#this is like my version of what colours different classes are

[macbooth]

accidentally started an argument in a group chat so

[the-ancient-dragons]

The last Overcomplicated Pantalan tribe; LeafWings!

You know how it goes. I'm just me and Joy and Tui are awesome and amazing.

Details and explanation below.

Otherwise, next week is something new! You'll get to meet one of my fantribes >:)

More overcomplicated dragons.

With the LeafWing, I struggled to decide what approach to take. Should I do something closer to canon or go crazy and do 100% my go-to headcanon?

Because my go-to headcanon is that LeafWings should have four wings. I found it odd that they and SilkWings both come from Pyrrhia, but SilkWings (technically BeetleWings) were the only tribe that evolved four wings? I hesitated to even mention this in my HiveWing post because idk how popular this opinion is, but even the fact that Clearsight's arrival somehow split the BeetheWings into two WILDLY different tribes is astounding, with how long dragons live.

But that's not the point of this post. We're here for LeafWings and buckle up, it's a doozy.

So first of all, the reason I justified a four-winged LeafWing is to help it camouflage as a plant better. I'll eventually provide a sheet of this, but it would have two main defence modes, the first being a single-leaf version where they lie flat on the ground or stand still with their wings drooping, creating the silhouette of a single leaf, or a version where they hang on the end of a branch and hold their wings and tail out.

It isn't just their wings that creates this look. I took the original single sail and split it in two, based on the ribs of a draco lizard, and had them run along the sides of its neck. When spread, they are a part of the single-leaf camouflage and bridge the gap between the head and shoulders. They would also have more similar frills on their front and back legs in case they need to camouflage standing up. They could use this for hunting or hiding...

Continuing with the bug-avian beak mix, I referenced african parrot species and leafcutter ants. The highly altered head is based on horned frogs and leaf geckos, and I obviously based the colouration and patterning on leaf insects (though the lighting kind of hides it on the back of the head, lol). Last but not least, I wanted to preserve and enhance the leaf cell design Joy used for the scattered body scales (at least, I'm 90% sure it's for that purpose, it seems most obvious). So, like any sane human, I found photos of plant cells under microscopes and used the rectangular-ish shapes for the main body scales.

I had so much fun making this series. It seems like a lot of people enjoyed it as much as I did. I learned a lot about external anatomy and mixing different creatures to achieve unified designs.

School is doing its best to murder me (I can't do big pieces) so from now on I'll have to stick to loose sketches I can do in-class or doodle within an hour. But once we learn more about bones and muscles I'll be able to take a crack at analyzing the full bodies of some of the tribes. I'll go in whatever order I see fit.

In the meantime, I've got some Fantribes for you, starting next week! See you then!

[firefly--bright]

ur so pretty.

jean kirstein x fem!reader, modern a.u.

summary ; jean liked to drive alone, to sit in his thoughts for a while. it's getting harder to think when he can't stop himself from thinking about you, though.

warnings ; jean is canonically left handed (yes this is a warning)

taglist ; @mrsnobodynobody , @hopeless-anti-romantic , @holding-infinity-and-a-book , @berrijam , @jeanscremebrulee , @kivernova , @imgayandshesanime , @potaho3frog , @katestrophes , @cherrypieyourface , @xakilicious , @moonmalice shoot me and ask or fill the linked form to join!

✿ masterlist is in pinned post! ✿ enter my taglist! ✿ requests are open! ✿

middle tile art creds - @nahoiya on instagram!

✿

jean liked to drive alone.

even before he got his driver's license, he'd made a plan of being the designated driver, researching different car models and gushing over the sleek designs, shiny coloured metal, and all of the features they had to offer. of course, he'd never actually buy the more expensive ones no matter how attached he was to them when he was a young teenager.

no, instead he drove comfortably in his mother's sedan that had gone through too much. there was a particularly harsh dent on the passenger side - the paint slightly chipped from when some asshole tried to park dangerously close to his car.

regardless, his first addition to the car was now long weathered under the uncontrollable temperatures - a bumper sticker he had bought when he first got his learners license, reading "LEFT-HANDERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO!"

not his wisest decision. Connie never let him live it down. speaking of, his friend also gave him a car hanger he had made himself, consisting of a lego version of jean that was messily glued onto a hoodie string. marco commemorated jean getting a drivers license by getting him a keychain of a mini lucky 8 ball, and Sasha had presented him with what he was sure was a lifetime supply of the little tree air fresheners.

despite all the years jean had put that poor car through, it drove as good as new - something you always praised him for.

getting into the driver's seat, he strapped on his seatbelt, turning the keys. the car started with a tremble, and jean threw his bag on the backseat before taking off to marco and his shared apartment just a little ways off-campus, providing for a nice, quiet ride that jean preferred after a long day. he liked to think about the day, mentally note everything down before having to open the door to his house again.

he bopped his head to the tune of the song you had introduced to him, thinking about how you had called him in the middle of the day after your classes had ended, in disbelief of how incompetent your classmates were.

"i mean, I'm not doing all the work, and I'm not going to take credit for it either, but I'm just annoyed that no-one even tried to participate. we're all doing this for a grade, at least act like you deserve one!" you rambled, and jean could hear you speed-walking through campus, your voice being carried away by the wind. he could hear each huff you took, and tried not to smile to himself as he sat back in the library, getting comfortable.

he hummed. "who are these people?"

you breathed out an annoyed laugh, "I'm sure you know them. this guy named Floch and this girl named Virginia?"

jean cringed, "I hate people that name their kids after states. be more creative-"

"exactly!" you said, and jean swore he saw the way you were smiling, a mental picture of your eyes bright and the apples of your cheeks pressed up against the corner of your eyes, smiling widely.

jean stopped at the red light, the song playing through his car, and he tried not to think about how you had come to him one night, almost in tears about it, claiming you put too much baking powder in your cinnamon rolls to the point where they had a "weird pineappley bite-back kinda taste," in your words, which he surprisingly understood. and then, how when it was just the two of you later that night, you admitted how much you missed cooking for Sasha after she had moved, and jean took you in his arms.

"wanna shit-talk about niccolo?" he had asked with a grin, resting his cheek on your head with one arm around your shoulders. he could feel them move as you laughed.

"no, I'm good. I'm glad he gets her," you said.

he paused to let you complete your thought, but your voice never presented itself. "but?" he pushed, knowing there was an answer.

he tried not to think about how well he knew you altogether, as he accelerated, his hands on the steering wheel. but he couldn't help himself and his mind seemed to like how hot his cheeks grew when he thought back on it.

"but...I don't know, I guess...I feel kind of lonely? i mean, I love sash-"

"mhm"

"and I'm very happy for her-"

"of course."

"i just, feel like the place is too empty and I'm just reminded that I'm alone."

he pauses again. "you're not alone, though." you lift your head from his shoulder, resting it on the back of the couch, your eyes looking at his and he feels himself shudder under the warmth of it all. youre looking for an answer in him and he gives it to you without even having to think about it, and he tries not to think about how he'd give you all the answers to all the questions there are to ask if you were the one to ask them. he tries not to think about how you wouldnt ask him, though, because he knows you too well to know that you wouldn't ask much of him other than that he should be himself.

"you're...well, you have me. can't get rid of that."

you laugh, settling back into his arm, and jean tried not to think about how your hair smells like vanilla. "i don't want to get rid of you," you admit, shrugging, like it's an easy thing for you to say.

no matter how hard jean tries not to think about it, he can't stop. he can't stop thinking about you and how his ears went red over when you gave him coffee from your own mug and he thinks about how even then, he had tried not to think. not to think that you had drank the same coffee from the same cup and your lipstick stained the rim of it and how his own lips grazed it as well and then, before he could stop himself, he thinks about kissing you.

another red light and another shift in the music, playing the soft tunes that he now knew by heart. he shifted in his seat, trying to get more comfortable, and his thoughts went back to you.

he tried getting them not to, though. he tried thinking about how he'd have to call his mother tonight because he hadn't done so since the night before, and then he though about how marco had told him that groceries needed to be bought, and then he thought about how you had said you liked those off-brand marshmallows and he had made fun of you for liking them.

but you defended them with your life and he ultimately gave in, buying you a pack, and tried not to think about how you got excited over it.

dammit. he turned the familiar left, switching his indications on and off, checking his rearview. he cleared his throat when he tried not to think about how you had used the mirror to apply some lipstick on your lips before heading into the party Reiner was throwing for his birthday. he tried not to think about the domesticity of it all - marco, Connie and sasha had already piled out and you wanted to help jean park into a tough spot. after parking, however, you climbed back into your seat and fixed your hair in the mirror as jean turned his keys to the side, removing his seatbelt and grabbing his phone from the dashboard fully prepared to get out the moment you were done.

he looked at you. he tried not to, but he couldn't help it - the tip of your ring fingers wiped off the excess lipstick from the corner of your lips, and then you leaned back, making no attempts to move.

jean had cleared his throat, trying to get your attention.

