getting the shadows in the right places and 2. getting the line art to be dark enough you could tell it was there without it being too obnoxious. And while I don't normally do this, I found the best way to balance out the lines was to use an airbrush to make the lines lighter in some places and darker in others. I actually had the .png file saved twice, thinking I was finished, only to end up going back and making small alterations to the shadows (mostly on the face) and the lines later. Which, it's kind of a good thing I had to do that because it wasn't until the second time I was doing revisions that I noticed I'd totally forgotten the shadow the necklace was supposed to be casting on the skin. It's very subtle even in the photo, but it would've driven me crazy had I noticed it only after it had been uploaded/posted. I also made a very conscious decision to have the eyelash/brow semi-visible through the hair. The eye is a large part of my stylization, and even though in a normal drawing I would've covered it up, it didn't seem right to just cover it up here. But it also seemed very wrong to leave it at full-color, too. So this was my compromise. Speaking of which, the eyebrow I wasn't really sure what to do with, since normally I either just do thick lines for eyebrows or if I do fully outline them, like the lips, they're usually far away and pretty small, so there's usually not a lot to do with them. Hence why that is easily the biggest and most obvious giveaway on the toon side. I was equally surprised at how easy it was to do sunglasses. I was expecting them to be trickier, being a reflective surface and all with a few notable tiny areas to worry about. But I think in the end they were one of the easiest things to color and shade. And that was pretty much all I was absolutely required to do for the ToonMe challenge. Me being me, though, I wasn't quite satisfied with just that. From fairly early on I had converted the background for the toon side into a digital flat color of my usual "mystic hue," which in reality is what the wall behind me looks like even though it shows as more of a baby blue in the photo. One of the first additions beyond that that I made was a few carefully placed sparkles for a little extra pizzazz, but that wasn't quite enough. I cycled through a few different ideas; making the whole thing into a Polaroid or setting it into a phone frame, etc. Just something to make it a little more special. Still, I ended up coming back around to one of my initial ideas: Wings. I am, after all, MysticSparkleWings. I do have a digital pair of wings closer to the shape/style I tend to use for my signature, but those aren't quite high enough quality for something like this. So I defaulted to the same pair of wings I used to make my icon/avatar ages ago, which were originally made based on a pair of costume wings I actually have in real life. And had I thought this whole thing through a little more, I could have worn them and had one real wing, one digital one. But alas, I didn't plan that far ahead and by the time I had this realization, it was very too late to backtrack it. It's funny. I made that other digital pair from my signature, hoping to make a new Eclipse-friendly icon with them, but they're too high quality (300 pixels) for that (Eclipse icons are 100 pixels, where the old dA icons are 50) and yet too low-quality for stuff like this. They're just not very good for anything, are they? Even after I added the wings and a few extra sparkles, I toyed with the idea of doing more, but I really couldn't think of anything else that I felt really confident would enhance the art rather than take away from it. So, I stuck my signature on the glasses lens (that seemed like the best non-intrusive place for it), and left it at that. I'm sure it's not as spectacular as it could be, but I think considering I originally wasn't even going to attempt the challenge that it's more than enough. I just wish this challenge has cropped up at a better time. Somehow all the super popular art challenges seem to appear when it's the least convenient for me and thus if I want to join in I end up doing so usually after everyone else has moved on. Ah well. Maybe next time. This one's done and I think it turned out okay. Back to my regularly scheduled non-challenge related art. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#toonme

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christopher067 · 6 years ago

Photo

Eva Pants

What can I say, I really love a simple wide leg pant! After a few pairs of bottoms I have for you today a minimal very high waisted cropped leg pant. I think these are just so cute and super easy to style. I was going to release the matching top with this but it looked too much like the base game bra so I wanted to hold off until I could make it more interesting. :) But it will be coming soon. Along with a bunch of cool new stuff some of which you’ve never seen from me before.. ;) So be looking out for more wip’s to come. ♥

30 Colors

New Mesh by Me

Custom Ambient Occlusion (shadow)

Custom Thumbnail

Enjoy! ♥

DOWNLOAD: Christopher067

If you use my content be sure to tag me, #christopher067 or @christopher067

If you want to edit my creations check my T.O.U. ♥

For a full list of CC used, check out the TSR listing.

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innerpostmentality · 6 years ago

Text

Dos’ Mou Ena Fili - Kiss me

A TRR AU Fan Fic Featuring King Liam X Hyclea (OC)

All Rights to Choices characters and setting to Pixelberry Studios

This is set after the the wedding of Stephanie and Drake.

Warnings: Erotica, long post Word count: Around 3050 Tags: @hopefulmoonobject @darley1101 @tornbetween2loves @kennaxval @carabeth @custaroonie @gardeningourmet @stopforamoment @indiacater Hyclea sat before her mirror lost in thought. This was new territory for her. Her mind running in circles around a central theme that was the King of Cordonia. There was no doubt at all there was a fierce passion between them urging their union. She had staunchly repressed her own desire to answer it. It was true that she was busy. She was always busy. But the last week since their breakfast at Tevi’s she wasn’t just busy; she was making certain to stay busy. Glass was demanding. You only had a handful of minutes with any piece where it was workable. You could put it back in the fire and get another handful of minutes at a time. Or you could recycle the glass. But the art was formed in intense moments of precise action. Relationships on the other hand. That was far more complicated. Certainly precise action could alter the course but more than one hand was directing the work. Liam was remarkably transparent to her. And she knew that was in itself unusual. He was a trained politician, a master of pleasant façade by trade. That coupled with having had his heart broken very recently should make him much more guarded. And to others she thought he likely was. She frowned as she realized she may have already stepped into the oven as it were.

Pulling her development notebook out where she did the sketch work and intricate planning for every piece she would be blowing she looked over the pages from the last week. Every page had some sketch of or related to Liam. Cordonian crest ornaments, Crown ornaments, a thumbnail of Liam smiling, a thumbnail of Liam’s expression when he sipped his coffee, a sketch of their hands holding, every page had Liam there. So it wasn’t a matter of if she should undertake this. Now she realized he was already in her life. Her phone pinged with a text message. She knew without looking it would be Liam and found herself smiling.

