#they should colab

[oof-i-did-it-agaaiiin]

Chipettes cover of Hot To Go when.

[frog-lover69]

LIL ART THINGIE! AND SUCH!

Hellu guys!! I know there's not many people who sees my art and all BUT I really enjoy drawing and would apriciate anf love it if people started to prehaps send me questions or "you should draw this and you should draw that" and ill draw it!

:DDDD

I really like it to draw just random stuff or if someone wants to colab or draw doodles with me I'd be more than happy!!

I'm really lonley and want friends, drawing helps ^^

What I'm okay with drawing?

Everything as long as its not very k1nky or degrading in a way that discusts me.

I dont really hate anyone >3< I dont support cc!Wilbur but i dont hate people who does. Always support victims ofc and please be respectful.

Be a good person <33

[goatmilksoda]

Spending like 3 hours with a bunch of 6-10 year olds today really made me understand the appeal of Jerma. He's like an 8 year old boy playing with Legos who just happens to inhabit an adult body.

He's an egg surprise Youtuber for autistic college students. He's making McDonalds pretend play slime videos and Webkinz hospital for grown-ups but they're 8 hour long streams of people greenscreening him into stuff. I get it now. Everything makes sense.

[thewaywardcasgirl]

i see the writers, where is the battle?

[perfectlyoongi]

thinking ab bts in total drama. oh the chaos

[str33tydr1ft]

I saw smt abt monster engines eating their crew and i got remninded at some point in my au, one of my ocs, Tyson, who drives Gordon, git his hands but off becuase he pissed off Gordin by accident

Tyson still drives Gordon btw he isn't mad abt Gordon biting off his hands

He has metal ones now :D

[time-traveling-fetus]

I wrote a script that gives you exact probability of winning a full turn of clashes in Limbus Company since the game seems to only predict the first clash and doesn't give you exact numbers. Just put in each combatants' base power, coins, coin power, any boosts you get from offense level/status effects, and sanity

[bogos-bint3d]

I don't know how I haven't actually exploded yet

[brandileigh2003]

Cause it's fun :)

I have YouTube music so... I just clicked "my supermix" and got an interesting mix.

Who wants to play?

@daffodilsonaprettystring @siriusblack28 @paifically @nixies

@speck-inthe-void @dreamingstuf7 @littlesadzap

[smellslikebot]

"how do I keep my art from being scraped for AI from now on?"

if you post images online, there's no 100% guaranteed way to prevent this, and you can probably assume that there's no need to remove/edit existing content. you might contest this as a matter of data privacy and workers' rights, but you might also be looking for smaller, more immediate actions to take.

...so I made this list! I can't vouch for the effectiveness of all of these, but I wanted to compile as many options as possible so you can decide what's best for you.

Discouraging data scraping and "opting out"

robots.txt - This is a file placed in a website's home directory to "ask" web crawlers not to access certain parts of a site. If you have your own website, you can edit this yourself, or you can check which crawlers a site disallows by adding /robots.txt at the end of the URL. This article has instructions for blocking some bots that scrape data for AI.

HTML metadata - DeviantArt (i know) has proposed the "noai" and "noimageai" meta tags for opting images out of machine learning datasets, while Mojeek proposed "noml". To use all three, you'd put the following in your webpages' headers:

<meta name="robots" content="noai, noimageai, noml">

Have I Been Trained? - A tool by Spawning to search for images in the LAION-5B and LAION-400M datasets and opt your images and web domain out of future model training. Spawning claims that Stability AI and Hugging Face have agreed to respect these opt-outs. Try searching for usernames!

Kudurru - A tool by Spawning (currently a Wordpress plugin) in closed beta that purportedly blocks/redirects AI scrapers from your website. I don't know much about how this one works.

ai.txt - Similar to robots.txt. A new type of permissions file for AI training proposed by Spawning.

ArtShield Watermarker - Web-based tool to add Stable Diffusion's "invisible watermark" to images, which may cause an image to be recognized as AI-generated and excluded from data scraping and/or model training. Source available on GitHub. Doesn't seem to have updated/posted on social media since last year.

Image processing... things

these are popular now, but there seems to be some confusion regarding the goal of these tools; these aren't meant to "kill" AI art, and they won't affect existing models. they won't magically guarantee full protection, so you probably shouldn't loudly announce that you're using them to try to bait AI users into responding

Glaze - UChicago's tool to add "adversarial noise" to art to disrupt style mimicry. Devs recommend glazing pictures last. Runs on Windows and Mac (Nvidia GPU required)

WebGlaze - Free browser-based Glaze service for those who can't run Glaze locally. Request an invite by following their instructions.

Mist - Another adversarial noise tool, by Psyker Group. Runs on Windows and Linux (Nvidia GPU required) or on web with a Google Colab Notebook.

Nightshade - UChicago's tool to distort AI's recognition of features and "poison" datasets, with the goal of making it inconvenient to use images scraped without consent. The guide recommends that you do not disclose whether your art is nightshaded. Nightshade chooses a tag that's relevant to your image. You should use this word in the image's caption/alt text when you post the image online. This means the alt text will accurately describe what's in the image-- there is no reason to ever write false/mismatched alt text!!! Runs on Windows and Mac (Nvidia GPU required)

Sanative AI - Web-based "anti-AI watermark"-- maybe comparable to Glaze and Mist. I can't find much about this one except that they won a "Responsible AI Challenge" hosted by Mozilla last year.

Just Add A Regular Watermark - It doesn't take a lot of processing power to add a watermark, so why not? Try adding complexities like warping, changes in color/opacity, and blurring to make it more annoying for an AI (or human) to remove. You could even try testing your watermark against an AI watermark remover. (the privacy policy claims that they don't keep or otherwise use your images, but use your own judgment)

given that energy consumption was the focus of some AI art criticism, I'm not sure if the benefits of these GPU-intensive tools outweigh the cost, and I'd like to know more about that. in any case, I thought that people writing alt text/image descriptions more often would've been a neat side effect of Nightshade being used, so I hope to see more of that in the future, at least!

