cloudypine

[brocktonbay]

can we get stills of the rose and blake bimbofication please i need to stare at them indefinitely

you got it, boss 🫡

[necroangelz]

shadows all around you as you surface from the dark. . .

. . .emerging from the gentle grip of night's unfolding arms

darkness, darkness everywhere, do you feel all alone !?

day 4 of @impossiblecreationparadise's event

“ a character with the same aesthetic as you. ”

ASSORTED VOYAGER EDITS! 2nd time encountering this prompt in an event (I'm pretty sure) and I'm editing voyager yet again... i just luv her ok? i edited a lot

i forgot to include this but the frames in the 2nd and 3rd frames were made by @/imjustchillinghere!!! crediting them is mandatory.

like/rb and creds to me are appreciated! don't tag this with anything that will imply you are voyager.

NOW PLAYING: You Are The Moon by The Hush Sound !!

[boyfeminism]

lego dragon (flags)

[mesetacadre]

Hey do you think you could watch and give your throughts on youtuber Jonas Čeika video "marx was not a statist"?

Thank you

Quite honestly, the title alone already betrays some amount of anarchist metaphysics, the concept of stateism is a purely idealist notion which only works if you are a liberal about authority. But regardless, I still watched the full thing.

The video starts with a very semantic-focused discourse on how marx never used "socialism" to mean the lower phase of communism, and way too much time on the terms transitionary period/DotP as if they weren't two terms that refer to the same thing. In the case of socialism/lower phase of communism, I think he's obfuscating. He focuses the discussion on whether Marx used a certain term in the same way we do now. This would be like spending a good 5 minutes of a video presenting, with an almost accusatory disposition against modern communists, how the bolsheviks called themselves social-democrats, pretending like the terms haven't simply evolved. He promises an "active engagement with marxist theory" and he starts by arguing semantics. He even acknowledges this possible criticism, but you also then have to defend why that criticism is not valid, instead he acts like merely acknowledging it will make that criticism invalid. I'm also spending this time on this specific point because, later, he also forgets how Marx used the word "socialism".

When he does define the lower stage of communism, he engages in a very mechanic and economicist view, with the simple train of thought: No money (replaced with vouchers) > no capital to accumulate > no classes > no state. I think that just by asking how these vouchers will be regulated and how access to wealth restricted to the use of those vouchers, the conclusion that the substitution of money necessarily leads through that chain to the disappearance of the state becomes, very transparently, downright infantile.

In his point about how the Paris Commune changed Marx's view on the state, he cites excerpts in a very misleading way. The whole point starts by pointing out that, in the preface to the 1872 edition, the experience of the Paris Commune led Marx and Engels to the following analysis: "...the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes". This, along with a disregard of the importance of the specific policy points they outlined in the manifesto, and the importance of absolute centralization, means to him that Marx and Engels, actually, completely disregarded the use of the state on the road to communism. To quote Lenin: "Listen, comrade from Tiflis, one may prevaricate, but one should know the limit...."

What the video doesn't directly address (and although he talks about the text extensively, It's important to cite ideas where they actually come from), is that this quote, although it appeared in the 1872 edition of the manifesto, comes from Civil War in France, a longer text on the Paris Commune. This is a more complete context of that quote that the video never gives [ID in alt text]

That quote is the beginning of a chapter in which Marx describes how the Paris Commune governed itself, and how it broke with the series of revolts that happened throughout the period of feudalism, how the class character of the Commune marked it as the significant event that it is. It is true that the Commune's aspirations for the entire world was for its form to be replicated even in the smallest hamlet, and it may even be true that this influenced Marx to generally reject centralization of the state. However, what the breadtuber obviates throughout the entire video, is that a small state is still a state, and furthermore, that revolutionary strategy is not dictated by what is right or wrong, but by what can be done to advance the cause of the emancipation of the working class. It is one thing to reject the state outright, and another very different thing to acknowledge that it is necessary to take control of the state to emancipate the working class, even if you abstractly oppose the concept of a state. Not only to take control of the state, which is the point of the original quote, it is necessary to create our own worker's state, in whichever form it best suits the concrete reality: "the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes". Jonas says that the proletariat should, instead, create "radically democratic working class institutions". These gentlemen think that when they have changed the names of things they have changed the things themselves.

Instead of understanding that point, he goes even further. Jonas has understood that, by praising the measures taken by the Paris Commune (which, let's remember, failed after two months!), Marx and Engels began to believe that "[the state] is by nature bourgeois". Maybe Jonas started reading Bakunin instead of Marx without realizing, this is perhaps the most liberal and historically illiterate portion of the 30+ minute video essay. Again, comrade from breadtube, one may prevaricate, but one should know the limit. In fact, Marx even says in the same text being discussed: "It is generally the fate of completely new historical creations to be mistaken for the counterparts of older, and even defunct, forms of social life, to which they may bear a certain likeness". The irony needn't be explained.