"y'know," you started, still seated comfortably in your seat that he was sure you had claimed since the beginning of college, "when I was small, I would always get motion sick in the car on roadtrips. it was uncomfortable, and most of the times I had to sit and try not to complain to much about my mom's driving," you said, breathing out a laugh.

jean blinked, confused. "do- do you feel sick right now? i have a bag, i think, you can th-"

"no, no, I'm fine. I'm okay. i was trying to say that you make me feel comfortable. comfortable enough to complain and take my time, ask for help if I ever need any." you say. he tried not to think about the way your words shape him, about how if he could give anyone the power to build himself back up again should he melt under your gaze - it would be you.

and then you got out of the car before jean could open the door for you, and he was left in his seat, with a storm in his heart as you opened the door for him, nodding your head for him to get out with a smile.

and jean tried not think about how his hands are shaking slightly as he pulls into a familiar street lined with familiar apartment buildings and neon orange street lights as he stops infront of an all the more familiar gate. he stops only for a minute before his hand is reaching for his phone and he doesn't think - this he can do because his mind shuts off when he hears your voice, your smile, your-

"hey, jean."

the way your say his name makes his shoulders relax. "hey. I'm downstairs."

it's familiar. all of it - the way you smile and open your curtains a little to take a peak of his car, turning around and saying "I'll be there," into the phone before keeping it, how jean's heartbeat lulls to a softer version of itself, relaxing completely as he waits for your company to climb down the stairs. the only thing he can think about is you.

maybe this is what his mother meant when she told him stories about love, about how when she met his now step-father, she never felt like she had to keep an act up. about when sasha told him how niccolo made her feel like she could act without permission, without limits as herself. and then he thinks about himself, and how thats all he's ever felt with you, because thinking about you comes so naturally to him and being around you makes him feel more familiar to himself than he's ever felt before.

and before he can stop himself - not that he'd want to - he thinks, hes in love with you.

three familiar knocks find their way to his ears and he looks at where you're bending down to meet the window of the passenger seat. if he wasn't so busy thinking about you, he'd have opened the door for you, but your smile is so blinding that all he can do is open the door from the inside with a smile of his own.

it's too familiar, he thinks, as you slide into your designated seat again, strapping yourself in and turning your head to him.

and he doesn't stop himself when he says, "I love you." out loud into the silence of his familiar car.

your smile turns softer and jean notices everything about you, really, but in this moment notes how your shoulders also relax, how you breathe out softly and rest your head on the seat.

"i love you too."

[respectthepetty]

PETTY HI OMG

I wanna ask, what do you mean when a character is a fake *insert colour*? Like you said wandee is a fake blue. What does that mean? And also, according to that logic, he's wearing that blue during that first kiss and I dunno how to feel about that...

@cryingoverweiying, what I mean when I state a character has a "fake color" is that I'm crazy, and I'm quickly losing my mind over fictional characters. But to give you some examples before I get into Wandee's fake blue, I will offer Vegas from KinnPorsche and Jae Young from Semantic Error.

Vegas looks green. He pretends to be a chill dude who is easy going and down-to-earth in front of the main family's bodyguards. Jae Young looks red. He pretends to be an aggressive rascal so he can work Sang Woo's nerves. But we know those are LIES!

Vegas is actually a red devil who has an affinity for torturing people, and Jae Young is really a chill green dude which is why he wasn't showing up for class in the first place. This is why I call their initial colors fake.

I've written a little bit about this in regards to characters changing their colors throughout a series.

So when I write that I believe Dee's blue is a fake color, I mean that I don't think it represents him as a character, and that Dee is pretending to be blue.

Blue Boys are calm, loyal, and passive aka all the things Dee was to Ter for eight years while being in love with him.

But I think Dee was faking it for love. I think the colors are telling us that Dee is actually a Purple Prince who is immature and emotional,

but also encouraging and compassionate.

Because the day after being rejected by Ter and sleeping with Yak, Dee showed up to work in purple.

And he just keeps getting more purple. Purpler? No that's not a word. You understand me though!

But it only happens the more he spends time with Yak.

Since Yak seems to have unleashed Dee's true nature of being childish and arrogant, which are things he never allowed Ter to see.

All these traits would seem negative (emotional, immature, arrogant, childish), but once again, this is only part of who Dee is, and he never actually showed that to the man he was in love with, for eight years! He hid parts of himself behind this fake blue to impress Ter, but with Yak, he can just be himself.

And it's because Yak was his yellow egotistical and energetic self around Dee from the start.

So his openness is contagious.

But this has caused a problem because I don't think Dee is the only one faking a color anymore in this fake relationship.

I wrote before that as much as Yak was picking up Ohm's style to impress Taem, Dee was actually the one to pick out the outfits and the color aligns with Dee's first love.

Brown Boys are wise, stable, and predictable. In fact, they are like the more solid version of Blue Boys.

So it makes sense for a Blue Boy to be with a Brown Boy.

They'd be super stable. They'd be totally truthful. They'd be really reliable. They'd be perfectly predictable. But does that sound like these two?

NO! THEY ARE CHAOTIC LYING TRASH PANDAS!

So I am praying that we see these two not only embrace their true colors once again like Vegas and Jae Young, but for them to embrace the other's color as well, and the only way to do that is through a good old fashion color exchange.

I don't want to see Yak in this fake ass blue or Dee in this light yellow or brown.

I want Yak in purple and Dee in bright yellow because even though I already know it's love since the pink keeps showing up,

I need the colors to tell me there's nothing fake about them or the love they have for each other.

*fingers crossed*

[theblogformydeluluself]

Bittersweet Butterbeer ~ M.R.

Summary: You meet an old friend with her best friend at three broomsticks and they ask you about the slytherin boys, so your friends, because her bestfriend has a huge crush on Mattheo. Little do they know, he's you're boyfriend.

Warning: Englisch is NOT my first Language, so I'm sorry for any misspellings, shitty grammar or bad wording.

Other information: female reader, use of Y/N, slytherin reader

Word Count: 1.2 k

Song recommendation: Back to december (Taylor's Version) ~ Taylor Swift

Likes, comments and reposts are appreciated ♡

Today me and an old friend are gonna meet at the Three Broomsticks. We grew up in the same village but started to grew apart after I got accepted at Hogwarts and she got into Beauxbatons.

But since it's the Triwizard Tournament, she is at Hogwarts and asked if we wanted to meet.

I was very happy that she invited me, so of course I accepted. She wants to meet in half an hour, so I put my shoes on and leave my room and seconds later also the common room.

»Y/N wait!« I hear someone call, so I turn around. Nott stops in front of me, quite out of breath.

»Are you going to Hogsmeade?« »Yes.« I answer simply. »Would you like to have some company?« »It would be a pleasure.« I say in a joking voice, and Theo just laughs before putting an arm around my shoulder.

•••°°◇°°•••

»There you go madame.« he says as he opens the door for me. »Thanks Teddy.« I giggle before entering the Three Broomsticks.

I look around and recognize my friend at one of the corner tables. She hasn't changed a bit and she also doesn't seem to be alone.

»Hey Stacy.« I greet her the second I arrive at the table. Two faces turn to me in super speed.

»Y/N, hi! I'm so happy to see you and WOW you look so different! « She gives me in a small hug after she stood up.

»Well I mean it's been a while since we last met so…« »Yeah, right, right. Come sit down. And yeah, this is Lucilla by the way.« she points at the other girl that's sitting at the table.

»Oh, you can call me Lucy of course.« she says with such a fake smile and voice, that I just want to get up and leave.

»Did you guys ordered something or were you waiting for me?« »Oh, we arrived just a few minutes ago, so there wasn't even the possibility to order something.«

»Okay, so three butterbeers then?« I ask but i was not really expecting an answer.

»Eww, no. Why would I drink something like that? It's too many calories. Don't you have anything healthier here?« Lucilla interrupts my walk to the counter.

I slowly turn around and take a deep breath »Well, I can ask if they have something more healthy but it is a specialty that you usually drink when you are at hogsmeade.« I guess my smile now is as fake as hers was a few moments ago, but I don't really care.

I thought it would be a nice reunion of old friends, but instead I have to deal with a snake. I mean I should be used to it, in my common room I'm surrounded by snakes, even my best friends are snakes but they are harmless in comparison to her. If she would get sorted into a house, she would open up a new one just for the shittiest of them all.

•••°°◇°°•••

I thought this reunion couldn't get any worse, but unfortunately I was wrong.

It seems that these girls just invited me, because they wanted to know more about my friends and not to know what's been going on in my life lately.

At first I was disappointed but at second thought I'm glad, because now I don't really want to be friends with her anymore. Also it's quite amusing how obsessed Lucilla is with Mattheo.

Every second sentence she asks something about him. Like »What's his favourite colour?« or »What is he doing after class ends?«.

I thought about telling random shit, just to start some dumb rumours, but I decided against it.

»Do you know his friends?« she asks me, breaking me out of my thoughts. »Well I think so.« I slightly chuckle about my answer, but I don't think they understand it. Understand how dumb this question was.