[terycrossing]

ᯓ★ 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐫���𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐏𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩 𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 ୭ ʚ✩ɞ

Nintendo recently announced that they will be ending the colab between ACNH and Pocket Camp pretty soon, and I see that a lot of people do not know how to redeem them or get back if they restart their island.

So, I decided to post a tutorial:

Here is how you can redeem those items in the first place (remember that this will be possible only until November 28th, 2024 - 3:00 PM UTC)

1) Download Pocket Camp on your mobile device

2) Play through the tutorial (cca 30 min of playing?)

3) Link your account: Menu > My Nintendo

4) Claim the "Special order ticket" - you will receive a code

5) Redeem the code on your Switch in the eShop

6) Done! Items should be in your game in the "Nook Shopping" under "Promotion"

Now, for people who have already redeemed these items before. You might be scared that you will lose them once you restart your island. But that is not the case! Not even after the colab ends because you redeemed these items on your Nintendo account and not into your game.

Here, I have a tutorial on how to get them back in case you want to restart your island. (If you already restarted your island, and you do not have these items, I am sorry, but I do not know if this method will work as you will have to skip the first step)

1) Before you start a new island, delete your game from the Switch and download it again (I cannot guarantee it will work if you do not do this step as I haven't tried it my self. Please share in the comments if it works or not.)

2) Play the game - Personally I would recommend waiting till you have upgraded the Plaza (just to check if u have the items already or not)

3) Save, turn off the game and go to the eShop and click on your little profile in the top right corner

4) Go to the "Redownload" section

5) Here you should see all your previously downloaded games that are not on your Switch right now - one of them should be something that looks exactly like the ACNH main game

6) Download it - it should take only few seconds to finish

7) Done! Your game was updated and redeemed items were redownloaded back to your new island

I hope that this will worl for all of you. If you have any questions, ask me in the comments as I do not answer to re-uploads. Of course if you have more info or a different method, feel free to share and add.

(This method was tested by me with a physical copy of the ACNH game and with redeemed Pocket Camp items from over 2 years ago)

[marciliedonato]

She's gone again I was debating if I should get the sleeve as well guess we're just getting the sleeve 💀💀

THE SOLD OUT LE REI CASE IS BACK I'M SHITTING A BRICK

[madi-writes-things]

Nobody Pt. 9

(C.Sturniolo X Reader)

Summary:

Chris and Y/N never seemed to get along, but sometimes help comes from the most unexpected places

Word Count: 1.8 K

TW: Cursing, SH (not in detail, but it is talked about), cyber-bullying/mean comments, SMUTSMUTSMUT (P in V, Fem receiving oral/fingering, hickeys, heavy making out, pet names, protection used!!!), you can not convince me that Chris isn’t a whimperer, self doubt, Not Edited

A/N: I’m sososososo sorry it took so long, I wanted it to be as good as possible. If anything doesn’t make sense, just chalk it up to my virginal status lol.

-Madi <3

“”“”“”“”“”

Y/N’s POV

After patching things up with Matt, me and Chris decided to hard launch our relationship. It’s been two months since we went public, and the fans just seem to get more upset about it every day. Yesterday was our ten month anniversary, and the comments on our posts were horrific.

@ sturniolo.police

Do y’all think he just stays so she doesn’t kill herself?

@ Chris-Sturn-girlie

@ Sturniolo.police Probably, she treats her body like a kitchen counter… I would be scared too. I bet that’s the only reason why he even asked her out lol.

It was like watching a car accident, I couldn’t stop scrolling. I knew that it was stupid for me to think that dress was a good idea, but Chris picked it out specifically. The dress was a tight long sleeved crème dress. The issue was that it was fairly short, showing a large portion of my upper thighs. It was the first time since eighth grade that I felt comfortable wearing anything shorter than knee length, and less than 24 hours later I was severely regretting my decision.

“”“”“”“”“”

Now I stand in front of our mirror wondering if I should even go out with them tonight. The boys have a really important colab dinner, and I would hate for it to be ruined by people who don’t know how to be kind on the internet.

I look at myself and see someone I hate. The black short sleeve dress accentuates the jagged scars running across my wrists. I always tried to avoid spots that were hard to hide, but in that moment of desperation I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I’m so caught up in my thoughts, that I don’t even hear the door open.

“Is everything okay?” I look up to see Chris behind me, with his arms wrapped around my waist.

“I um… I don’t think I’m feeling up to going tonight… sorry.” He rests his head on my shoulder gently as he gives me a questioning glance. “I don’t want to ruin dinner, and everyone is already saying stuff about the scars on my legs… and if people find out I tried t-” I cut myself off before I could say the truth.

Chris turns me around quickly, looking deep into my eyes. “I don't give a shit what anyone else has to say, you are perfect for me… just as you are.” I try to protest, but he stops me before I can even get one word out. “But… if you don’t feel like going out tonight, that’s okay. I can tell my brothers to just go without us.”

I can feel my eyes burning, not from sadness or guilt, but from the realization that the man in front of me doesn’t care about anything but me. “You don’t have to miss it because of me, don’t feel like you have to stay home.”

In less than three seconds he’s putting his phone into his pocket. “Don’t be silly, I already texted the guys.” I hear the guys yell a quick goodbye and feel better from downstairs before the door closes and the car drives off. “Now… do you need any help getting out of that dress?” He gives me a quick kiss before turning me around so he can reach my zipper.

As soon as the zipper stops, my dress falls to a puddle on the floor. When I turn around I notice Chris’s eyes fall to the matching green butterfly set I have on.

When Chris finally meets my eyes again, his cheeks are a shade of red that I’ve never seen on him. “Like what you see, pretty boy?” Chris is a sputtering mess, trying to respond. I cut him off by quickly connecting my lips with his. His hands quickly find their way into my hair as he lifts me up by the backs of my legs, carrying me to our shared bed.

This wasn’t the first time me and Chris had ever made out, but something was different about this time. There was a hunger in each of us, that kissing couldn’t satiate.