As if Jonas hadn't misconstrued the text and Marx enough, he shows the quote: "... although there is nothing socialist in them except their tendency...". At first I was unable to find this specific quote in Civil War in France, not in any chapter nor in the footnotes. As it turns out, this quote is not from Civil War in France, as Jonas so succinctly cites it, but from the draft of the text. First, it's simply dishonest to cite such a cherrypicked line from a draft and passing it off as something Marx published.

There might be a myriad of possible reasons why this idea did not make it into the final text, but in order for the audience to correctly follow along, it's necessary for them to know where an idea comes from. Beyond this, which I find misleading enough, the video makes the point that with this line, Marx is clearly differentiating between a dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism. But hang on, didn't Jonas spend the first 5 minutes of the video explaining that, in the times of Marx, socialism was understood to be a reformist and petit-bourgeois stance? So, then, how could this out of context, unpublished line be Marx making a distinction between lower-phase communism and the dictatorship of the proletariat? This is the phrase's context [ID in alt text]:

The actual point of this portion is not even related to what Jonas makes it out to be. Here, using "socialist" as another name for utopians, Marx makes the distinction between previous movements of utopians, those socialist sects, and the Paris Commune, because even though their goals, the emancipation of labor, may appear similar, there is nothing socialist [utopian] in them because their means are not utopian, but the beginnings of scientific communism. So, then, not only did Jonas go back on the first point of the video to dunk on the evil stalinists, and not only did he completely remove the context of a phrase by failing to cite properly, but he also failed to even understand the points made in the text he's cherrypicking. Is this what passes for "active engaging with marxist texts" in breadtube?

After this portion, which I still consider the better half of the video, he veers into talking about socialism in one country, first by, again, very blatantly removing important parts of the texts he talks about. The quote he shows, from Principles of Communism, is as follows: "Will it be possible for this revolution to take place in one country alone? No. By creating the world market, big industry has already brought all the peoples of the Earth [...] into such close relation with one another that none is independent of what happens to the others [...] It follows that the communist revolution will not merely be a national phenomenon but must take place simultaneously in all civilized countries [...] It is a universal revolution and will, accordingly, have a universal range." It is true that Engels states that communist revolutions cannot be confined to the national scale, but those ommissions hide a lot of nuance that is very relevant to discussing Marx and Engels' positions on the national/international question. This is the full quote [ID in alt text]:

Marx and Engels were unable to completely and correctly analyze the imperialist form of capitalism, which hadn't yet fully crystallized, economically speaking. According to them, since capitalism was the most developed in places like England or France, the proletariat was also more developed, and the socialist revolution would happen first in these places, and propagate outwards. This notion was proved false by both theory (Lenin's imperialism) and by practice. Lenin identified that, as imperialism settled down as the highest stage of capitalism, the imperialist chain could only be broken at the weakest link, which was Russia at the time. I'm insisting on Lenin's theories because Jonas also claims Lenin to the "not statist" camp, and the video very quickly loses any originality by defaulting to the narrative of Stalin betraying Marx and Lenin by rejecting the world-wide revolution in the short-medium term as a pre-requisite for the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat. I think that going more in depth into this will only make this response unnecessary longer, but to end it, I think it's apt to end with a Lenin quote which directly refutes this anti-Lenin betrayal notion:

A United States of the World (not of Europe alone) is the state form of the unification and freedom of nations which we associate with socialism—about the total disappearance of the state, including the democratic. As a separate slogan, however, the slogan of a United States of the World would hardly be a correct one, first, because it merges with socialism; second, because it may be wrongly interpreted to mean that the victory of socialism in a single country is impossible, and it may also create misconceptions as to the relations of such a country to the others.

Uneven economic and political development is an absolute law of capitalism. Hence, the victory of socialism is possible first in several or even in one capitalist country alone. After expropriating the capitalists and organising their own socialist production, the victorious proletariat of that country will arise against the rest of the world—the capitalist world—attracting to its cause the oppressed classes of other countries, stirring uprisings in those countries against the capitalists, and in case of need using even armed force against the exploiting classes and their states. The political form of a society wherein the proletariat is victorious in overthrowing the bourgeoisie will be a democratic republic, which will more and more concentrate the forces of the proletariat of a given nation or nations, in the struggle against states that have not yet gone over to socialism. The abolition of classes is impossible without a dictatorship of the oppressed class, of the proletariat. A free union of nations in socialism is impossible without a more or less prolonged and stubborn  struggle of the socialist republics against the backward states.