Liam: Good Morning Beautiful! What are your plans for the day? Sketching out some presents for your friends. Completing a crystal stemware set. Working out some ideas. And what is on the King’s agenda for the day? :Hyclea Liam: Convincing you to have lunch with me. So if I look at your daily planner I’m going to see, “Convince Hyclea to join me for lunch.” :Hyclea Liam: Well it’s not the only thing on there. That’s probably a good thing for the country. :Hyclea Liam: There’s also, “Convince Hyclea to come with me horseback riding, and “Convince Hyclea to join me for dinner. Tomorrow I have, “Ask Hyclea to come to Rome for a weekend.” Okay. :Hyclea Liam: …………………… ……………………………….

Okay to what? What time is your lunch? :Hyclea Liam: 1, but if a different time would work better I can move it. I can send a car. I’ll see you at 1. And I can find the palace. No need to send a car. �� :Hyclea

By noon she had finished the work that she had to be involved in and had set her assistants up with directives for the rest of the day. She told them she would be going to the palace and had some other errands and didn’t expect to be back before closing. She took their knowing smiles in stride chuckling with them at their playful teasing about catching herself a king.

The minister of agriculture was presenting his 15thpower point slide, this one was a projection of root crop production vs domestic demand.

Liam glanced at his phone and saw the time was 12:30. He held up his hand and the Minister paused in his explanation of why beet production would be better this year. “Minister Trimnos forgive us but we have another appointment we need to prepare for. Might you return at some point later this week for the conclusions? Please see our assistant to get you on our schedule. We appreciate your work and this has been most informative. He stood and shook the man’s hand.

Liam left the room and realized he was nervous as a teenager. She was coming for lunch. It was the first time he’d gotten her to come to the palace. He couldn’t remember what lunch was scheduled to be today. He knew it was usually served in his office. Now he was thinking maybe he should have it served on the east balcony. Or maybe the conservatory? He should brush his teeth. He dashed to his office and his private bathroom which was closer than his quarters. Checking his phone he only had 15 minutes until she would be there. He decided he didn’t have time for a shower. But grabbed his spare shirt slipping out of the one he had just put on that morning. He was trying to figure out whether he needed to change ties when there was a knock on the door. “Enter”

Bastien stepped in giving a casual bow, “Majesty, Miss Diama has arrived. Shall I have her escorted here?”

“I thought we might have lunch on the east balcony. It’s a beautiful day and the gardens are lovely.”

Bastien studied Liam for a long moment and nodded then called into his headset to change the location of the king’s lunch from his office to the balcony off the Queen’s suite.

Liam followed him out settling his tie in place as he went to the main stairs. She was there studying one of the paintings. It depicted a family enjoying a light dappled lawn in the midst of a garden. She turned as he started descending the stairs into the entryway and smiled at him dropping into a curtsy as he approached her. “Your Majesty, thank you for inviting me.”

There she was in a little open shouldered paisley print dress, as casual as a daisy in a rose garden and he was speechless from her beauty. Her hair was fastened back with a red scrunchie. And she was wearing little low heeled strappy black sandals. He took her hand bringing it to his lips to kiss her knuckles, falling into the violet pool of her gaze. “You came.”

She lifted her brow and her smile widened. “Of course.” She studied him as he held her hand. “I was just admiring your Monet. He really is extraordinary with how he depicts light.”

He felt her voice like the most intimate touch caressing him and he wanted to kiss her in that moment more than he wanted to breathe. But if he did he thought he would be like dry tinder soaked in fuel with a match set to it. He saw the blush rise to her cheek before she slipped her hand from his and wrapped it around the crook of his arm.

“So might I impose upon your Majesty for a little tour while I’m here.” Her smile was gentle.

“Please, Liam, just Liam is fine. No need for formality. And yes, of course. I’d be happy to show you my home.” He stood there paralyzed staring at the perfect rosy cupids bow of her mouth.

“Your Majesty, your lunch has been set on the East Balcony as you requested.” Bastien’s announcement broke the spell and Liam found himself grinning and flushing with embarrassment.

“Pardon Hyclea. Shall we have some lunch and I’ll show you the palace afterward?”

She stroked his arm and patted it. “That would be lovely, Liam.”

He led her up two flights of stairs and into the East wing where the royal residence quarters were toward the back of the palace. Middle of the hallway a set of double doors opened into a richly appointed sitting room, pale seafoam green brocade upholstery covered the two antique Chippendale sofas and matching arm chairs. And marble topped tables by each chair and between the sofas set with bouquets of fresh flowers completed the impression of elegance of the room. On the left side heavy draperies were drawn back revealing double French doors that were opened onto a large balcony. On the balcony a glass table and chairs were set with a light lunch of grilled sea bass and salad, a bottle of chilled Chardonnay and a basket of bread sat waiting for them. Hyclea lifted a brow and smiled as she looked at the view of the gardens in full fall bloom. She had noticed as they came through the hallways the guards who gave small bows to their king. She noticed that beyond the hallway doors to this room there were no guards. So she looked at the lovely repast and then at Liam whose eyes had been fixed on her since she first saw him. “I think if I were to read your mind at this moment our lunch would get cold.”

Liam blushed. “Hyclea you know I can’t deny that.” He took her hand from his arm and kissed her knuckles again looking in her eyes. Before sighing and letting her go just long enough to pull her chair out for her. She set her purse down, a leather portable case actually this day. Practical, he thought and grinned broadly enough to show his dimple. He moved his plate to sit next to her rather than across from her. And poured the wine for them. “I’ve missed you. I’d almost decided that you were avoiding me.”

She sipped the wine savoring the clean fruity soft sweetness of it. “Perhaps I was.”

Liam frowned, “I hope I have not offended you. I do not mean to pressure you.”

She tasted the fish, smiling at the perfectly cooked and seasoned delicate flavor. “This is delicious. Please give your chef my compliments.” She looked at him and shook her head. “It’s not anything you have done. Well other than making me fairly obsessed with you.”

He grinned, pleased but puzzled. “I’m not sure if this is good or bad. I’m happy that you are thinking of me. But disturbed that it would cause you to avoid me.”

“Eat, Liam.” She chuckled. “I promise I’m not going to run off.” She took another bite and focused on her food for a few minutes. After her sea bass was consumed she sat back sipping her wine and studying him. When he had finished he sat back and met her gaze.