Chris tossed me gently onto the bed before positioning himself above me and continuing our make out session. His lips slowly traveled down my neck, stopping for short moments, then continuing their assault until they landed on my collar bone. A moan left my mouth, much louder than I meant to, as my back arched off the bed.

“You like that baby?” Chris groaned into my ear.

“mhm…” My brain went blank as he made his way down to the valley of my breasts. “Please…”

“please what, ma?” He looks up to me with a mischievous grin.

“Touch me… please.” I practically whine out, upset that he stopped kissing me. Chris quickly taps my side, signaling me to lift up as he unclasps my bra in one swift movement. My bra is replaced with Chris’s hands before I even register that he removed it. He continues to leave wine colored marks across my breasts, while his hands squeeze in the most beautiful ways.

After what feels like an eternity, i feel Chris's hot breath moving down towards my waistline. He glances up at me quickly before turning his head toward my inner thigh. I feel him lift my leg up, over his shoulder, before he resumes his mission. "Did you know that your legs are my favorite part of your body?"

“no they aren’t.” I accuse with a small giggle. I never realized how ticklish my legs are. He quickly sucks on a spot, that will surely be a dark shade of red tomorrow morning, causing my brain to malfunction.

When he stops, I look down to see him looking at me with his big, blue, puppy dog eyes. He toys with my waistline, before finally opening his mouth. “Is this okay?”

I've never responded quicker, nodding my head aggressively while mumbling out a quick please and thank you. It takes him no time to get my panties off, and onto the floor. “You’re sure? I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything.”

“yes… just please touch me!” I’m practically begging when he decides to indulge me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, seeing as I’ve never even ‘helped myself’. Whatever I expected, this was much better. The second he latched his lips onto my clit, I was seeing stars. My whole body felt warm and tingly, and I think I’m close. I quickly intertwine my fingers into Chris’s hair, pulling with the rhythm of his tongue. All of the sudden I feel a long thin finger entering, and I can’t stop the sudden sensation that was building inside me. I couldn’t even get out a full sentence without a loud, almost pornographic moan interrupting me. The second I feel a second finger, I loose all control over my body. My back arches off the bed, as my legs slam shut around Chris’s head. Once I manage to calm myself down, Chris slowly removes his fingers from inside of me.

“Having fun?” I see him wiping his hand against his pant leg, his lips still glistening with me. I don’t think I have the strength to speak, so I simply nod. “Was it… was that okay?” I can see the yearning for approval in his eyes. “… Like, was it good for you?”

I don’t really know how to respond to that question, my brain is stiff fuzzy from my orgasm. “It was amazing baby…” I don’t want this moment to end. “I want to… can we do more… If that’s okay?”

I swear Chris has the condom out in less than three seconds. “Are you sure?” He’s looking at me like he truly doesn’t care what’s in it for him. “We can stop… or do other things, you don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

I do my best to find his eyes in my dazed state. “I’m sure… if it’s anything like what you just did, I’m not sure I ever want you to stop.” He nods quickly before getting up and stripping.

The second his waistband hits mid thigh, his member is hitting his stomach. It looks painful, so red and hard. I don’t know how it’s going to fit, but I trust him. He slides the condom on, quickly climbing back on top of me.

“Are you sure the at you want this?” This again. “We can stop whenever you want to… and you really don’t have to do any-”

I cut him off quickly by grabbing ahold of him and making sure that he knows that my motives are purely selfish at this point in time. He finally gets the hint and lines himself up.

“fu-ck…” Chris practically whimpers as he pushes into me. I unintentionally clench around him, who knew that a man whimpering was so sexy?

“Babe… you gotta stop squeezing me like that, I won’t last.” I mutter a quick apology, before giving him the go ahead to start moving.

It’s an interesting feeling. It’s not necessarily painful or uncomfortable, just different. It doesn’t take long for the feeling to melt into pleasure though.

The house is filled with sounds of whimpering and moaning, as we reach our highs. Chris reaches down and starts rubbing heavenly circles against my already overstimulated clit, causing my orgasm to crash into me without warning. I swear my vision goes out for a minute while Chris chases his own high.

Chris slowly pulls out, making me cry out in pleasure. “I’m sorry, but I have to get you cleaned up. I’ll be right back.”

The second he leaves it hits me all at once. What if it wasn’t good for him? What if he realizes that he only wanted me for sex, and decides the rest isn’t worth it? What if he-

“Are you okay?” He pulls me from my doom spiral, as he starts cleaning me up. He crawls into the bed next to me, looking deep into my eyes.

“Sorry… my brain is just trying to convince me that you’re going to leave.” I see his eyes soften, as he realizes what I’m saying. “It’s not necessarily like I believe it, I just worry sometime that all of my flaws outweigh the things keeping you here… like what if you leave, or you only stay because you feel like I’ll kill myself if you don’t?” Chris stares at me, looking like he doesn’t fully grasp the concept. “Does that make sense? I feel like I’m going crazy sometimes.”

“Do you really think that I would do that?” The way he asks it makes my heart break.

It’s not like I really think that he would do something like that, but my brain just refuses to let me be happy. “No baby… I just find it so hard to trust anyone who says they care.”

Chris just pulls me into his arms, promising me that he loves me more than words could describe. After a few minutes in his arms we decide to put some clothes on and order some food. After dinner, I drift slowly into a peaceful sleep in his arms.

“”“”“”“”“”

@unbruisable @bernardsbendystraws @sturniolo-fann @jnkvivi @stasiesturn

@h3arts4harry @slutforsturniolos

[legacygirlingreen]

Drenched in Magic // Sebastian Sallow x MC One shot

A/N: this was a wonderful colab with @darch7995 ! I simply wrote the story for her idea and HERE is the audio she did! Seriously check out her page sometime bc her audios are INCREDIBLE

All screenshot is by @silverxstardust - she’s got great work as well!