Everyone at hogwarts knows that I am a part of this friendgroup, that I am one of the cool kids. I mean, I am part of this friendgroup since it exists. But they won't know it because they don't go to hogwarts.

»So you know Lorenzo?« »Yes.« »And Theodore?« »Yeah.« »Draco and Blaise?« »Yes, also them.«

»Did you hear that Stace, she knows them all.« I hear a sort of disbelief in her voice but I decide to don't care because I know I'm not lying.

»And did you know, that Pansy and Mattheo are together?« »Oh, they are together?« I ask half confused and half amused. »Hah! Knew it. You ain't friends with them. A friend would know something like that. I mean as if someone like Mattheo would willingly be around someone like you.«

»Luce, Luce.« interrupts Stacy, Lucillas offensive speech. »He just came through the door.« »Who?« »Mattheo.« »Really? Do I look good?«

Lucilla strokes her hair several times and touches up her lip gloss. And I'm just thinking about the fact that even the best make-up couldn't do anything against her ugly character.

»Oh my God, he's coming right at us. He is getting closer and closer. I knew that he just couldn't resist me. I mean, look at myself, I'm pretty, blonde-« »And so modest,« I add, because I just can't keep my mouth shut anymore.

Lucilla gives me a dirty look before turning her attention back behind me.

»Hello, my love.« I hear him and lean my head back to get my kiss. He leans over me and gently presses his lips to mine.

Without me being able to control it, my body relaxes and my inner restlessness fades.

»Aren't you going to introduce me to the two ladies?« »Oh, I'm-« »Actually, I wasn't planning to, no.«

I stand up and take my jacket from the back of the chair. »I'd like to say that the meeting was really nice and we should do it again, but that would be a lie. It would have been nice not to see you, hopefully we won't bump into each other again.«

I turn my back on the two of them and hook up with Mattheo. »Matty, thank you for picking me up. Love you.« »You know I love you more don't you?« »Yes, I know that. But I love it when you admit it.«

Tagglist: ---

[quixtrix]

the significance of blue - a somewhat analysis on the lost temple cult

this analysis is defunct due to wiki retcons! im only keeping this up for archival purposes, please read the updated version here ! the heretic katana skin jus got shown to the general public and the detail that stands out to me the most is the fact that katana's horns are dyed blue. teal blue is the colour motif of the church of the lost eye, and the fact that they go as far as to make members dye their horns for this blue is very interesting! let's get into why I think they do this and more about the church of the true eye :P

for starters, i am an art history nerd, i'm going into uni for an art history related major, and took an art history class. these are my credentials before you tell me im insane (but also i am overanalysing phighting rn so maybe i am insane). pls dont like. kill me for overanalysing actually i jus really like doing this kinda thing lol dont read if you dont wanna hear me yapping

with that being said, in history, blue has been historically associated with wealth and religion. this is due to the fact that blue, specifically cobalt blue, is difficult to mine, and because a deep rich blue such as cobalt blue doesn't have an easy alternative for the colour. the standard of ur for exactly is a symbol of wealth because of the amount of blue that it uses.

on the religion side, or at least in abrahamic religions (i cannot currently remember if hinduism or buddhism treasures blue like that), blue is associated with heaven. obviously because the sky is blue and what not, but also because it represents the spirit of god. this may also be because of the aforementioned difficulty of acquiring blue, but religious figures and buildings use blue a lot, enhancing the association with blue and religion.

this all fits in line with the lost temple, which 1. is a place of wealth 2. the largest religious organisation we've seen in phighting. blue fits them, analysis done and dusted.

wrong. i woulda let this slide if we didn't establish that dying your horns is a way to express oneself in phighting.

look at all the members for me real quick, look at their horns.

yeah i included dollmaker mainly bc it said on the wiki shes in the cult. shes not apart of this analysis tho sorry dollmaker fans.

all various shades of blue! specifically teal and dark blue. whether it be dye or not, it's something noteworthy.

i wanna point out that it's said that medkit and katana both share the same shade of teal. yknow what else that medkit and katana share that's related to the church?

only mention of biological family on med's side btw. also, since he was born with teal horns its smth of note.

and then katana has a brother. this is literally in dialogue.

yknow what's a big thing in the church of the true eye? family. their whole schtick is being a whole big family. honestly, katana might not even have a biological brother if my assumption on how the cult's rankings work.

basically, the highest figure we know in the cult, whether he be the head of it or jus a real high ranking figure, is referred to as 'the father.'

it's not a stretch to assume that the hierarchy within the cult is based off of a family. those who are the lowest are referred to as the acolytes (i assume they are the lowest because the broker refers to them as a whole and not individuals), those who are higher may possibly referred to with more traditional family titles such as 'brother' or 'sister' or even possibly 'mother.' it would make sense given the fact that they're literally big on the family thing. why would you call the whole thing family if you won't do the silly culty thing with the brother and sister thing within the cult do you hate love and joy and fun??? (obviously matches are a different thing entirely, but i feel like outside of the phighters we see, the reputation of being a cult family as opposed to jus some weird ass cult obviously had to come from somewhere. besides, reserving titles such as brother and sister for higher ranking officials would show significance).

i highlight the fact that katana and medkit have the same shade of teal because colour is so significant in the cult. broker, medkit, and katana look to have similar uniforms in terms of build and colour, with katanas being kinda an inverse of broker's. they all seem to work underneath scythe as well, with scythe in a white uniform and more gold, appearing to be more wealthy and have influence in the cult. while she also has teal horns, it's darker than katana and medkit's, and i don't have enough information to gather what that darker shade of teal could really mean.

but regardless, teal horns in the context of the church of the true eye can possibly mean literal familial connection. that's one possibility. we're going through possibilities of the meanings of the colours right now. i say this because medkit would have most likely been fucked if he didn't have the familial connection to the church because from what we've seen, going to another faction is not a real welcome thing to do. and then katana's horns are clearly dyed that specific teal, when he hasn't dyed his horns red at all. he could have had them dyed like broker's darker blue, but they're not.

teal horns could also jus be a cult thing and broker's jus being the lil weirdo he is. but i jus can't let go of the fact that medkit's horns and katana's horns are basically the same colour. it's been bothering me. it's why im here yapping right now. honestly i wish i could also explain why dollmaker or scythe has tealish horns as well, (with the lil bits on both of their horns sticking out!) but i jus don't have enough info on dollmaker.

anyways, since i'm already talking about katana's and medkit's horns, let's talk about that little gold ring on both of their horns.

horn decoration has mostly been seen as, once again, expression, but historically irl jewellery has a lot of significance culturally and religiously. first thing that comes to mind is the stretching of the ear lobes, which is associated with status and religion (think the buddha.) within the world of phighting, we rarely if ever see jewellery on horns outside of the cult. honestly i jus assumed that medkit was cunty but with the large gold piece on heretic katana's horn, it has to have more significance.

also. why are they on the same side. i know that the right side and the left side have meanings within abrahamic religions (eg. muslims not using their left hands to eat or drink because of the devil, 'the right hand of the father' being because the right hand of god is metaphor for his omnipotence) but i don't have enough info for the ring. it could mean that you were accepted as more than an acolyte within the cult, or again, the family tie, but there's jus nothing at the time of writing this that i can figure out. it's a bit frustrating. it could jus mean they're wealthy though

anyways, i think that's all my thoughts on the church of the true eye. i actually have a small idea on who the deity the church worships, but also i feel like that's like theorising who's the in universe jesus christ (because the church unironically can be compared to christianity. i might make another yap sesh on that.) so i didn't go into it in here lol. tell me all ur thoughts nd feelings on this, my askbox is open :P

[klausinamarink]

Happy Accidents Allowed

Prompt: “Starry Night” (discord drabble from STWG and a happy birthday to @thefreakandthehair 🥳💜)

-

“That’s a perfect wall right there.” Eddie emphasizes his point by smacking a hand against the still-white, (thankfully) now dried paint. “Don’t ya agree, big boy?”

Steve puts his hands on his hips, letting himself survey every inch of the wall of their living room. It’s actually a small area, right next to the sliding door of the balcony, barely wide enough to fit his own frame even with his arms outstretched. It’s also the only wall in their new apartment left unpainted because Eddie had wanted it blank for a mural he wanted to do. Hence the many paint bottles and palettes around their feet.

Finally, Steve smacked his lips and said, “Better than a horse, I’ll say.” 

It came out less clever than it did in his brain, but Eddie laughed hysterically anyways. 

“Alright, I’m gonna start so do not distract me!” Eddie pointed at him with one of the paintbrushes. 

“Even if it’s for meals?” Steve asked, the corners of his lips quirking upwards.

Eddie paused. “Unless it’s for meals.”

“Even if you need a shower?”

“Unless I have to shower.”

“Even if-”

Steve cackled as he leapt away from Eddie’s attempt to smack his leg. “Even if I have to sleep, yes!” 

He left Eddie alone then. Steve spent a while in their bedroom to finish unpacking the last couple boxes, before he peeked back in the living room. 