“I’m curious Liam, how would you describe me?”

“You’re testing me again?” he smiled and reached for her hand. “You are incredibly perceptive. Remarkably intelligent. Brilliantly artistic. Thoughtful, fascinating, beautiful. You’re a business woman, a mentor, kind…” He shrugged. “I see so many things when I look at you.”

“You left out cautious.” She shook her head. “I’m cautious almost to a fault, Liam. I think things through. Plan them out. Look before so hard sometimes I forget to leap. It’s a fault as much as an asset.”

Liam’s dark eyes locked with her deep violet gaze and he stood urging her to her feet, “Dos mou ena fili. Don’t think. Filise me.” His voice was soft, filled with all the passion coursing through him. Her eyes dropped to his mouth and then her mouth touched his, butterfly soft, sweet with the wine. His hands cupped her face, trembling as desire engulfed him. He tasted her lips, a rising desperate need to deepen their kiss swiped his tongue across the fullness of her lips, pressing as he groaned in need. She moaned his name and opened her mouth accepting his invasion. Her arms wrapped around him, fingers slipping into his hair as their tongues danced and heat blossomed in them both. Time stopped as their kiss freed them and desire for each other became their world.

She arched against him like a great cat breaking the kiss and purring his name. “Liam… There’s so much you don’t know about me.” He was kissing down her throat. Reaching down he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She felt him hard against her and leaned next to his ear whispering low, “Take me.”

His eyes completely black with his need flew to hers searching. “Are you sure? Hyclea?”

She felt him shaking with his need as he held her and she knew her legs couldn’t hold her. In answer her mouth pressed to his again and she gently sucked his tongue into her mouth.

He gasped pressing her against the doorframe, fumbling to free himself, “This isn’t…” Her hand found his aching cock dripping with need wrenching another groan from his depths as he desperately fought for a shred of control. He gasped her name. “I can’t …” He managed to pull the sopping strip of her thong aside as she pressed his tip into her soaking entrance. She curved her hips into his thrust and cried out as her release pulled him deeper demanding his. He was lost to any sense but the undeniable need to join her release gripping him. “My Queen.” His eyes locked with hers as he came deeply in her. Joined and one the conviction so complete he held her firmly crying out his joy in their union at long last. He pressed his forehead to hers as they gasped recovering still in the door against the open frame.

She laughed that low chuckle that he felt in his heart. “Hey.”

He was grinning. He just couldn’t stop. “I have no idea what to say. I… god….” He blushed and shook his head. “I’m taking the day off. I may take the week off. I want to carry you into the bedroom and make love to you properly but I have to fasten my pants or risk falling on you.” He was chuckling as he set her down carefully stepping back and pulling up his pants. Then he lifted her bridal fashion and carried her into the Queen’s bedroom before he set her down again and kissed her. “I should have told you to kiss me that first night. I feel like I’ve waited forever and now I can’t believe you are here. Dos’ Mou Ena Fili.” He kissed her again. Pulled her tight to him. “Hyclea, be my queen. I love you. I don’t want to push you. But I know.” He laughed in pure joy. “I love you. I could court you but I want to marry you. You don’t have to answer me now. I know it’s sudden.”

She pulled back smiling. “Yes.”

He looked at her a moment surprised. “Yes, yes?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

He looked at her in wonder for a second then his eyes got wide. “I don’t even have a ring. Oh god I’m sorry.”

She laughed and kissed him. “I don’t need a ring Liam. But I will need a workshop.” She grinned.

“Look what you do to me.” He was hard against her again.

She loosened his tie and started unbuttoning his vest. “I think you wear too many uncomfortable clothes.”

He laughed and shrugged out of his jacket. “Terrible lack of planning on my part. I know.” He dropped the Saville Row suit jacket on the carpet. “Maybe you can help me with this.”

“I’d be honored, my King.” She grinned at him. And he pulled her against him and unzipped the back of her dress letting his hands explore the silky planes of her back, unhooking her bra. “I want to bathe you.”

“You want to bathe me?” His voice was hoarse as she unbuttoned his shirt.

She nodded and looked up at him desire and mischief in her violet eyes. “With my tongue. Like a puppy.”

He gasped as she trailed her fingers down his chest then followed with her tongue. He hadn’t re-buckled his belt so one dexterous flick with her fingers and his pants were undone. She knelt before him as she freed him from his pants and briefs. She stroked him looking in his eyes, “You are magnificent.” Then her mouth was on him and his fingers were in the soft silk of her hair.

Soon he was gasping pulling her up, smoothing her dress off her shoulders along with her bra leaving her in nothing but her thong. He stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed pulling her to him. She looked in his eyes as she slid the thong off and carefully climbed on the bed to straddle him. She lowered herself slowly onto his hardness then arched her back and started rolling her hips pressing him deep into her hot wetness. He reached between them to stroke her sensitive bud glorying in the joy on her face as they edged each other toward and then almost suddenly completion blossomed in both of them eyes going wide sighing into each other’s mouths their ecstasy. Liam held her to him, catching his breath before he chuckled and kicked off his shoes.

“Well I’m getting better. I was less dressed this time.”

She laughed stroking his cheek. “Well I don’t guess you have order in clothing? I didn’t bring a spare dress.”

“What makes you think I’m ever going to let you get dressed again?” He lifted a brow and smirked.

She lifted her brow… “I just suspected that you would not be pleased with me strolling around in public nude.”

He looked like he was considering seriously for a minute before he burst out laughing. “I’m not quite that ready to share the greatest natural beauty of my country with the people…”

“Fortunately I think there are likely a couple of spa robes in the bathroom closet. And a full boutique downstairs where we can find you something to wear.” He took both her hands in his. “We are going to get you a ring. And I am going to announce our engagement. Soon. Maybe not until we have a stunning ring for the press to take lots of pictures of. So once we are showered we will be going to find you a ring.” He studied her frowning a little. “Are you sure. This life is a circus. I am NOT trying to get you to reconsider.”

She studied him stroking his cheeks and smoothing his mussed hair. “I love you. And while I am cautious and it takes me awhile to make up my mind I don’t tend to change it. Yes. Still Yes, Liam.”