Warnings: nudity, skinny dipping, kissing, flirting, etc

Word count: 4k

The burning in her thighs was almost distracting from her current plight. Almost. Not only had Sebastian sallow drug her from the warmth of the castle right before dinner for a brief treasure hunt in the highlands, but he’d gotten more than either of them bargained for when they’d stumbled upon a camp of dark wizards. Unfortunately, one of Rookwood’s men recognized her as the one who’d lead to their boss's demise, quickly alerting others in the camp to her and the slytherins presence, and thus the unforgivables being hurled around them had started.

Sebastian, wanting to make good on his promise to never cast one again, immediately took off running, pushing her ahead of him to do the same. And they had continued running at top speed, using whatever spells could come to mind to protect them as many of the wizards turned into various animagus forms, running beside them as vile creatures like dark mongrels.

She was thankful for the massive amounts of walking, stair climbing and often running required by the average hogwarts student - the castle was large and avoiding detentions meant frequently breaking out into a sprint in the corridors. Slowly but surely Sebastian was able to pause every now and again, firing confringo and various spells at the opponents, reducing the number of wizards chasing them with time.

“Glacius!” Sebastian shouted as he hurled the spell out over his shoulder before carefully pulling her body into his. She initially went to protest his move as he pulled her along, seeing no point for him wrenching her into his side, but as the lime green ball of light flew past her body, the place she’d previously been standing, she realized why he had done so.

Having no time to focus on that, she turned around, seeing the enemy frozen in place by Sebastian, and deciding that given the man had attempted to use Avada Kadavra on her, then she was justified in using extreme force…

“Diffindo!” She shouted, turning back around to the difficult to see path in front of them as they continued to run. Pushing ahead of Sebastian, who was slowly starting to waiver with his pace, yet she could still feel him on her heels as they ran.

“Have I ever told you that I really like those trousers ? Like really like them” Sebastian said as they pressed on.

“We are running for our lives, and all you can focus on is my wardrobe Sallow? I never knew you were such an observer of fabrics. Perhaps you should fill that open position at Gladrags now that Mr. Hill’s assistant eloped!” She retorted, annoyed he could find time to flirt with her despite their situation.

“Hard pass. It’s less about the trousers, and more about what’s in them that I find so appealing” he responded and she didn’t have to see his face to know he was smirking.

“Perhaps wait until we are no longer in danger to make comments on my-“ she coughed and although hilariously timed it was mostly from the exertion to her lungs. “Assets?” He asked mischievously, accentuating the former part of the word.

It was at that exact moment she felt a firm smack against the same area she could feel his eyes staring despite running in the nearly pitch Black Forest.

Quickly tossing a side eye over her shoulder as they ran she frowned, realizing that even when their lives were at stake, he was still going to behave like a pig. Figures. Before she could even open her mouth to question him further he responded cheekily.

“I believe it’s called multitasking darling, you should try it someti- Incarcerous!” He shouted, and she heard the thud of yet another body drop to the ground as she turned to see a man tied to the ground. Feeling Sebastian’s hand grabbing at hers, she didn’t question when he thrust his non-dominant hand into her own and began to yard her along.

“Multitasking?” She whispered under her breath rhetorically but Sebastian only chuckled at her stunned reaction.

“Multitasking. Like saving your ass, while also staring at or ” Sebastian trailed off, once again reaching down and this time grabbing a firm handful of her bottom as she yelped, not expecting him to have done something so untoward with their lives on the line.

“What in Merlin's name?!” She cried out, and just as she went to yell at him for his behavior, she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes shouting “Bombarda!” Watching how the witch who’d meant to attack them, flew back against a tree with a sickening smack.

“Now what did that witch do to you to deserve such excessive force darling? Could it be you’re reacting this way because you’re riled up?” He teased her, deciding they should make a stand against the few wizards closing in on them. Sebastian knew that deep down if angered enough or truly threatened, the girl would unleash unforeseen magic that would reduce enemies to shreds.

“Riled up? Riled up?! Why on earth would I be riled up Sallow?!” She asked him frustrated at his behavior while the exhaustion burned in her lungs. She was so angry at the boy for continually making passes at her then backing away. He was such a horrendous flirt in private yet when questioned by Ominis, Poppy or any of their other classmates he seemed less than interested in her. The constant confusion grew more and more frustrating to her, as with time, she’d come to really like the boy.

He was tall - much taller than he had been in 5th year - and had only grown more handsome as he’d aged. His wild brown hair had only gotten more unruly. His smile, still charming and full of light. His shoulders, more broad and his frame filled out with more muscles than she’d have expected. Gone was every trace of baby fat, however still the boyish appearance she grew to love had remained somehow. I’m his dimples, in his eyes and in his playfulness. Sebastian sallow was by far the most handsome man she’d laid eyes on.

Giving her that charming Sallow smile he lightly pulled her body behind his own as he cast protego and a red beam from the bushes beside them cast off his forcefield as she gasp. She needed to stop allowing herself to become distracted during dangerous scenarios, as he was capable of flirting and fighting apparently but she couldn’t hold her own when he was standing so close.

Trying to separate from him once more, he pulled her against his body tighter, casting her a warning gaze downward as he continued the onslaught of teasing by saying “not yet princess” just before another beam bounced off his forcefield.

It frustrated her that he continued to harass her. It frustrated her that he was so damn good at fighting while also riling her up. It frustrated her to know that he was so calm under pressure all the while she was dying within his hold. She was frustrated he held her that way and still he refused to make a move unless under life or death scenarios. It frustrated her the way his thumb stroked against the skin of her thigh gently…

As soon as he deflected the charm, he dropped the protego. And she’d had enough between him and the dark wizards after them both. Feeling the electricity so frequently in her veins charging the air, she decided that now was as good a time as any to let it go. Pointing her want to the sky, she saw the remaining three enemies closing in, pulling down a lightning bolt from the heavens as she reduced the last three of their enemies to ash.

“Wow. It still amazes me how incredible you look when you pull that magic out of thin air. A thing of dreams truly” he said as he continued to hold her against him by the hand he’d moved from her thigh to her waist, and cast down a sly grin with a small wink.