Some of the wall was painted in a thick dark blue. Eddie was still hunched over on his spot, but Steve could see that his boyfriend already had some other colours done. They were too dark and blob-y looking for Steve to figure out what they were. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?

“So what exactly are you painting?” Steve tiptoed over, careful not to disturb Eddie.

Eddie hummed, not looking up from where he’s still painting. “Been wanting to try my version of Starry Night.”

“Starry Night?”

“Yeah, you know. That one Van Gogh painting.” 

“Oh, I know that.”

They both fell into a comfortable silence. Steve kept watching Eddie until he finally looked up. “You wanna try?”

Steve blinked, “Huh?”

Eddie grinned, already handing him a paintbrush. “You can try painting too. It would be sort of cool if we did this together, actually. Like, I paint on this side, you paint on that side, we meet in the middle. Might be sweet.”

”Or hideous.” Steve muttered, taking the offered brush. Eddie laughed before turning back to his progress.

Steve stared at the remaining white space. He looked down at his brush. It’s one of the small ones that could do thinner strokes for the details. Probably a good choice Eddie gave him because Steve knew absolutely nothing about painting. Even in art classes as he had followed his teacher’s instructions, his projects always looked like a first grader’s attempt. Hell, he was pretty sure first grade was the last time he genuinely wanted to do painting on his own.

He took a deep breath. He can do this. He knows what Starry Night looks like, so all he has to do is paint what he remembers, right?

Steve sits down, dipping the brush in one of the blue paints. A lighter color. Because Starry Night had lots of cool brushstrokes and it makes sense to start from light to dark. Right?

Steve carefully taps the brush experimentally on the wall. As expected, the light blue paint appears as a new dot on the white wall, inches away from Eddie’s. But an inexplicable wave of dread comes over Steve. The longer he stares at the spot, the more it overwhelms him. 

Because he doesn’t know what to do next. 

Does he have to apply the same paint? Does he just have to bring the brush back and move it up and down? Did he have to add a new one? If he tried a different brush- no, it would just be the same, just more larger. Should he ask Eddie? No, it’ll just distract him anyways. Maybe if Steve left now- no, he would be a fucking asshole-

“I ruined it.” Steve said, blankly staring at the pathetic dot. 

“What?” Eddie blinked at him. His eyes darted to the horrible blue spot and he made a small laugh. “Sweetheart, you just started-”

“I ruined it.” Steve repeated. Pressure started burning right behind his eyes. He immediately pinched the bridge of his nose, careful with the paintbrush he’s still holding. Fucking pathetic. “This was a mistake.”

“Wait, wait, Steve.” Eddie’s hands were on his wrists, gently bringing them down to their laps. Steve looked away, biting hard into his bottom lip. If he had to look at his boyfriend, Steve was certain he would just start sobbing and never stop.

“Steve.” Eddie said softly. His hand carefully cupped Steve’s face. Lingering, not turning his head to face Eddie. “Tell me what’s wrong?”

“Like I said,” Steve clenched his jaw as he spoke, trying to stop the waterworks from going out, “I ruined it.”

There was a tiny rustle of clothes as Eddie moved forwards. His arms wrapped around Steve, easily pulling their bodies together. Steve couldn’t hold it anymore. He buried his face in his boyfriend’s shoulder, inhaling the smell of paint already ingrained in the fabric of his flannel. It soaked up his tears easily. 

After Steve felt like he could breathe without feeling choked up, Eddie spoke again, “It’s your first time painting, right?”

Steve nodded. He turned his head so he could press his face against Eddie’s neck. 

“I’m not expecting you to be a master painter.” Eddie paused, “Though it would be pretty cool if my boyfriend was secretly Van Gogh.” He cackled aloud when Steve good-heartedly pinched his arm in response. When he quieted down, Eddie leaned back so he was staring into Steve’s eyes. His thumb rubbed underneath them to wipe away any stray tears.

He continued, “It’s okay to fail, Steve. It’s okay to make mistakes, especially when you’re just starting something new. Believe me, I get the struggle. Sometimes, I come up with super cool ideas but I just tear my hair out when I can’t draw it exactly how I pictured it.”

“Really?” Steve asked quietly, even though he already witnessed plenty of those moments Eddie had just described, which was mostly amusing. But nothing about this situation feels funny to Steve. Surely, Eddie’s internally laughing at him right now.

But Eddie was only smiling at him, all so fondly, “Really. And there’s a lesson about it. If you think you ruined something, call it a happy accident.”

“Happy accidents?” Steve repeated it under his breath. Eddie’s smile grew wider as he playfully tapped his nose.

“Yep, no calling it a mistake or saying you ruined art. It’s just happy accidents.”

When they both leaned in to kiss, Steve thought about the circumstances that had brought them both here in this apartment, despite the horrors that had caused it. Thought about how if he hadn’t ran back to the Byers house that night, Steve’s life would’ve been more blissful but none the wiser. He wouldn’t have met the kids and known Eddie more this intimately.

Yeah, it sure was a happy accident. And that, Steve wouldn’t regret those spots of paint on his own mural of his life.

[passionproject1]

We were 12. The coolest boy in my school just couldn’t stop talking about the newest coolest game he was playing online. He sat in the back of the lime coloured room, surrounded by the remaining class B boys, the beta boys, his gang, his little followers, who were carefully listening to his monologue. Every few minutes he would interrupt his speech to violently whip his head to the right in order to arrange his fringe into a perfect emo/justin bieber formation. “Minecraft,” was the name of the game, I wrote it in the back of my notebook and carried it home. That night I sat on my favorite deep emerald chair researching the game further, preparing to beg my dad to buy it. I had already downloaded the free version but I wanted to make an avatar and you could only access that feature if you paid. This purchase was essential to flex on my boy classmates. Finally dad said yes and let me use his card. I immediately canceled guitar hero night with the girls, ready to explore the pixelated expanse of Minecraft.

My new name was Yumomo, a random japanese sounding name I thought of. My outfit was green and pink with a frog hat, a skin I stole from some minecraft website because I thought it was cute. I jumped into my solo world but quickly found it too isolating, so I checked the list of best polish Minecraft servers. The one I chose was RPG themed and as I later found out was made up entirely of male players. In 2011, Minecraft hadn’t broken into the gamer girl realm yet, hardly into the youtube gamer realm either. Back then it was only played by indie game nerds and basement dwellers, not 12 year old polish girls. So for the moment I was the queen of my server and officially (PAUSE) “not like other girls.” I remember that first day when they all saw my skin, girly and pink, and wrote “are you actually a girl” into the chat. To prove it I had to join a group call on team speak 3, some proto discord gamer tool. Before I logged on, I practiced what I would say using a voice recorder on my dads phone. I tested different variations of the name introduction, different “Hello’s,” “i am’s”, and “my name is,” to come up with the cute maxxed ideal version of the internet girl they were about to meet. I nervously turned on the app, shouted at my younger sister to shut up and just as I was about to say the magic girl code into the hormonal ears of boy teens I heard one of boys say “hey, maybe next time mute your speaker before you shout at your sister.” My heart dropped, I shut the laptop and sat in silence. (pause for impact) My eyes started to water. I wasn't a cool girl in real life and now I couldn't even be a cool girl online. It was doomed from the start, over before it even started. The brutal reality of the boy world came crashing down on me all because I didn't know how to use speak3. Little did I know this lack of speak3 proficiency made me meet my first boyfriend.

His real name was Antoni, I don’t remember his minecraft name. After my pulse had cooled down and I turned my laptop back on, a private chat request from him appeared on the side of the teamspeak3 app. He typed “siemasz” which is a word for hi in polish that literally no one uses in Poland. He also wrote something along the lines of “Don’t worry, sorry for them laughing, I was stressed before I talked online for the first time too” and that comforted me. He wasn’t like one of the bad, annoying smelly boys, the “girls are too dumb to understand the computer” and “girls are too emotional we shouldn’t play with them” preacher preteens, he wasn’t the intimidatingly-different-than-the -girls type of boy that I was in contact with at school. He acted like you want them (boys) to act, he had the qualities of an anime protagonist, he saved me from further teamspeak ridicule and he spared me from feeling like an idiot on my own. He invited me to play on his and his brothers private server first just to ease me gently into the whole situation. I accepted and spent the entire night playing just with him. And when he called, on Skype instead of teamspeak3, I answered with my camera turned off but my mic on, and we chatted. We ended up chatting like that, with both of our cameras off, playing on minecraft servers with countless other people - and sometimes just on our own - for almost a year. He slipped into my routine and broke my boy interaction shyness. Every day I was looking forward to our evenings of playing minecraft, and every time I was too busy to talk to him i would feel sad.