#trr fanfic #choices trr #trr liam #trr liam x hyclea trr au fanfic

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comeondowntosouthparkrpg-blog · 6 years ago

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Bebe Stevens

Is she still playing truth or dare in treehouses? Bebe has been accepted! Please submit your blog to the main, and a faceclaim to be featured on the main blog!

out of character info

Name/Alias: Grace

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 23

Join Our Discord: Yes - [REDACTED]

Timezone: GMT

Activity: 8 (at least every other day)

Triggers: N/A

Password: jimmy can fast pass my ass

Character that you’re applying for: Bebe Stevens

Favourite ships for your character: Bebe/Chemistry!!

in character info

Full name: Barbara “Bebe” Stevens

Birthday: 11th August 2000

Sexuality, gender, pronouns: Female, She/Her, Bisexual

Age and grade: 18

Appearance:

Face of angel, body of a goddess, posture of a queen. That’s what she’s been told will get her far in life, and that’s what Bebe strives for. She’s slim build but – with thanks to frequent gym tips (for the Instagram likes) and rigorous cheerleader training – Bebe is toned, tanned and seriously strong. Her fair falls halfway down her back and, without proper styling, it’s a big nest of yellow frizz. Since hitting puberty, Bebe’s mom has enforced regular trips to the salon to tame her curls and highlight her tips, meaning only those really close to her have seen how much of a disaster it’s natural state is.

She has brown eyes, plump lips, and dresses largely in sportswear – crop tops, sports bras, leggings, shorts, high tops and hoodies. On nights out, she likes to ‘Go Ho’ with tight dresses and her signature red lipstick. Bebe is rarely seen without makeup; since entering High School, she’s grown to dislike her natural face – pale and imperfect, with dark patches under her eyes and freckles on her arms. Fake tan, foundation and fad diets are a necessity, if only to get her mom off her back.

Personality:

Bebe doesn’t let anyone see more than her outward appearance. Since childhood, discouraging comments about pursuing an education and becoming an independent career woman have twisted her dreams and shattered her personal image. She works hard at school, but often struggles more than her classmates and is too stubborn to ask for help. Bebe wants to follow Wendy to an Ivy League School, become a Marine Biologist, and change the world for women in STEM. Constant reality checks from failed exams and her mom’s patriarchal view of the world have made that goal unobtainable, so now she’s relying on Instagram fame, a rich college boy proposing, and being widowed at 35 with diamonds to spare.

Bebe is bold, to the point, and surprisingly witty. However, she often disguises her wit behind ditzy or vain observations and a vapid obsession with whatever’s fashionable at the time. She’s driven, though, and even with the world seeing her a certain way, she’d like to become a bigger, brighter person. At parties, she’s a loud personality; she likes drink, dick, drugs and dancing in any order, and isn’t afraid to announce it. She’s also a natural born leader. People are drawn to her, be that because she’s got great boobs and bad reputation, or because she knows how the world works (a little too much) and isn’t afraid to grab it by the balls.

History:

Deborah Thornton met Harvey Stevens when she was 17 and he was 25. Harvey was everything Deborah wanted: well-dressed, well-spoken, and heir to a successful stationary company. Her dating strategy was relentless; Deborah knew what she wanted, and she was damn well going to get it – but how was she going to keep it? That much was easy: have his baby.

Bebe knows she’s not a child born of love, but of circumstance. Her parents like each other well enough, but there’s no spark, just a dull-witted woman who dresses nicely for her boring, business-minded husband. Luckily, their poor parenting techniques have resulted in Bebe getting almost everything she asks for, and Deborah encourages that want-all attitude with pride. Bebe is the spitting image of her mom at 18: voluptuous body, sweet voice, and unwavering social status. Now all she needs is a husband.

The world has blessed Bebe, but as a ten-year-old, that wasn’t enough. She wanted everything she could get her hands on: all the boys, all the power, and all the shoes. Sure, stealing her dad’s gun and pointing at her best friend wasn’t her proudest moment, especially when it was just to keep her hands on Clyde fucking Donavon, but that decisiveness has remained to this day. She’ll dress slutty if she wants to, snort coke if she wants to, and get down if she wants to. Nonetheless, not even Deborah could have planned for Bebe’s independence. Bebe Stevens wants the world.

Sample paragraph:

There’s a riot going on outside, and Bebe can see most of her class in the middle of it. Knowing that lot, they probably started it. A few look worried, the majority bored (oh, a riot in South Park? Must be, like, a Tuesday) but they all know it’ll die down tomorrow when the next bullshit scenario rears its ugly head.

At least they’re involved, right? Bebe hasn’t been dragged into any non-squad drama for months. Sometimes, the guys will give Wendy a taste of their bizzare-o world, and Wendy will complain and call them assholes, but Bebe has this secret feeling that all those whacko, dangerous shenanigans might be kinda … fun.

Fuck. All she wants is the chance, just once, to take the wheel and get fucking WILD with it. Unfortunately, she has a reputation to uphold, an Instagram to keep active, and no one really trusts her after the whole, like, ‘pointing-a-gun-at-her-best-friend’ business.

Bebe blames some of it on society. That’s what Wendy would say to to cheer her up (and, thanks girl, but a pair of shoes or some ice cream would do a better job of it).

She blames the rest of it on her mom. Her mom, who’s dragged Bebe to yet another salon, because “you won’t marry rich with dry skin and crusty cuticles, honey.” Bebe’s fingers fucking ache after the trials they’ve been put through today, just for a French manicure and a couple gems on the thumbnail.

“Hey, mom,” she ventures, and her mom looks up from her copy of The Boob Job: Use your Tits to get Hitched to address her little girl.

Her mom only cares about two things: potential boyfriends (and how Bebe can use her body to bag them), and any girl-gang gossip that’ll make her feel young again.

“Can I go outside? I think I see Annie out there..”

“And ruin your nails, baby? What if that Clyde boy sees you acting like a common whore? Or Token, he’s rich, right?”

“Then they’ll be more likely to fuck me, right? Come on, mom. I can see robots out there.”

Bebe knows that the idea of her daughter becoming just another white-trash, Tomboy Tina terrifies Deborah to the core. But they’re in South Park, and the alternative options are pretty slim.