At that she huffed, pushing him away and brushing herself off. She ran a hand through her disheveled hair, realizing that her braid had mostly come undone and recognized soon she’d likely have to redo it. Finally able to catch her breath she walked forward, seeing that one of the fallen wizards had dropped a small coin purse ahead of her, and just as she reached down to grab it she heard Sebastian call out for her.

“MC look out!” She didn’t have much time to react before he hurled himself towards her, tackling her into some bushes as a loud whooshing sound and an animalistic growl filled the air.

“Falling hard for me now aren’t you MC?” He asked with a chuckle as he held her cradled against his chest , ignoring the fact that a River troll had already spotted and charged at them.

Rolling off of him and onto her back, she quickly picked herself up and moved out of the way. Unfortunately Sebastian moved the other direction, as the troll moved between them, cornering her back against its den. Continuing to swing its large staff at her, she continued to dodge and deflect while whatever spells Sebastian hurled seemed to do little damage to it.

Concentrating, she used her ancient magic, spurring herself past the beast and landing herself next to Sebastian, at least she attempted to do so, but miscalculated the distance, crashing into him and sending them both flying backwards. As they did so, she could feel his arms once again snaking around her to cushion her fall.

Immediately all she could feel was warmth. Sticky, warmth and the most foul odor she’d ever smelt. Troll boogies.

“Oh that’s downright foul… and here I was having a good hair day” Sebastian chided out before he rolled out of the barreling troll's way.

As the beast reached its staff up to swing at her, she lifted her wand, using ancient magic once more and catching its weapon mid air, flinging it back into the trolls face, disrupting it before once again calling down the lightning to finally defeat it.

Looking over she saw Sebastian staring up at her from the ground with a smirk on his face.

“Don’t.” She warned him as she examined the absolutely filthy state they found themselves in. Covered in dirt, sweat, blood and now troll boogies.

“What?” He asked feigning innocence as she rolled her eyes

“You know what.” Her tone was threatening but Sebastian hardly seemed to mind as he continued to mess with her.

“You know, I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to look sexy while covered in troll boogies but here you are, proov-“ Sebastian was interrupted by a loud howl.

“You have got to be kidding me!” She replied, annoyed at the now incoming mongrels. Deciding she was done fighting for the time being she reached a hand out to Sebastian, and with him distracted she decided to use her newly acquired skills in apparition to get as far away as she could with a location she knew well in her mind…

“Wha-“ Sebastian looked slightly green at the sudden transportation but quickly regained composure before adding “if you wanted me alone darling all you had to do was say so”

Instead of reacting, she simply swatted him away, heading out from the entrance of the cave. Hoping to leave before Sebastian asked too many questions, she knew that the small borough of bainburgh was nearby, and there they could access the floo flame to get home.

“What is this place?” Sebastian asked, seeing the large carving of the graphorn above them, and she sighed seeing he had firmly planted himself at the entrance to the last keeper trial - the one she had gone in only a few years before.

“This is the entrance to the last keeper trial. I uh, had to tame a graphorn and it opened the door” she exclaimed casually as she continued to hope that he would shuffle away and drop the conversation.

“You what? There’s, but you, how?” He asked, still in shock at what she had told him. She simply shrugged asking “can we leave” while gesturing to the mouth of the gorge as he gave in and followed her.

“Why did you never tell me?” Sebastian asked softly.

“It happened around the same time as the catacomb. You were grieving. I didn’t want to bother you with all the keeper stuff. Then Fig- we don’t need to talk about it.” She explained and he relented, knowing that she often bottled up her emotions, as he did.

“Where are we heading?” Sebastian asked, allowing a change in subject.

“Bainburgh is not a far walk from here, we can take the floo -“ she started but he interrupted.

“It’s past curfew so the floo is shut off to the castle. That and I uh… dropped my bag of powder back when I knocked you to the ground” he exclaimed sheepishly.

“Wonderful. I just want to get these troll boogies off me.” She said rolling her eyes as they came to the beginnings of the forge, seeing jobberknols flying overhead before landing above a waterfall.

Sebastian seemed to have noticed the small pool of water at the base of the cliff as well bc he looked to her, wiggling his eyebrows as he pulled her towards the water.

“Well then Princess, your wish is my command. I’ll have those boogies off you in no time” he exclaimed as he marched the pair of them over to the water's edge.

“Sebastian that water is likely freezing, besides I can assure you, the extent of the grime I want off my body goes much further than what you can see” she nearly whined out, desperately wishing she’d stayed at the castle. She would’ve been bathed and in her night dressing, long asleep if he hadn’t convinced her. But one look into those puppy dog eyes and she'd been a goner.

“Warming charms exist for a reason. And as for the rest… I won’t look if you don’t” he teased, dropping her hand to start working off his plaid school jacket and starting to unbutton his waist coast.

“You can’t be serious” she deadpanned

“Deadly. Besides I heard that once dried, troll boogies are nearly impossible to get off your skin and hair-“ she started to explain and the fear alone of being caked in the vile substance was enough to have her started to undo the latches on her corset style vest.

“Fine. But I’m serious Sallow, no peaking” she warned and he turned out. As he did so, she faced the waters edge, knowing he’d given her the privacy of going into the cool water first. Slowly she removed layer after layer until she was bare, undoing the already messy braid, before wading into the cool water until it covered her from the neck down. In the moonlight she realized how difficult it would be for him to actually see anything, a comfort that allowed her to call to him.

“Alright, I’m facing the wall if you want to come in now” she exclaimed and she had anticipated him to slowly walk into the water as she had, but at the final piece of fabric she heard hit the ground, she soon was sprayed with the large splash his body made as he dived into the water.

Coming up for air he chuckled, expertly swimming towards her, while maintaining a respectable distance as she felt the cool water against her nipples.

“Damn, forgot the warming charm” he reminded her and she sighed realizing they’d be cold until they got out.