The Day before Christmas I was at the airport about to fly to England when my Yellow samsung corby received a message from him. It was a confession of his love to me, long and sincere, “I don’t care that I have never seen your face, I like speaking to you, I like spending my time with you and I would like to meet you.” He also mentioned that we should exchange pictures. I had butterflies in my stomach reading the sentences. For hours on the plane I kept rereading the text and trying to imagine what he looks like. I tried to vibe-match looks in my mind to his smooth, low but still youthful and boyish voice. I pictured him towering over me, with a swooping side fringe and a cool Cropp hoodie. I thought about us kissing for the first time, my girlfriends being jealous, my dog excited at the sight of him during one of his monthly visits. As soon as I got to my mums house I went on to try to vibe-match my looks to my sweet voice I was using to seduce him for the past year. Did I really suit my own vibe? There was a lot to perfect in my looks and I didn’t feel confident that I could fully embody the girl he must have been imagining. I pulled up the video of my idol venus angelic and with the limited makeup my mum owned I tried to recreate her vibe. Big anime eyes, intense blush, gradient lips. I put on my blue denim hair bow and took a selfie on photo booth. I covered one side of my face with my hand. I felt myself. The following evening whilst we were chatting with our cameras off and our mics on we sent each other the pictures. Surprisingly he looked similar to what i had imagined for him: golden retriver as a boy, slightly wavy gold hair with a little side fringe, awkward cute smile,acne, skinny and tall-presenting. According to him I looked how he imagined too, cute and girly. The next stop of video talking hadn’t been suggested by either of us. We were just happy to continue chatting with a vague image of ourselves in our heads, because it didn’t really matter what we looked like. Our relationship was online so it was functioning according to online gaming friends rules. As long as the arrangement remained online, we didn’t need anything more.

At least I didn’t for now.

One spring day Antoni asked me if I was planning to go to Pyrcon, a massive anime convention that is organised in his city, only 2 hours away from where i lived. I said I would probably be there. The truth was I knew I would definitely be there, in fact me and my friend had been planning our outfits for months. For some reason giving a definite answer, knowing the question that would follow felt too overwhelming. He asked, all excited, if I wanted to meet up in real life and I said yes with equal excitement. In reality, something told me that I didn’t want to meet him. Not because I was worried that he wasn’t real, that he was a catfish, but because I was worried that I’d be too real for him, with my chubby face, little stumpy legs, feet dressed in two different shoes. I was scared of holding his real hand and kissing his mouth, the inevitable teenage intimacy that seems so sweet in theory but ends up awkward in practice. I was happy for us to continue our love in the virtual world we created.

I couldn’t sleep the night prior to the convention. This day was about to change the trajectory of my life and the future felt more dreadful than exciting, though my friends kept trying to ease my stresses. I didn’t want to ruin the excitement for him, so the whole journey to the con I played along, at times experiencing waves of real excitement, followed by the gut wrenching anticipation of failure and disappointment. I was dressed in my frog outfit and did my makeup as well as i could. My emergency nicholas cage mas, a sign that I was a fan of the webcomic Homestuck, was poking out of my NANA tote bag. For some reason, just having the mask in my bag was an anti-anxiety shield. At previous conventions, I would wear it when the pressure of being surrounded by so many people felt like too much and I was too young to numb the angst with drugs and alcohol.

We arrived at the convention. The nasty stress feeling had been growing increasingly throughout the day, from the moment I got out of bed to the second I set foot in the con. It was by my side wherever I went, causing my eyes to scan every corner in the search for him and his brother. I had to be prepared at all times to pull out the mask, in case he came too close and recognised me. I was undercover in his kingdom. A surprise meeting was not likely, considering the 5000 people in attendance, but regardless I couldn’t allow it to be an option. Our real meeting was meant to take place at some anime panel, later in the day. Minutes before the meeting, I left my friends, who were convinced that the guy was really some old pedophile, but I let them follow me from afar just in case for their piece of mind. I put on my protective mask, and headed to the room. Inside I looked around. He wasn’t there. I double checked the location, the time, different corners of the room, but the corner where he was supposed to stand was occupied only by gross nerd guys. The smelly long hair ones. My panic was mixed with some sense of relief. This is it, he’s one of them, and if he is one of them I can just pretend that I left because I wasn’t feeling well and just go back to us, playing online. Maybe at some point I’d be mature enough to accept his physical self, and take the next step, come to terms with his ugly materiality, maybe by the time we met, by the time I was ready to squash my anxiety he would have had a glow up. Maybe not crossing that boundary now was a win-win.

Just before the start, in the colorful crowd of cosplayers, e-girls, cat ears, katanas, big titty anime girl pillows stuffing itself into the room, I saw him. His fleshy youthful face was looking better than the picture, put together into a concerned focused look aimed to find me. I watched him from a distance, looking for me, dialing my number and impatiently waiting to hear back, as I was holding onto my vibrating phone inside my pocket. I saw him sitting down, disappointed and confused, saw him checking his phone every few minutes, then his older brother coming in, comforting him, possibly telling him either that girls suck or that maybe something happened to me, depending on his prior experience with women. All that time I stood in the back, wanting to text him “don’t worry *hugs*” and “i love you *kisses*” but my body wouldn’t move, I was paralysed. My mind kept telling me “what’s the worst that could happen” before filling my head with all of the worst scenarios. I imagined:

-The smell of awkwardness in the air

-inability to make a conversation

-him not finding me attractive in real life and abandoning me, the virtual me, the me he loved or

-him liking me, wanting to make real moves, have real meetings instead of the safe, controlled, virtual, the ones i was comfortable with

It all felt like too much. And despite being a few meters away, and seeing his despair, I looked at him one last time and went back to my friends. It took me a while to come up with an excuse and text him back, but there was no excuse for what I did. The truth was sad and hard to understand. If none of my friends understood why I did this then why would he? So I lied, said that I wasn’t feeling well and that I had to leave, which felt like the most believable excuse but perhaps not believable enough for him not to question it himself. Our relationship was broken, and we stopped calling, then we stopped texting. Minecraft got boring. When I first installed Skype, I accidentally allowed it to automatically open every time I turned on my computer. When me and antoni were in love, I never had a reason to change the setting, but now I would force quit it every time I turned my old macbook on. I abandoned the block lands and moved my virtual self onto the more entertaining World of Warcraft.

Sometimes I wish I was able to say sorry.

[smertelig]

Fuck you for using Against Me, a band fronted by a trans woman, specifically a song about being trans unashamedly, to make a post about an IP owned by a woman who wants us dead. Please do educate yourself on this instead of blindly hiding behind the excuse of separate the art from the artist when the artist is using profits from the art to lobby for laws that make children kill themselves. Go fuck yourself also

Hi. Thank you for your comment. I think what you’re saying is incredibly important and your anger is justified, but misdirected. Please believe me when I say I am sorry for how that post can look. It can be misinterpreted and I should have thought about that and made the context more clear. I am myself non binary, an avid LGBTQ+ and trans rights activist, an Against Me!-fan and a literary scholar, so I hope you take me at my word: I do not support JKR WHAT SO FUCKING EVER. I’d say she should go to hell, but not even hell deserves shit like her.

As such, I should have recognised how references to the HP universe are triggering and can be read as supportive of the author. My post, however, was intended as a reference to the Maurauders universe, a spin-off universe based on fan-writings by independent creators, whereof the ones I follow are openly opposed to Rowling’s despicable actions and opinions.

I believe the Marauders-fandom is heavily influenced by people like myself - queer kids who grew up loving HP, only to have that joy broken and spat upon when JKR showed her true colours. I personally find it healing to read fan made Marauders-works that include and celebrate diversity - in ethnicities, religion, class, disabilities, body types and, perhaps most importantly, gender identities and -expressions.

So when I say I think Sirius Black would’ve loved Against Me! and Laura, I’m referring to a fan made, queer & gender nonconforming kid from the 70’s (and I take immense pleasure in how that would piss JKR right off). Laura’s battle with self destruction and gender is something I believe that version of Sirius would find strength in, just as I and many other trans people have.

I do not believe in separating the art from the artist. I do, however, enjoy the act of taking back something that has been made hurtful and turning it into something healing and joyful again. Now, whether we agree on that or not is a different discussion - but either way, I love your anger. We SHOULD be angry. I myself am pretty fucking furious, so I’m right here with you.

Tl;dr:

JKR is trash, I hope the thought of gender non conforming Sirius haunts her nightmares. May all TERFs choke and die.