“Fine,” her mom says, “but I want you to get three good selfies and at least one date out of it, you here? Tell them you’re a cheerleader, they like that. And look out for college boys - they’re smart.”

This town is tiny and suffocating, Bebe wants to say, they all know I’m a fuckin cheerleader. But instead she says, “sure mom, whatever, kisses,” and bolts out the door, wondering if she’ll be brave enough, today, to break a nail.

Head canons:

Bebe still has her fluffy white cat, Thumper, who she adores, even if half of his fur has gone and his legs don’t work anymore. Deborah hates the thing, but Harvey still makes sure its fed if Bebe’s away.

Bebe has some lingering drug issues. She rarely goes out now without dropping some MDMA or a line of coke, and she sometimes sneaks out at night to smoke a joint at Stark’s pond. It’s got the point that she thinks it’s a necessity to be the ultimate party girl, and she’s got no plans to stop anytime soon. It’s what Paris Hilton would have wanted.

Bebe has MAD body-image issues and will not let anyone see her without her makeup on. The only exceptions are Wendy and her dad.

Anything else: nope, nada!

#bebe stevens #accepted #submission

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snowingforest-blog · 5 years ago

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Thumbnail Blaster Review and Bonus

Welcome to my Thumbnail Blaster Review and Demo YouTube first became popular as an on the net platform regarding musicians to generate some sort of name for themselves and achieving extra views was, and still is definitely, the ultimate goal regarding video content creators. Back in thumbnail blaster , people would use deceptive title, tags, and thumbnails to a great extent to obtain more views and now days Google and yahoo has won this battle with spam by simply integrating new voice and image identification technology to get an idea regarding precisely what a video is about when compared with what the subject material creator promises in the particular title, tags, and description. This helps to offer people who have a much far better consumer experience in order to something up on YouTube. Online video media content creators are nowadays up against having to basically make quality video tutorials that people will appreciate and to get more views, this has to be observed by sufficient people to find the appropriate person who will introduce the idea on his net site, at least share it on Facebook or myspace. Legally consequently, Google's leading goal will be user working experience over this content provider's watch count up, however some industry experts claim the new changes in order to the algorithm will lead to old videos, that folks have already observed, attract more attention than new versions and could actually create it tough for the particular user to find fresh new content in search benefits intended for popular search phrases. So, how does a video clip content creator this year beat the latest changes for you to the YouTube Algorithm? Make Videos Like Never Prior to Create a Following Comment The Way into the Top Away from Site Search engine optimization Know The particular Difference Between Junk And even Optimization Generate Video tutorials Much like Never Before With YouTube's 92 Billion web page opinions a 30 days plus soaring, a video must be unique for it to pick up reputation. Planning a video clip and server scripting are now a must along together with picture quality. By comparing the particular movies with millions involving views into the lesser involving the tribes, you can see that high definition and exceptional lighting are two typical traits shared by this just about all viewed videos. This kind of doesn't entail you possess to get an high priced HD camera to find more views. Dailymotion possesses a set of formatting tickets, again to aid provide a better person experience. yt: crop=16: nine yt: stretch=16: dokuz yt: quality=high Use these kind of tags to eliminate window boxing and poor video level of quality if you do not have access to HI-DEF equipment. Pay attention to your video's thumbnail options careful to not be flagged for spam. "OMG" deals with are popular thumbnail models just providing it is what will be within it. The. 25. 5 various plus. 75 points on your movie used to help be what determined the thumbnail selections when uploading. With so much maltreatment, Yahoo came up along with the bright plan in order to use the three lengthiest movies from your online video and semi-randomly picking a point in the three schedule points. Audio tracks and impression root record names happen to be also added in the formula to better give ideal thumbnail alternatives. Spammers cannot just add a quick photo flash at typically the halfway stage of his or her videos to get even more opinions. Build a Next As with Twitter, Twits, and MySpace, Youtube . com is also a social networking system. Being mixed up in community is a must for brand-new and even old video information inventors looking to turn into popular on YouTube. Create your channel around a specific niche market that has a good mid-sized level of opposition. Visit similar channels together with comment on their video clips with sincere compliments as well as queries. Treat your subscriber's video clips the same technique so you are not necessarily to work as a dormant range in their request give. The old SUB4SUB approach is still being used and has cultivated directly into its own community or perhaps niche. If your market is teenagers, go intended for it! Be careful definitely not to be called out and about being a spammer because typically the idea of, "You subscribe to me and I will certainly subscribe to you" is often frowned upon by people of a professional background. YouTube picks upwards in seriously repeated reviews plus auto-marks them like junk e-mail so just work with a SUB4SUB profile impression and be active on this SUB4SUB channels in the Youtube . com community. Set aside a day to work about building the following with other social networking sites such while Facebook, Twitter, plus Bebo. This expands your own right away to those who don't have a channel on Youtube . com which often surprisingly enough tends to make up for the vast majority of web site's 92 billion guests every single month. Comment Your Approach For the Top Uploading a good video 2 times a few days and commenting with your customers movies and stations the working day before is an excellent tip of thumb. Being consistent on doing so is usually the work area of the full thing. However, by doing this anyone brand yourself using your clients and build a attention among them which starts off the particular snowball effect associated with even more landscapes together with subscribers when they think and share your video clips. This is why you want to help stay within your niche. When leaving comments, end up being sincere about what anyone model. Never just declare a pair of words and get away from. This totally defeats the purpose and is also not really planning to make people want to know who else left said remark. Leave comments people wish on their videos in addition to share the particular comment upon Facebook and Twitting in order to make it show right up as a "linked comment" on top of this brief review feed. Each moment the fans from Twitter or maybe Twits clicks in it, often the comment is moved time for the top rated of the comment nourish. Be creative in your own reviews and it may possibly get thumbed up furthermore gaining more and whole lot more fascination towards the article author of mentioned comment. This ultimate goal here is in order to compliment the online video media owner's work which brands the username and channel now when your video tutorials turn up in their subscription give, it will probably be hard to avoid. Off Web page Optimization Below is more "work" of which has to be completed in order to maneuver your videos to this best of search effects. When people are looking for anyone, it is best to help be easy to find. Just applying a lot of tags consumers are searching for just isn't going to slice the particular cake. Google wants to see back links on well-known internet sites leading to the video to support your says of everything you have because your title. Should a well-known web site has a hyperlink to your video using the particular phrases in your title, it gives PAGE RANK things for that phrase after a certain amount of moment. However, when you go around posting not related hyperlinks, probabilities are it will always be taken out and wouldn't count up since some sort of back hyperlink anyway as a result of time component threshold. Post your movie to other web-sites related to your niche and also participate in forum chats together with post your video clip because a good hyperlink when it is in connection with often the debate. You have to maintain it related and it need to add value in order to the discussion. If the links get taken off, that will have a invert effect on your lookup results placement so become sure and respect often the terms and conditions involving forums that will allow back links to movies and net sites. Know The Change Between Spam And Marketing The fine line among spam and optimization is critical to breaking through often the bulk amounts of videos on YouTube if persons interested in your stuff will even know this is out there. For anyone who is Fred, plus your personal station (Lucas) says your age is usually 33, it is highly unlikely you will have called out for lying about your age when an individual created your account. If anyone are like many various other Youtube . com celebrities and the explanation abounds with advertising your own personal social networks together with Tee shirt, jersey sales instead of describing the video, you may well not get referred to as out and about either. However, chances are you are usually not necessarily a Youtube . com movie star and if you abide by suit, it is merely a new matter of time ahead of you are forbidden through the site. When picking a title for your video clip, you must be creative and apply thoughts that are proceeding to get results from yahoo and google at the same time. Decide on a good search name you wish to be found simply by (that best describes the video) and use this in your title. Engines like google like wide variety so put in a few support words towards your phrase. For example: Target term: Remote Control Garden Mower A superb title would likely be: Remote Control Yard Mower vs. Steep Hills Write a brief description while using target phrase merely once towards the top nevertheless not really since the first term. Be organic and talk to your viewers. This tags for the online video media need to be specific to your own target term with together with without quotations. By way of example: "remote control garden mower" out of the way control garden mower. After the calendar month of positive person allergic reactions, you will observe your online video media climbing the charts. For competitive keyword phrases, your movie has in order to produce lots of positive viewer reaction before it will eventually show up on best of search engine results and gradually on Google as a good online video media result. Patients, tough work, and reliability happen to be a must. You will want to add videos on a regular basis most with a little different targeted phrases pertaining to your niche. The idea is a lot regarding work. Yet , when a person get your first movie up to a , 000, 000 views, you can be hooked in YouTube, wearing Vimeo T-shirts, and even making tutorials to help others.