“I can go get my wand if you promise not to look-“ she tried to reason but he only swam closer, stopping just shy of her before standing up. While she was covered almost entirely, the tops of his shoulders and chest came into view. Seeing the patch of hair covering the center of his chest her words faltered on her tongue.

“See something you like darling?” He asked at her fish out of water expression.

“I - I’ll get my wand. Excuse me” she went to move but he reached forward, grabbing a shoulder to stop her, keeping his body at a slight distance.

“You know there’s other ways to keep warm right” he teased and she’d finally had enough.

“Would you stop it sallow!” She demanded with a frustrating sigh, pulling free of his grasp as she ducked completely underneath the water to rinse the last of the grime from her hair before breaking the surface.

“Stop what?” He asked, and if he hadn't moved closer while she was under the water, she wouldn’t have been able to see his genuine confusion, not just the fake innocence he loved to tease her with.

“Stop flirting with me when you have no intention of actually following through with anything” she warned and he quirked an eyebrow at her, continuing to close in on her as she moved back.

“What do you mean ‘no intention of following through’?” He asked, quoting her and she shrugged.

“I know you only flirt with me for fun or to see me get frustrated. It’s all some game to you, I know it’s not real” she replied somewhat sadly as she stilled her movements, sinking into the water some more, leaning her head back to see the stars as she felt the cool highland air nip her nose.

“That’s quite a bold assumption to make.” He replied, somewhat defensively but also slightly upset that she would assume something so poorly of him.

“Is it? You never have made a genuine attempt at courting me. Only making obscene comments every now and again or teasing me just to see me blush, then laughing at how red my face gets. How could I not assume it’s some game to you?” She replied, not looking at him as she continued to stare at the stars while soaking in the water.

“Have you perhaps considered that I am just bad at expressing my emotions. That it’s easier to make lighthearted jokes at the things that scare me” he asked her and she pulled her head back up, water drops sliding down her face and neck as she pushed all her hair back.

“I scare you?” She asked confused.

“MC, you terrify the shit out of me” he exclaimed with a distant look in his eye and for once she decided that perhaps she should be the one to tease him instead. Moving closer to him, she stopped just shy of his body, pushing him down so he was covered more by water and level with her.

“You said that troll boogies are hard to remove once they dry” she claimed, pointing to his hair which he has still yet to properly scrub.

“I mostly said that to get you naked.” He admitted bluntly

“Well you got me naked and now I’m offering to make sure all the grime is out of your hair. Can you just shut up and let me help you” she replied and he could only bring himself to nod as she moved behind him, and he dipped his head back as she had previously.

She brought her chilled fingers up to his soaked locks, feeling how silky his hair felt when wet and separating the strands from the sticky substance they had both fallen into earlier. Eventually she worked his hair until she was certain it would be salvageable with a real bath. Noticing the serene expression he wore as he had closed his eyes she commented “you really like having people touching your hair, don’t you”

“Only if by ‘people’ you mean the most beautiful witch I know then yes, I do enjoy it” he replied, looking at her before he pulled his head back free from the water and turned his body to her.

“Do you have an off switch somewhere I’m not aware of?”

“I do, but I’m not quite sure you want to put your hand on my cock and -“

“Sebastian!” She interrupted as he chuckled.

“Sorry, you sort of walked into that one” he gave her a toothy grin before noticing her mild shaking. In the brief amount of time they’d been in the water she was already cold.

“Here I can see you are freezing” he said holding out a hand and she shook her head.

“You think I’m just going to let you feel me up because I’m cold?” She asked and he shook his head with a curious grin.

“I didn’t realize that was on the table, perhaps that’s a better idea than what I had in mind-“ he teased only to feel her smack the exposed skin of his back.

“Feisty. I was going to try wandless magic but I wanted you to be behind me in case we have another confringo style disaster. As lovely as you are, I’d hate to see you without those eyebrows that are so often furrowed at me” he explained and she realized he was simply moving his body in front of hers and she accepted his hand, trying to ignore the way her thigh brushed against his leg as she moved around him in the water. Even the briefest skin to skin contact sent shivers up her spine.

Carefully using wandless magic he was able to slightly raise the temperature of the water around them until it was no longer freezing but it was still by no means pleasant.

“There, don’t want to get too crazy and turn us into a caldron but that’s an improvement… are you feeling alright?” He asked her sudden concern and if she had to guess it was over her distant expression which has resulted from the brief touch under the water.

“Never better.” She said bluntly as she looked at the way the moonlight reflected off his dark eyes or his soaked brown hair clung to his forehead instead of the fringe’s usual place of being pushed off his face.

“Are you sure?” He continued to step towards her with concern.

“Positive” she replied, stepping back, only to find herself up against a rock in the water as he kept coming forward. eventually planting himself directly in front of her, to the point she could feel the occasional brush of his legs against hers as the water lapped around them and the most from the waterfall fell around them.

As Sebastian looked at her with her flushed cheeks, she looked down embarrassed to have been caught in this position with him, but as she did so she realized that the faintest outline of her breasts would be visible through the surface of the water. Looking up at him, she saw his vision trained on exactly what she’d noticed.

She couldn’t find it in herself to reply as his eyes snapped back to her own. Instead she let him take the lead, pushing his hand out and planting himself against the rock behind her as he scooted closer.

“Are you as scared of me, as I am of you MC, because I gotta tell you: dark wizards, mongrel and trolls don’t scare me, but this terrifies me” he admitted while looking at her through downcast eyelids. She didn’t say a word, only flickering her gaze down to his lips as he continued to press his body closer. Bringing a hand up she laid it on his chest , but didn’t push him away, simply holding it there. Underneath her palm she could feel his heart pounding. The feeling of his heartbeat and the nervous shakiness in his breath told her he wasn’t lying.

Finally finding the last bit of courage she pressed off the rock and slowly brought an arm up to loop around his neck, her body floating in the water as she gently tread. At first he seemed surprised but quickly wrapped an arm around her bare waist, feeling her soft skin with the other.