Best regards, Robin ✨

[dingodad]

if blood/caste = troll gender, then what would that make karkat? off the top of my dome, it immediately reads to me that he would be considered intersex or trans, both even, and at a glance, narratively that feels cohesive. i dont have anything to counter this reading, just curious on your thoughts!!

generally speaking i find it kind of a waste of time to try to identify "exact equivalents" in any given fictional allegory. blood castes are very much like troll genders and i think that's the most pertinent interpretation to homestuck's core themes, but the benefit of inventing a fictional system rather than straight up saying the trolls are segregated on the basis of sex is that the analogy doesn't have to be perfect and it can be used to represent different things at different times - the hemospectrum being a gender spectrum isn't mutually exclusive with the fact that it is also an economic hierarchy, for instance. a lot of discussions about "coding" in fiction end up languishing in the shallows by ignoring this.

so in terms of what the hemospectrum "makes karkat" i don't really think of it in terms of the exact thing that he would be on earth, bc i think the story adequately communicates the broad strokes; that whatever he is, in society's eyes he believes the circumstances of his birth cause him to fall short of the expectations that come with the strict categories alternia expects all trolls to fit into. i have to assume a lot of readers picking up on this is what led to trans guy karkat being such a hugely popular headcanon (besides trans guy headcanons having simply been the most popular thing full stop for a long time), which i think makes complete sense. i also think there are clear lines to be drawn between blood colour and biological sex in the way that biology never cleanly lines up with the social expectations associated with it, and even if i'm not totally sure terminology like "intersex" applies in the same way in a culture with 10+ genders as it does in a culture with just 2, the fact that trolls have a linear "spectrum" of genders clearly lends itself to this kind of thinking.

(this kind of harkens back to a years-old homestuck discourse: a lot of readers took issue with the suggestion that, despite being called a spectrum, in spinoff stories the troll blood colours are always depicted as fitting into twelve discrete categories. but long before i even began to explore the direct intersections between gender, sex and blood colour, the logic behind this seemed clear to me: surely all trolls ARE different and DO have subtly different shades to their blood, but in order to maintain a caste system where each blood colour has its place in the social order, alternian society has to act like there are only 12 colours. this is, after all, exactly how astrological signs are assigned; you can be born on any of 365 days in a year, but for the sake of neatly dividing the population into easily-described groups, each of these days is split among 12 basically-arbitrary signs. this clear parallel homestuck draws between gender and star sign is also why i find it so hard to take class and aspect seriously.)

so even if i don't think either of your options are necessarily what karkat's character is "intended" to convey in the same way i believe caste-as-gender as an intended reading, the versatility of the caste analogy makes them both very organic interpretations. BUT TO ACTUALLY GET TO YOUR QUESTION LOL: like i said in a previous ask, karkat comes across to me as being closeted. in conjunction with his chronically unorthodox approach to troll romance and the role he plays as homestuck's introduction to LGBT themes long before "trolls are bisexual" establishes itself as a canon fact, karkat reads as "the troll version" of a gay guy hiding this fundamental "flaw" in his being because he feels it's standing between him and the all-american ultra-masculine role he sees for himself among the threshecutioners. so like i said above i don't think it necessarily has to be about his "gender" so much as it is about his relationship to expectations of gender, just as troll-caste genders exist across a whole spectrum of expectations rather than in a strict binary.

[seangelfish]

hi!! can i request romantic fluff of kaoru with a reader who likes to draw but is really shy about it? like they always hide their sketchbook when he goes up to them, but its bc they really likes to draw him when he isn't looking. tysm!! take your time and have a good day <3

Aww, this is actually a cute request because I absolutely love Kaoru and I could relate to the reader here too (as an artist myself)! I had to rewrite this twice because I didn't like my first draft lol but this version is definitely a lot better, so I hope you enjoy reading! ♡

Her sketchbook

Kaoru Hakaze x artist! Reader ♡ Genre/s: Fluff, mutual crush ♡ Word count: 1,423 ♡ Plot/summary: Kaoru always wonders what's inside that sketchbook of yours that you just won't show him. However, you vowed to never show this sketchbook to anybody especially Kaoru who you like so much.

During break, you would head off to the Yumenosaki Academy Garden where you would draw to your heart's desire. You usually drew the pretty flowers therce or the insects that visited them. Sometimes you'd draw the birds that would land on the table you were working on, also feeding them bits of your lunch. By time, that sketchbook of yours was covered in beautiful, colourful drawings of nature.

Kaoru, who had taken a liking to you, would always ask what you were up to. He'd always find you in the gardens smiling happily to yourself when you've finished a drawing. He liked seeing you like this when you're content and at peace.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” called out a voice.

You knew it was Kaoru, so you looked up at him and smiled. He's been visiting you a lot lately, and you always enjoyed his presence.

“Haha, you’re drawing again?” he asked happily. “Can I see?”

As you glanced down at the drawing you were working on, you gasped. This made him look down too, but you had already slammed your sketchbook shut.

But despite you liking him so much, you could never show him your sketchbook. EVER.

"(Y/N)?"

"It's not that good!" you cried. "I don't want you seeing it!"

"Huh? But–"

And in a blink of an eye, you were gone, leaving Kaoru stranded all alone in the gardens.

This same situation has happened countless of other times too. Whenever you'd see Kaoru appear from the hedges, you'd immediately hide your sketchbook on your lap. When you weren't in the gardens, but on the school's rooftop, and Kaoru was there helping out with the school's laundry, you'd hide your sketchbook behind your back. Even when he would visit you in the art department with Rei, your sketchbook was just no where to be found!

"She just doesn't want you looking," said Koga after Kaoru had finished telling the rest of UNDEAD his observation. "I wouldn't want you looking either."

Adonis agreed. "It's her personal sketchbook. She probably has stuff she just doesn't want to show you."

"I suppose..." Kaoru sighed. "But I would like to know what she's drawing..."

It wasn't as if you didn't show any of your drawings to Kaoru. You were happy to show him the pieces you were working on in class. Not only did he think you were beautiful, but the things you drew were beautiful too.

However, the way you presented yourself in class and the way you presented yourself outside in the gardens were completely different. He noticed how confident and poised you were whenever you're painting in class. You were focused, the brush between your fingers as you painted the canvas with delicacy. You were graceful with your strokes, careful with your movements. He loved watching you like this, and he loved it even more when you'd catch his eye from outside your classroom as you smiled at him.

But as he watched you smiling to yourself in the gardens, scribbling into your sketchbook with your face resting on your palm, he couldn't help but love you even more. You were truly content, giggling to yourself as you scribbled away. There was no need for you to act poised here, so you were able to be yourself, draw the things that you wanted to draw. Kaoru could see that clearly. He could see how the gardens' colours complimented your warmness, so he always wondered what things you were drawing that made you so happy like that.

The next day, he found you in the gardens again, as he always would. He could tell you had taken a break from drawing because you were now lost in thought, your hands cupping your cheeks as you stared at the sky.

“Haha, cute,” he muttered to himself.

He approached you slowly so he wouldn’t make a noise. You really were deep in thought because you hadn’t noticed him until he cupped his hands over your eyes.

“Guess who!”

You screamed, but once you knew it was Kaoru, you started to laugh.

"Oh, it's Rei, right?" you joked.

Kaoru chuckled, but a part of him didn't like your response. Was he jealous over you guessing wrong? You weren't even guessing properly and he knew of it, but it still annoyed him.

"Of course, it's you, Kaoru," you said as if you were reading his mind.

He had let you go at this point. You looked up at him with the brightest smile that he has ever seen you pull, but as he was looking down at you, he caught a glimpse at your opened sketchbook. You noticed this too, but this time, he was quicker than you.

He snatched your sketchbook from the table and began flipping through it.

“Kaoru, no!!!” you pleaded, gripping his blazer in order to stop him.

He wouldn't stop though. Eyes glued on the pages, he flipped through every single page of your sketchbook that you swore to yourself not to show anybody ESPECIALLY Kaoru.

The first few pages of your sketchbook were what he expected: drawings and sketches of the gardens. As usual, he thought they were beautiful. He could tell how much you loved this garden, and the feelings you have put into your drawings.

However, as he continued to flip the pages, his eyes widened.

"(Y/N), I..." he began, but trailed off.

Because what he was seeing in the next pages were no longer sketches of still life, but sketches of him. There were so many of them, ones of which were of him smiling and laughing, others of him looking confused or into the distance. There were even sketches of where he was preforming in his UNDEAD uniform.

When did you have time to draw these? He was with you most of the time, wasn't he? Does that mean that when he wasn't looking, you'd quickly sketch him?

By the time he reached the last page, his face was a deep shade of red.

"I didn't... expect that," he finally said.

You covered your eyes with your hands, head down on the table in complete embarrassment. All you wanted to do right now was to disappear off the planet. On the other hand, Kaoru couldn't stop smiling. He had to cup his hand over his mouth to stop himself.

“(Y/N), I didn’t know you felt that way about me,” he said shyly.

He always thought that his crush was one-sided, that you were just treating him like a friend. So now that he knew that the things you were drawing in the gardens that made you so happy were him, he couldn't contain his happiness.

He bent down a bit and clasped your shoulder, stroking it reassuringly. "(Y/N), please look at me." He spoke with such gentleness to you that you couldn't refuse his plea.

You lifted your head off the table and slowly looked at him. Your face was hot, cheeks glazed with tears.

"(Y/N)?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" he exclaimed, feeling regretful of his actions.

"It's just... so embarrassing..." you sniffled. "I didn't want you finding out like this...!"

"Hey, hey," he said soothingly. "Please don't cry... it's okay... I love your drawings. You drew me so beautifully. I'm... actually really happy about it."

You could tell. Even when your vision was blurry due to the tears, you could tell how happy he was due to his big, radiant smile he had on his face. It made you want to cry even more.