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donnerpartyofone · 7 years ago

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honestly don’t even bother reading this, but

so look, everybody knows i’m too old to be on this stupid website, but can any of you millennials or whatever explain to me whether or not “try not to gasp” is now, or has ever been, a real thing that real people say to each other? lemme back up on a minute: i get abnormally annoyed with advertising of almost any kind. more to the point, i take it extremely personally, to an irrational degree. just the thought that somebody thinks they know how to force me to buy something sends me into a mindless rage, almost no matter what it is. the problem is that i’m hypersensitive to the way that an advertisement describes me, their target, as a person. it assumes that i lose my goddamn mind at the sight of an adorable baby with a gently sarcastic adult VO, or a high school graduation with swelling arcade fire-type music behind it, or a musclebound jock suspended in a bubble of his own sweat, or a dumb-looking broad with humongous knockers, or whatever. every time i see something like this, attached to the idea that i’m gonna pay money for whatever is associated with this imagery, i just feel like somebody is calling me a fucking asshole right to my face. i have no ability to distance myself from it, or keep in mind that ads represent a net cast as wide as possible, trolling for the lowest common denominators. i actually have this reaction to almost anything with a promotional aura around it. like, i don’t just *hate* bad music for the way that it sounds; when i hear bad music, i start to picture what kind of person i’d have to be to actually like that music, like what kind of mind i would have to have in order to perceive the signals coming from the bad music as pleasure, and then i start to imagine the ideal circumstance under which the bad music is playing, and i imagine myself at some gigantic horrible fucking rave or whatever completely filled with the kinds of dumbasses that the music is reaching out to, and i just feel like maybe i’m going to die of humiliation just from listening to the music for one second, and like i shouldn’t let anybody call me out as a stupid fucking piece of shit on this level, but i don’t know how to like...get revenge or whatever, so i just stew in my own loathing. so anyway, i have the same type of problem with clickbait. i look at the grainy, poorly cropped stock photos and read the deliberately half-formed sentences, and i start imagining exactly how stupid and tacky i would have to be to actually click on one of these things. it’s not even the fact that they’re like 80% extremely poisonous sexual garbage, and then 20% some melange of laughing at fat ugly people, positing violent disasters as jerk off material, or just making totally unreasonable claims--you know, that you’ll die of shock forever if you look closely at whatever is inside the one single pixel they’ve circled in red buried inside a boring arbitrary frame from Disney’s Hercules or something. (the circled secrets are possibly the worst; it’ll be like an already pretty horny picture of a barely-clothed woman, with a red circle in the middle of her elbow and the caption will go YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MIND FOR ALL ETERNITY WHEN YOU SEE THIS ONE SMALL DETAIL, and i’m like, what could the person who wrote this even HOPE that i will think? are they gonna show me all her germs after the jump? like am i gonna click on the picture hoping a dick pops out of her elbow and sings By a Waterfall to me? what is this shit even about?) the thing that pisses me off is the assumption that this content seems to make about me, the viewer. most obviously, it assumes that i’m frantically worried about which forgotten child actors are fuckable now, or which morbidly obese reality stars are fuckable now, or which ugly celebrities are fucking hot people now...or like, what happens when a duckling meets a puppy for the first time, which apparently i *will not believe*. but there’s this whole other thing--the “try not to gasp” thing. clickbait doesn’t just think i’m such a dumb piece of shit that i’ll click on these things, but it thinks that i am so mortally fragile that i will GASP. it thinks my entire respiratory system will spasm helplessly when i see what hermione looks like now or whatever (as if that isn’t current, heavily circulated information). there’s some guy on the other end of this picture of haley joel osment that he got off reuters, going, TRY NOT TO GASP WHEN YOU SEE WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE NOW! ARE YOU READY? BE CAREFUL THOUGH, YOU MIGHT GASP IF YOU LOOK! YOU SHOULD TAKE A BREATH BEFORE YOU CLICK ON THIS PICTURE! OR HOLD YOUR BREATH! OTHERWISE, A KIND OF BREATHING MIGHT HAPPEN, WHICH IS NOT THE KIND OF BREATHING YOU NORMALLY EXPECT! YOU MAY LOOK AT THIS PICTURE AND GASP, AND THEN THINK TO YOURSELF, “MY GOODNESS, I GASPED! I DID NOT THINK THAT I WOULD GASP! I THOUGHT, IT IS OK, I CAN GUESS WHAT HALEY JOEL OSMENT LOOKS LIKE TODAY, SURELY HIS FACE WILL NOT MAKE ME GASP. BUT I WAS WRONG! I GLIMPSED HIM, AND BREATH RUSHED INTO MY MOUTH, MAKING A LITTLE SOUND LIKE ‘GASP’! OH MY GOLLY, I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME, THIS GASPING! WEATHER.COM WARNED ME TO TRY NOT TO GASP, BUT THEY JUST KNEW I WOULD GASP ANYWAY! WHAT A SILLY FOOL I WAS TO EVER TRY NOT TO GASP!” like what is this? even in the world in which a person would actually gasp at something they found on aol.com, what are the consequences supposed to be of gasping? or like what do i fucking get if i DON’T gasp? every time i see one of these things, i picture a bunch of extremely virginal college freshmen squeezed onto the lower bunk of a dorm room at some parochial school bobbling all over each other in front of a gateway computer, turning koolaid red at the sight of veronica mars in a dress or something. and like...isn’t the internet all about becoming totally and completely jaded? just from the sheer speed at which shocking material circulates, to the point that it has eliminated the need for things like ogrish and rotten by now? hasn’t everybody with the internet seen at least one example of every kind of porn or accident video imaginable, even if you genuinely didn’t mean to? isn’t the internet all about how information wants to be free, so there’s just nothing remotely surprising about anything related to public figures, or videos that had their last view before vine even became a thing? who are the people who are supposed to be so scandalized by this stuff, and why do the people who actually create clickbait have such a hard time figuring out what’s ACTUALLY trending? you pretty much have to try HARDER to NOT find out what’s popular at any given moment. and yet, we still have this clickbait that seems to harken back to a world in which people might still sit through eternal buffering to ogle angelfire sites full of low res screen caps of hollywood actresses in R-rated shower scenes; a world in which the Family Computer is still a thing, and the potential harbinger of the devastating end of your personal life. MEN, DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOUR WIFE IS AROUND! warns the caption under a stock photo of a young woman in a tank top, wearing a neutral expression, sitting in a park. who are these MEN whose main source of stimulation are these tiny thumbnails littered all over msn news, who can only access them in a time and place where their WIVES are lurking nearby watching internet videos over their guilty husbands’ shoulders? i bag on how arcane these things are, but i (we) see them at the bottom of fairly popular contemporary websites too, which only confuses me more. it seems to me that the target audience for clickbait is just, todd and rodd flanders, and i’m trying to figure out how these innocent flanderses of the world could even have gotten their little luddite mitts on a computer in the first place, in order to be so massively and persistently victimized by this shit. i don’t get this at all. is “try not to gasp” a real thing that real people say to each other? was it ever?