“Positively terrified Sallow… are you too frightened to kiss me or..?” She teased and he leaned in pausing only briefly as he hovered his mouth over hers to ask

“You know there’s no going back to the way things were before if we do this?” He asked and she nodded, tipping her face up and closing the gap to answer his question.

He groaned at the feeling of her lips on his and the gentle way she clung to his body for support as he could stand in the water while she was too short. Hoisting her up slightly, he moved a hand down to grope her curves under the water's surface as they kissed.

Breaking away he remarked “Merlin you’re so beautiful” he said sincerely as he rested his forehead on hers.

She giggled at his compliment, kissing his nose before responding “easy for you to say when you’ve already gotten me naked and we haven’t even been on a proper date”

“You don’t think slaying trolls isn’t a wonderful date actively?”

“Certainly not traditional”

“Have either of us ever been traditional?”

“No I suppose not” she replied once again chuckling.

“Come here, how often do we find ourselves truly alone… I’m not wasting a second of tasting those sweet lips of yours” he demanded, pulling her close as they kissed under the moonlight, entranced in the pool together

[therealstdrm]

MANN WILL BE MAGGOTS!

I MADE THIS COMIC AS A PART OF A SUPER DUPER COLAB WITH @mila-mi-mi !!!! SHE MADE THE COVER FOR IT, OMG YOU SHOULD 100% CHECK IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

[xaphrin]

Midnight Promises Broken at Dawn

It's Halloween! (just barely) and this is part of the colab I was working on with @inverted-typo. We decided to go with an Eros and Psyche theme.

There's so much more that's set to come out, because (of course) it got way out of control. I am aiming for the next part in two weeks, and I will post it to AO3.

Thank you so much for everything, and for being patient!

---

Damian felt the tug of someone breaking the seal that lined the wilderness of his estate. It was like a spider web thread snapping in the back of his mind, the delicate fiber straining until it broke and hung limp and loose against someone’s skin.  

Curious. 

The seal was designed to create a barrier along his sacred land so that wandering humans would have the sudden urge to panic and flee in the opposite direction. Anyone who managed to break through was either very powerful or very stupid. Or, maybe even a little desperate. After all, desperation bred fools. 

He glanced up from the sketch he’d been working on and stared out the window into the dark gray of a blizzard at twilight, a mild annoyance creasing his brow. Damian may have been the grandson of a god, and have some minor powers of his own, but even he couldn't command the weather when it was like this. 

Unfortunately, whoever had broken through his barrier would be allowed to remain close to his land until the storm calmed down.

Damian frowned and let go of a heavy sigh, glaring at nothing in particular. What an annoyance.

-

Raven could at least say that she had been given some small graces, even tiny ones. She had managed to harvest a few late mushrooms and set up additional traps in the woods farther from her cabin. It would have been better to have the traps be a bit closer to where she was currently taking shelter, but the storm had moved in faster than she anticipated, leaving her food sources scarce, and her choices even moreso.  

The wind whipped overhead, shaking snow loose from the trees and scattering it over her shoulders. The noise was somehow both ear-deafening and eerily quiet. It shook her bones, but somehow never made a real sound.  

With a curse staining her lips, she picked her way back along the path she created, making her way back to the dilapidated cabin she was taking shelter in. Her feet couldn’t move her fast enough. She felt strange being on this land, as if she wasn’t supposed to be here. It felt like a tug in her chest, a panicked feeling that made her breath short and her body shiver hard. But necessity drove her this far away from the cabin, and her options were growing more and more limited. 

"Someday," she muttered to herself, brushing snow-wet hair from her eyes, "I am going to learn to live with others. In a society. With people." 

It seemed more like an empty promise than a real one, and it was one she made at least three times a week. It had been well over a year since her bastard of a father had thankfully died, but his heavy shadow remained on her shoulders - oppressive and domineering. Her world should have opened up and grown larger with possibilities and friends, but the fingers of his crazed fear sank too deep into her own mind. And if she was honest with herself, she doubted she would ever be free of them. 

For the protection of the world, you must remain alone. You are a stain here, Raven. Nothing better than a whore of Babylon. 

Fuck him. Cursing his grave (wherever it was), she kicked at a rotting stump and made her way back to the abandoned forest ranger cabin that had become her temporary home. It didn't have much in the way of modern comforts, but at least it had a hand pump for water outside, and an outhouse. After some of the places she had stayed with her father, four walls around her while she did her business was practically palatial in comparison. 

Raven made her way through the snow, following the marks she had left in the trees to show the path. The storm continued to rage around her, growing more and more violent and bitterly cold with each minute. Even the shelter of thick, ancient pines couldn’t shield her forever. She pulled her worn coat tighter around her, and eventually found her way back to the cabin. 

When she stepped over the threshold, the pitch black of night had fallen, and the storm eased marginally. Small blessings, even if they were a little late. 

Walking carefully over the packed dirt floor, Raven stoked the coals still smoldering in the fireplace, and sank down into the ragged remains of an armchair by the hearth. She looked through her ever thinning supplies until she located her last can of soup. Sighing, she tucked it near the coals of the fire, warming what was left of her food. She wasn't sure when she'd be able to go on a supply run into town, and she didn't feel great about the traps she set today, so she was going to have to make this last as long as she could. 

Raven pulled herself close to the fire and tucked her thin blanket around her legs, feeling every muscle in her body ache with exertion. She was weary, and not just from the daily struggle of trying to survive. She was weary of being so utterly alone and isolated. Her father, in spite of all his bullshit, was at least some small amount of company. After he died, she had no one.

Her chest grew tight, and grief filled her until it was so heavy she wasn’t sure if she could bear the weight. A cold tear spilled over her cheek and she wiped it away with her sleeve. She wasn’t sad for his loss, but was sad that she had no one to turn to - no one to help her move forward in the world. She was, for all intents and purposes, alone. 

Raven watched the coals' red glow fade, her mind drifting in and out of consciousness as she slipped into a half-sleep, where her dreams seemed far too real. 

"A human. How pathetic."