You really did like him.

"I always wondered what you were drawing that you didn't want to show me," he began. "But to find out that it was me, I... I just can't help but love you even more than I ever have. (Y/N), you don't understand how much I adore you."

As he poured out his feelings for you, you couldn't help but cry even more. He wiped away your tears, bringing you into his embrace. You hesitated, but hugged him back, finding comfort in his big body.

Once you've calmed down, you looked at him again with a smile. He cupped your cheek which made you chuckle.

"I like you so much, Kaoru," you stated. "But I'm sure you already know that now. Am I... still allowed to draw you?"

"I will let you draw me as much as you like, just... don't run away from me, okay?" he replied with a soft laugh.

You nodded, taking his hand in yours.

"I promise not to do that anymore~"

Intro page | Ensemble Stars masterlist | Rules

[princemick]

I’m obsessed with your coloring, sharpening and grain. Do you mind doing a tutoral or sharing your settings?

hell yea I can! I haven't done an updated gif tutorial in ages so here is

kyle princemick's 2024 gifmaking process!

alright class, sit down, shut up, raise your hand if you have questions and I might answer them. today we're going to be making this gif together!

there are a few steps to this

record settings

import and timeline

sharpening

basic colour

export

for this tutorial you need the newest version of photoshop but previous knowledge of giffing is not needed

record settings

I use OBS and screen record. my video settings are:

and output is:

if I live gif I change the 'common FPS values' to 30 as it makes it easier/faster to export but for now we're gonna use a recording of 60 fps where the thing I recorded is of higher quality.

2. import and timeline

importing your recorded video is easy peasy you just drop your video into your photoshop homescreen. after you do that, this should be your view

if you dont see the bottom blue timeline go to window and make sure 'timeline' is selected.

now, because this is recorded w high quality n 60 fps the frames that are in our fimeline rn go real fast, to slow it down we're gonna go to the little play button on the side of our blue timeline and change the speed to 50%

after this we're going to change the length of our gif.

because we recorded at 60 fps it works best to keep the eventual gif at 60 fps. on the timeline this means 2f. for most gifsets I like 2/3 gifs so I either make the full timeline 4f or 6f.

for this we're just going to make it one gif so with the little arrows on the side im going to slide it down until it's the length I want.

then I'm going to play the timeline and put my marker when I want the gif to start. I move my 2 frame selection tool to the start of the moment I want to gif.

then you have a bunch of timeline still left that you wont need so I'm going to delete that part by making the video smaller.

in the end I will have a single 60 frame video left on my timeline.

3. sharpening

so, sharpening is all personal preference and I highly recommend taking mine or other people's settings and playing around with it until it works for you!

now for my settings and proccess.

we're going to convert our video layer to get ready for smart filters, you do this by making sure your layer is selected and then you go to filers -> convert for smart filters

now we're going to crop it. this is again, all personal preference BUT tumblr prefers 5:7 or 1:1.

if you go to the little crop icon on your toolbar you have a bunch of size presets all ready for you

for this gif I'm going to use the 5:7.

now atp I do smth a lil different then a lot of other people tend to do and I dont know how much I recommend doing it either bc it makes the process a lot longer but it makes me like the way my gifs look the most. so I have stuck to it for the last 2+ yrs.

we're gonna go to imagine -> image size and then I like making my with size 900.

540 is what tumblr likes most, it's smaller and when you export it like that tumblr will read your full gif so there won't be need for the 'click for higher quality'

but for me it makes the gifs really low quality so I export and make my gifs at 900 unless I am live giffing bc when I export at 540 it exports quicker.

anyway, so the gif is 900 by 642. we're gonna go to sharpening now. my process is pretty long but the steps go like this

(all these smart filters are under the filter -> sharpen tab)

1: smart sharpen

2: gaussian blur

3: add noise

4: smart sharpen

5: smart sharpen

I tend to play around with the amount and radius of the last smart sharpen layer all depending on what I prefer for that gifset specifically.

now your gif layer should look like this

now your sharpening is done. you can keep it like this or add colouring.

4. basic colour

my colouring is...complex a lot of the time and it changes with every gif I make but there is some basic stuff I always stick to.

colouring itself is a bunch of adjustment layers which you can find at the bottom of your layers here

for colouring steps one of the first things I tend to use is 'curves' to up the contrast of my gif

then I use 'color balance' to neutralize the colours, I personally like it when my gifs are a little more on the colder side.

then I add a layer of 'exposure' to make the contrast even heavier.

then for my personal colouring I always go into hue/saturation to play around w lips/blush.

and lastly I always go into selective colour to change the colour more specifically.

there's a bunch of different stuff you can add and change but that's all personal preference but the only thing you have to keep in mind is skintone, especially when it comes to poc. (which is y u see the massive colour change in the selective colour one, that's me trying to neutralize his undertones again)

you have to make sure that you dont make someones skin to light or overplay someones red/yellow undertones. (which I am personally also still working on and learning abt)

here is a really good tutorial on how to colour black skin

5. export

and now, the easiest part, export. if you go to file -> export ->

then this window will show up. you're free to copy my settings, most of these things don't really matter that much to know anything.

the only thing semi important is the top right one that says colours: 128. that is the amount if colours the gif will read, I tend to export on 128 instead of 256 because tumblr won't accept gifs bigger then 10M and the more colours the bigger the gif.

now if you just click on export while your gifset is 900 x 642 your gifset will deff be over 10M. I make it smaller by changing the width of the gif by the 'image size'

I tend to starts w the W: at 700, it most of the time makes the size small enough, down at the bottom left is where you have to look to check until your gifsize is under 10

if you make your gif 700 and it's still bigger then 700 just go smaller until its under that 10m. I dont make my gifs smaller then 500 though, then the quality will truly suffer.

obviously the gif quality will be the best the bigger it is.

thats it! youre done, a gif is made and coloured.

hopefully this was understanable if it wasnt you're very free to ask questions abt anything else in my process!!

good luck and have fun ! <3

[hueningsloverr]

౨ৎ persephone !

pairing: soobin x fem!reader summary: pomegranates and persephone. that's what soobin had come to learn. word count: 0.5k

most of your past lovers chose to call you tasteful names, crude insults surrounding the general theme of you being a monster. but you were no monster. you were just a woman.

in a way you were like a pomegranate- it was obvious when someone didn’t love you properly. all your past lovers left with red stained hands and disappointment etched across their face.

that’s why soobin was so special - he was able to get you to open up without forcing you so aggressively that you snapped. he didn't force you to suddenly bare yourself to him, he was slow, moving at your pace instead of his.

soobin was nothing like your past lovers. he was the exact opposite. he took the time to memorise you; to him nothing was 'too insignificant'. he remembered your favourite artists, colours, songs, and even time of day. everything mattered to him. and that is what made him matter so much to you. he knew of your affinity for greek mythology, and though most found it unsettling, he found it intruging.

'persephone and hades?' he queried, his head cocked to the side as his eyebrows furrowed. where had he heard those names before? he tried his best to pay attention in classes.

'they were believed by the greeks to be the king and queen of the underworld! there's a lot of retellings of their story, but in most of them...'

he watched in awe as you rambled on and on, eyes filled with nothing more than adoration. so what if you were a geek? a nerd? you were cute.

'but a common theme is that persephone ate the seeds of a pomegranate, meaning she was forced to stay in the underworld forever. but hades worked a deal out with her mom, demeter. that's why we have seasons!' you grinned like a small child showing a finger-painting to their parent. and soobin felt a sense of pride grow within him.

'we have seasons because... hades and persephone are in love?' he laughed slightly, his head not fully wrapped around the idea.

'we have seasons because both hades and demeter wished to be by persephones side, but neither could leave their realm. so...'

he felt bad for constantly finding himself in a daze, but there was such an intoxicating way in which you spoke about mythology that made him feel like a teenage boy again.

it was that very same day soobin realised for himself how similar to a pomegranate you were. he thought it was silly, comparing his girlfriend to a fruit, but in his head it made sense.

you symbolised life to him, you were like regeneration - allowing him to become a new version of himself he was not even aware was possible. all the symbols of a pomegranate could be applied to you - the myths and the stories revolving around the reddish fruit. it was odd, yet also endearing.

hades and persephone - a story of love that probably never should have been, a story of love that seemed impossible.

to soobin, the rulers of the underworld were not so different from the two of you.

except, whilst he was just hades, you were both persephone and the pomegranate. and instead of persephone being stuck with hades, it was soobin who found himself stuck to you. all because of how desirable you were.

a/n: i know! i know! usually i don't really include specific genders in my writings... but i love pomegranates and what they stand for as a literary device and i wrote this while on vacation as i watched my dad tear into a pomegranate whilst my mom looked like she was holding a small child

©2024 - all rights reserved to hueningsloverr, please do not plagiarise or translate any of my work

[ya-boi-ferals]

Was able to create these redesigns while we had nothin to do in classes. Im tryin to slowly make myself fall in love with art again and my hyperfixation on mlp redesigns are helpin me do that >:'] ...and oh boi this is gon be a long post feel free to read my rewrites ehe

I had so much fun through the whole process for this one! (Tbh the mane 5 becomin more like semi ocs now) For my version, Pipp is more of an actress/performer who does multiple side gigs and hobbies. Shes basically the city's "angelic sweet girl" since shes known for playing a soft and whimsical persona, often doing her iconic closed in ears and faded voice to give a more innocent look for the public. Her attitude is no different in private but she forces herself to stay too positive even when shes in need of relieving some strong emotions. Im not a fan of Pipp being a stereotypical phone addict in the show so I instead headcannoned her as neurodivergent and needing a distraction everytime or else she gets all panicky when shes doesnt have anything to do, she tends to overshare info, forgets to rest, known to take other's spotlight away and dissociate a lot (especially when reading fan comments) Shes disabled and uses formed cloud wings designed by her sister.