#it's not personal or anything #i'm just having a shit fit

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lakelandseo · 4 years ago

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Google Posts: Conversion Factor — Not Ranking Factor

Posted by Greg_Gifford

While Google Posts aren’t a ranking factor, they can still be an incredibly effective resource for increasing local business conversions — when used correctly. This week’s Whiteboard Friday host, Greg Gifford, shows you how to put your best post forward.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Fridays. I'm Greg Gifford, the Vice President of Search at SearchLab, a boutique digital marketing agency specializing in local SEO and paid search. I'm here today to talk about— you guessed it — Google Posts, the feature on Google My Business that lets you post interesting and attractive things to attract potential customers.

The importance of Google My Business

Mike Blumenthal said it first. Your Google My Business listing is your new homepage. Then we all kind of stole it, and everybody says it now. But it's totally true. It's the first impression that you make with potential customers. If someone wants your phone number, they don't have to go to your site to get it anymore. Or if they need your address to get directions or if they want to check out photos of your business or they want to see hours or reviews, they can do it all right there on the search engine results page.

If you're a local business, one that serves customers face-to-face at a physical storefront location or that serves customers at their location, like a plumber or an electrician, then you're eligible to have a Google My Business listing, and that listing is a major element of your local SEO strategy. You need to stand out from competitors and show potential customers why they should check you out. Google Posts are one of the best ways to do just that thing.

How to use Google Posts effectively

For those of you who don't know about Google Posts, they were released back in 2016, and they used to show up, up at the top of your Google My Business panel, and most businesses went crazy over them. In October of 2018, they moved them down to the very bottom of the GMB panel on desktop and out of the overview panel on mobile results, and most people kind of lost interest because they thought there would be a huge loss of visibility.

But honestly, it doesn't matter. They're still incredibly effective when they're used correctly.

Posts are basically free advertising on Google. You heard that right. They're free advertising. They show up in Google search results. Seriously, especially effective on mobile when they're mixed in with other organic results.

But even on desktop, they help your business attract potential customers and stand out from other local competitors. More importantly, they can drive pre-site conversions. You've heard about zero-click search. Now people can convert without getting to your site. They appear as a thumbnail, an image with a little bit of text underneath. Then when the user clicks on the thumbnail, the whole post pops up in a pop-up window that basically fills the window on either mobile or desktop.

Now they have no influence on ranking. They're a conversion factor, not a ranking factor. Think of it this way though. If it takes you 10 minutes to create a post and you do only one a week, that's just 40 minutes a month. If you get a conversion, isn't it worth doing? If you do them correctly, you can get a lot more than just one conversion.

In the past, I would have told you that posts stay live in your profile for seven days, unless you use one of the post templates that includes a date range, in which case they stay live for the entire date range. But it looks like Google has changed the way that posts work, and now Google displays your 10 most recent posts in a carousel with a little arrow to scroll through. Then when you get to the end of those 10 posts, it has a link to view all of your older posts.