Raven grit her teeth against the insult. She might have been a pathetic human, but she would survive out of spite, and that was a threat. 

Her head rocked to the side, staring into the dark shadows of the half-rotted cabin. Hearing phantom voices and seeing unexpected things became a usual occurrence after being alone for so long, but this voice sounded different than it ever had before. "You're not any better…" She paused, trying to think of something to call this new hallucination. “…you ass.”

Very clever.   

The was a soft grunt, proving that it was obviously not insulted by her weak name calling. The shadows moved like smoke, staying tight to the deepest part of the darkness. Raven felt something staring at her, as if trying to understand what she was. She turned her head and stared into the rafters, hearing the creak and groan of the roof under the weight of snow. 

“What are you doing out here?”

“It’s public land. I am public.” She closed her eyes, trying to let herself fall deeper into sleep, but the shadows kept talking, much to her annoyance. Sometimes she wished her phantoms would just shut up.  

“Not all of it is public land. You stepped past those boundaries.” 

“Oh, please.” Raven snorted. “Will some absurdly rich recluse really know if I trap a few hares on their thousands of acres of unused land?” 

The shadows responded with a strange breathy noise, as if it wasn’t sure whether or not she made a valid point. 

“See?” Raven let her point seep into her tone. “Even you agree.”

There was another long pause, and the darkness spoke again. “Perhaps there is a reason to keep you off the land.”

“To make sure that their investment of land holdings is properly protected?”

“Hm.” The shadows moved like ink in water, spreading out against the walls as the coals’ light dimmed even farther. Finally it moved closer to her. “You seem to think you know a lot for someone who lives in a stolen hovel on public land.”

“Circumstances don’t always dictate the totality of a person.” 

The shadows didn’t seem to know what to make of that comment, and stayed silent. Raven closed her eyes and let her body sink into the remains of the armchair, wrapping the threadbare blankets tighter around her. She shifted onto her side and faced the fading heat of the coals. The world grew heavy and dark, and Raven felt her body finally succumb to exhaustion, as she slipped into a dark, empty dreamless sleep.  

But, she swore she heard one last word from her half-dream of shadows along the wall… 

“Curious.”

-

She haunted his thoughts and that infuriated him more than anything. 

This ragged slip of a human, who squatted in abandoned cabins and had the gall to tease him. Him. The grandson of a god, and a demigod in his own right.

And yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wondered if the traps she set remained bare, if she had managed to find food or warmth, and even if her firewood was dry enough. It was unbearable. Every moment he wasn’t completely focused on something else, she entered his thoughts.

Against his better judgment, Damian found himself visiting her again a few nights later, unable to stay away. He thought that if he saw her again, he might be less enamored by her - at least, that was what he kept telling himself. 

She was interesting, even if he didn’t admit it out loud. There was something about the way she spoke to him that piqued his curiosity. It was as if she thought he was an echo or a dream, and not real in any sense of the word. He had spent most of his long life being surrounded by those who worshiped his grandfather, and while Damian appreciated the reverence and kowtowing, it felt almost refreshing to have someone treat him… normal. 

Almost.

She should still have some verneration for him. He was technically still a god. 

When Damian slipped into the shadows of the abandoned cabin, he found her floating in that space between awake and sleep where things seemed almost real. Her eyes lifted to the dark corner where he stood, trying to discern his shape from between the shadows. 

“You came back.” Her voice was a slow drawling sound that slid over his skin like a spell. “I thought you’d disappeared. It’s been a few days since you’ve haunted me.”

Part of him wished he hadn’t returned here, and he had forgotten all about the trespasser on his land. But, here he was, watching a strange woman sleep on a rotting armchair. “You’re still here…” He trailed off, leaving the question unspoken in the air. 

“Raven,” she muttered with an annoyed sigh. “I would have thought you would have at least known my name since you insist on following me around and invading my inner peace.” There was a long pause and he thought she had fallen asleep. Finally, her words slipped from behind her lips. “I’m here because I have nowhere else to go.” 

He blinked and continued to watch her, letting her words settle. There was a story there he wanted to know, but he wasn’t sure if he should pry. Prying meant that there was a part of him that cared about her, and he didn’t. But… perhaps he was a little curious. 

“You have no home?”

“Even if I did, it would not be a place I would go back to." Raven sighed, as if this conversation was exhausting her. “And, if I can't find strength in myself, then who else could I possibly find strength in?”

Damian was about to say something brave and gallant, but he stopped himself. He was not the type of person to offer platitudes and words of encouragement, and he certainly wasn't the type of person to offer help in any sense of the word. He liked his solitude and his privacy, and the only reason he was here was because this human was upsetting his perfectly manicured life. 

Still… 

“Seems to be a lonely life.”

“It is.” She gave a dry laugh, her blunt answer cutting through the weight of the room. There was a sorrow that clung to her, and a longing for something more than she had now. “After all, I'm talking to the shadows on the wall about my lack of home.”

He wondered if she would believe him if he said he was real, but chose to keep silent instead. 

“You should go away, you’re keeping me from my well deserved sleep. You’re like an annoying fly buzzing around my head.” She gave a halfhearted wave, as if shooing him away, before she turned her face to the warmth of the fire. Her breath deepened, and Damian stood there for a long while, watching this curious human sleep. 

There was an odd, uncomfortable stirring in his chest, as though his heart was waking up after a long, deep sleep. 

His lips twitched in annoyance, and he glanced around the small cabin, taking stock of what she owned. It was so little, that it seemed as though she had simply walked out of a place one day with whatever she could carry on her back. A few clothes, a threadbare blanket, a backpack that had certainly seen better days, and…

His eyes rested on several beat up paperback books poking through the holes of her bag. That seemed like an odd choice, having books when she seemed to have such limited resources in the first place. Damian turned that observation around in his head for a moment, unsure of what to make of it.

Ultimately, it didn't matter. Mortals were of little concern to him.

Raven included. 

Ignoring that strange flutter in his chest, he slipped back into the shadows and disappeared from the cabin.