As for her redesign, I made her mane to be more stylish as a way to show her expertise on hairstylin. Her tail and tiara is rose shaped to go with her last name "Petals". And her colour pallete is brownish purple and powdered pink to give her character a more softer feel.

Lmaoo I have a lot to say- Anyways heres an old piece i made for zipp Im still confused how to draw her hair patterns...

In my ver. Zipp is well known for bein hardworkin and intelligent. Shes not ready to be queen and often "slacks off" with her main royal duties but she organizes and fixes problems happening outside the castle by talking to the staffs. Shes extremely curious and learns a lot of random detailed infos since she was young which ended up makin her become great at managing situations happening in and out the city, which is why her mother is so persistent on makin her the next queen. Zipp is a solutionist and researcher but she only focuses on what catches her interest before goin on the to next. (Ngl all the mane 5 are neurodivergent to me) Because of how determined she is on those interest, shes made several secret places to avoid just doin main work. Her fav studies are chemistry, physics, cosmology, ecology and aeronautics. Shes mysterious to the public eye but her friends know that shes just a bundle of hyperactive mess once she starts discovering smth new. I assume og Zipp is secretly non-binary coded but for my version, shes a transmare and everypony already knows and accepts it.

I gave her a more light pink and blue green mane colour. Her bangs are like sherlock holmes' as to pay homage for zipp bein a detective in the series along with some side braids. I also gave her twilight freckles and tired,soft looking eyes (not only cuz shes a workaholic like Pipp but its also cuz of genetics)

Aight, I was never really a fan for givin the mane cast just one element and the fact that G5 series havent showed any mentions of it just made it seem unimportant. Soo I instead gave them multiple elements that the mane 5 will develop as their journey goes on. Pipp will be the element of Strength, Purity, Assurance, Control, Pride, Value, etc. While Zipp is the element of Curiosity, Determination, Potential, Wonderment, Eagerness, Persistence, etc. (I imagine if twilight would have ever come back from the dead she would most likely write down what their elements would be as she observes the mane 5)

[cecils-dragons]

i loooove the way you do colour, it's always so cohesive and pleasant. do you have any tips?

Aw thank you so much!!! That means a ton to me because I do pride myself on my colors and color theming. I may not be the best to ask this tho as my tablet has slightly warped colors and in truth, I'm just making it up as I go. I have basically no actual artistic schooling outside of the minimum extra curricular school classes, so I apologize if I don't use correct terms or mess up along the way of my attempt at explaining.

ALSO! Apologies but I use the disc color pallet, I use the classic once in this but it will mainly be shown on the disc pallet because it works easier on my tablet and brain.

I use mainly warm tones in my art because that's what appeals to me, so that's what this will be about :D There are ranges of colors that I stray away from in my usual art as they can usually be achieved in some way in a warmer tone. Like instead of using the pink on the color wheel, a light red is a much nicer and warmer pink. Same things with yellow greens and teals.

But my pallets tend to keep within the warm yellow to red range, a tight range can be very appealing.

Stay away from pure white and the upper right corner of the pallet, these are both extremes and should be used only to make things pop. Diluting the colors make the world of a difference to make the colors look more natural and earthy. Even the whites of my characters eyes are not a pure white, I tend to add a smidge or yellow or orange to give them a more alive color. Don't be scared to add greys to your color and dilute it, it can work!

But on the other hand, a pure black is still so nice, I use block shading and that pops so nicely with line art.

Another thing is picking skin tones. I usually stay between an orange-yellow and the edge of reds. But even theses, I usually keep towards the center of the pallet. Skin tones can easily get muddled up if you accidentally go too bright or grey, but it can still be pulled and pushed to create a nice range of tones. For my skins, I usually have a base color and a "blush"/darker color to go with it to add depth. This blush is a tweaked version of the base slightly redder and darker to the corner of the pallet, but this rule can be tweaked if you have a fun idea for a different vibe.

Even with my brighter colors, they are still slightly diluted. Keeping them in a slightly muted tone will make it easier to add a larger range of colors together without getting overwhelmed.

But seriously, have fun out there playing around with colors and don't be scared of color dropping from references.

[geekgirles]

i see NOTHING circus-themed in bee's design 😭 she just looks like a cluttered genero mess k can't believe we got her after asmodeus

Personally, I adore Bee's design, but I must admit it took me an embarrassing long amount of time to realise she was indeed the show's version of Beelzebub and not another character altogether. Seriously, until I first came to Tumblr after the episode's release and saw people saying she was the Lord of Gluttony herself (which I get she literally introduced herself as, it's just that Cotton Candy had way too much going on for me to lock onto that particular detail), I was convinced she was supposed to be like a "higher class" breed of Hellhound.

Like, I thought she was Beelzebub's pet and that somehow made her more powerful and different from other Hellhounds; I legit thought that was why her name was practically the same but with a hyphen. I was legitemately convinced she was some sort of "tailor-made" Hellhound made to resemble her master Beelzebub more closely to make her stand out from the regular Hellhounds. Though the reason behind this misundertanding is due to her mention of Belphegor not letting her use her party drugs. I misheard her, thinking she said Beelzebub, and immediately assumed she was subservient to her instead of, well, being her.

Having said that, I do think Bee's design is appropriate. It just represents and reflects so much behind-the-scenes stuff!

Firstly, we have, of course, the inlusion of Kesha. I'd say Vivziepop owes a huge chunk of her fame to her Die Young animatic featuring her werewolf character, Jay Jay, singing the song in what was essentially a tribute to the artist. So with that in mind, it's obvious Bee's more canine design is clearly the crew's way of saying they've finally come full circle now that they got Kesha herself to voice a character for them. Further proof of it is that obvious reference when Bee even ended looking like Jay Jay during Cotton Candy by getting Jay's blue fur and pink hair.

(Well, to be fair, Jay Jay began appearing more often with light blue fur and bright pink hair after she debuted in Die Young, but I remember a sneak peek of another animatic where she would have her later colour palette and be singing Kesha's C'mon. So the point still stands).

Secondly, I personally think she does embody the circus troop theme, deep down, just maybe not in the way you'd expect her to.

Just like Lucifer and Ozzie's are ringmasters and Mammon is a jester, Bee is supposed to represent confectionary stands (hence, her constantly conjuring up fast food and sweets) and animal acts. Now, if you ask me, I'd say the animal act side of her is both very subtle and incredibly on the nose, as much of an oxymoron as that is.

On the one hand, the only thing really reminiscent of animal acts are the hoops and loops she has around her house, which are very easy to overlook.

But on the other hand, there's also the fact that her subjects are Hellhounds, or at the very least they seem to feel the most at home with her. In fact, Loona's adoption papers have her signature, meaning she oversees the process to some degree.

In a way, the Deadly Sins resembling their subjects is another recurrent trait, though Asmodeus looking nothing like a succubus is a clear exception (and Mammon seems to be a literal money tree).

We have Lucifer, whose Ring is mostly inhabited by Sinners and his standard form is the most human-looking one...

There's Bee being essentially an alpha Hellhound (Fox)-Bee Hybrid...

And if his app is anything to go by, Satan might just as well end up being a more powerful kind of Imp.

For all we know, Belphegor might be a Baphomet too! Especially seeing as the Sloth Ring seems to be mostly populated by them.

(I know this one in particular works in the Lust Ring, but you know what I mean).

And there's also the fact that it seems to be a reference to the Divine Comedy, if my memory doesn't fail me, where the Gluttony Ring was inhabited by Cerberus. So in that respect, Bee being a Hellhound is very consistent, especially because going back to the act she's supposed to represent, her ruling over Hellhounds essentially turns her into a beast master!

And of course, we can't forget she's supposed to represent Gluttony, over-consumption, over-indulgence, excess... All things that can easily be found in wild, out-of-control parties. And what is Bee's character deep down? A literal party animal!

So yeah, in my humble opinion, Queen Bee-lzebub is both a very imaginative and faithful take on her character, as well as the character that best reflects how far Vivziepop and Spindlehorse have come. Though that might just me being biased by how much I love her design LOL.