Now you shouldn't pay attention to most of what you see online about Posts because there's a ridiculous amount of misinformation or simply outdated information out there.

Avoid words on the "no-no" list

Quick tip: Be careful about the text that you use. Anything with sexual connotation will get your post denied. This is really frustrating for some industries. If you put up a post about weather stripping, you get vetoed because of the word "stripping." Or if you're a plumber and you post about "toilet repairs" or "unclogging a toilet", you get denied for using the word "toilet."

So be careful if you have anything that might be on that no-no, naughty list.

Use an enticing thumbnail

The full post contains an image. A full post has the image and then text with up to 1,500 characters, and that's all most people pay attention to. But the post thumbnail is the key to success. No one is going to see the full post if the thumbnail isn't enticing enough to click on.

Think of it like you're creating a paid search campaign. You need really compelling copy if you want more clicks on your ad or a really awesome image to attract attention if it's a banner image. The same principle applies to posts.

Make them promotional

It's also important to be sure that your posts are promotional. People are seeing these posts in the search results before they go to your site. So in most cases they have no idea who you are yet.

The typical social fluff that you share on other social platforms doesn't work. Don't share links to blog posts or a simple "Hey, we sell this" message because those don't work. Remember, your users are shopping around and trying to figure out where they want to buy, so you want to grab their attention with something promotional.

Pick the right template

Most of the stuff out there will tell you that the post thumbnail displays 100 characters of text or about 16 words broken into 4 distinct lines. But in reality, it's different depending on which post template you use and whether or not you include a call to action link, which then replaces that last line of text.

But, hey, we're all marketers. So why wouldn't we include a CTA link, right?

There are three main post types. In the vast majority of cases, you want to use the What's New post template. That's the one that allows for the most text in the thumbnail view, so it's easier to write something compelling. Now with the What's New post, once you include that call to action, it replaces that last line so you end up with three full lines of available text space.

Both the Event and Offer post templates include a title and then a date range. Some people dig the date range because the post stays visible for that whole date range. But now that posts stay live and visible forever, there's no advantage there. Both of those post types have that separate title line, then a separate date range line, and then the call to action link is going to be on the fourth line, which leaves you only a single line of text or just a few words to write something compelling.

Sure, the Offer post has a cool little price tag emoji there next to the title and some limited coupon functionality, but that's not a reason. You should have full coupon functionality on your site. So it's better to write something compelling with a "What's New" post template and then have the user click through on the call to action link to get to your site to get more information and convert there.

There's also a new COVID update post type, but you don't want to use it. It shows up a lot higher on your Google My Business profile, actually just below your top line information, but it's text only. Only text, no image. If you've got an active COVID post, Google hides all of your other active posts. So if you want to share a COVID info post or updates about COVID, it's better to use the What's New post template instead.

Pay attention to image cropping

The image is the frustrating part of things. Cropping is super wonky and really inconsistent. In fact, you could post the same image multiple times and it will crop slightly differently each time. The fact that the crop is slightly higher than vertical center and also a different size between mobile and desktop makes it really frustrating.

The important areas of your image can get cropped out, so half of your product ends up being gone, or your text gets cropped out, or things get really hard to read. Now there's a rudimentary cropping tool built into the image upload function with posts, but it's not locked to an aspect ratio. So then you're going to end up with black bars either on the top or on the side if you don't crop it to the correct aspect ratio, which is, by the way, 1200 pixels width by 900 pixels high.

You need to have a handle on what the safe area is within the image. So to make things easier, we created this Google Posts Cropping Guide. It's a Photoshop document with built-in guides to show you what the safe area is. You can download it at bit.ly/posts-image-guide. Make sure you put that in lowercase because it's case sensitive.

But it looks like this. Anything within that white grid is safe and that's what's going to show up in that post thumbnail. But then when you see the full post, the rest of the image shows up. So you can get really creative and have things like here's the image, but then when it pops up, there's additional text at the bottom.

Include UTM tracking

Now, for the call to action link, you need to be sure that you include UTM tracking, because Google Analytics doesn't always attribute that traffic correctly, especially on mobile.

Now if you include UTM tagging, you can ensure that the clicks are attributed to Google organic, and then you can use the campaign variable to differentiate between the posts that you published so you'll be able to see which post generated more click-throughs or more conversions and then you can adjust your strategy moving forward to use the more effective post types.

So for those of you that aren't super familiar with UTM tagging, it's basically adding a query string like this to the end of the URL that you're tagging so it forces Google Analytics to attribute the session a certain way that you're specifying.

So here's the structure that I recommend using when you do Google posts. It's your domain on the left. Then ?UTM_Source is GMB.Post, so it's separated. Then UTM_Medium is Organic, and UTM_Campaign is some sort of post identifier. Some people like to use Google as the source.

But at a high level, when you look at your source medium report, that traffic all gets lumped together with everything from Google. So sometimes it's confusing for clients who don't really understand that they can look at secondary dimensions to break apart that traffic. So more importantly, it's easier for you to see your post traffic separately when you look at the default source medium report.

You want to leave organic as your medium so that it's lumped and grouped correctly on the default channel report with all organic traffic. Then you enter some sort of identifier, some sort of text string or date that can let you know which post you're talking about with that campaign variable. So make sure it's something unique so that you know which post you're talking about, whether it's car post, oil post, or a date range or the title of the post so you know when you're looking in Google Analytics.

It's also important to mention that Google My Business Insights will show you the number of views and clicks, but it's a bit convoluted because multiple impressions and/or multiple clicks from the same users are counted independently. That's why adding the UTM tagging is so important for tracking accurately your performance.

Upload videos

Final note, you can also upload videos so a video shows in the thumbnail and in the post.

So when users see that thumbnail that has a little play button on it and they click it, when the post pops up, the video will play there. Now the file size limit is 30 seconds or 75 MB, which if you got commercials, that's basically the perfect size. So even though they've been around for a few years, most businesses still ignore Posts. Now you know how to rock Posts so you'll stand out from competitors and generate more click-throughs.

Hopefully you enjoyed the video. If you've got any additional tips to share, please throw them in the comments down below. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you again next time.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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