On the Slogan for a United States of Europe, V. I. Lenin (1915)

Overall, I think this video lacks any kind of rigor or respect for the texts discussed. Citations are pretty predominantly misleading or incomplete in some way, he extrapolates fantastical ideas from texts he doesn't appear to understand, and more in general, the way the video is concienved reeks of dogmatism, the arguments overwhelmingly boil down to "Marx said this (according to me), so it must be true". There is no actual engagement with texts, but there isn't even a will to engage with history. Marxism does not end with Marx and Engels, it's a philosophical and political framework that extends beyond the gospel of incomplete quotes. Even if Marx and Engels really did believe such anti-materialist ideas as "the state is bourgeois by nature", it would not change the facts that the history and experiences after the Paris Commune should also have weight in order to reach conclusions.

[life-take]

Making a Gamut Mask in CSP

Strap in folks! I'm going to show you how to make a "gamut mask" and palette using nothing but a color wheel and Clip Studio Paint!

*I made this tutorial using CSP Pro 1, but the same principles should apply for any version.

Introduction

First, what's a gamut mask? The term comes from physical painting and printing, where artists only have so many pigments to work with. A 'gamut' is the set of all colors that can be mixed from a certain set of pigments. Painters and printers have been looking for 'wide' gamuts for a long time -- so they can make the widest variety of colors from the fewest number of base pigments or dyes. Some base-color sets you may have heard of are CMYK, RGB, or RYB.

One of the easiest ways of making a painting harmonious is to use color theory to limit the number of colors of your palette. The technique of covering up, or 'masking' your reference color wheel also lets the artist see what intermediate colors can be mixed and still remain part of the cohesive palette. And in the physical world, where more pigments means more tubes of paint you have to spend money on, it's important to know exactly how few pigments you can get away with.

In digital art, painters have access to every possible RGB color right out of the gate, which can sometimes feel overwhelming or make it harder to see relationships between colors. So let's try gamut masking! Using this tutorial, you'll make a general-purpose file you can change and adapt to your liking for future projects!

Part I: The Setup

In this tutorial, I'm using a color wheel image obtained from Björn Ottosson's blog, showcasing the OKHSL color space. I like it because the OKHSL space has perceptually constant lightness and saturation per hue. Try out his comparative color picker here. (I also like this image bc it has a transparent background)

You can use whatever color wheel you like! Just one thing is important-- it should gradually become more unsaturated toward the center of the wheel. This saves you some manual color mixing down the road.

Here's our basic layer template. To get started, follow this:

Open your color wheel in Clip Studio Paint. It will be the only layer.

Select the "Frame Border" tool (U), pick the shape or subtool you think is best. I've picked 'polyline' since I'm making a triangle. (HINT: if you want an elliptical/circle shape, click the wrench in the tool properties window, then the "Figure" submenu, then you should see the option to choose an ellipse shape.)

Create the frame shape on the canvas over any section of the wheel. If it's not quite right, choose the "Operation" tool (O) and adjust the rotation, corners, or size of the frame!

You'll now see your frame border shape over the color wheel. Drag the color wheel layer into the Frame folder and it'll be masked!

That's the very basics! Here's some extra steps I took to make it extra helpful:

*In the Frame folder, I added two correction layers: a Hue/Luminosity/Saturation and a Color Balance. The first is in case I want to work with darker/lighter tones. The second is if I want to apply a tint to my gamut while preserving the color relationships of the mask! eg: if I want to make a painting that's overall blue, but still want colors that 'feel' red, yellow, etc compared to the strongest blue.

*I've created a uniform neutral grey layer at the very bottom, so I can judge tones and colors without bias.

*("Folder 1" was unused, just some layers not relevant to this tutorial)

With that mask, you technically have everything you need! For each new painting you want to make a palette for, just edit the shape of the Frame Border layer and change the adjustment layers to your liking. Then you can save it as your favorite image type to use for reference!

But let's talk about how you can further use the mask...to be continued!

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: 3P {1}

Title: 3P {1}

Lewis Hamilton x Famous Singer Reader x Aaron Pierre

Warning: Angst, 18+ Mature Content, Language,

Words: 2.6k

Summary: “Sharing is caring”, “The more the merrier”, “Love knows no bounds”. There are so many quotes that circulate that can be tied to love and relationships. Two of the many you like happens to be “Two is better than one” and “The more the merrier”. Now it wasn’t like you particularly and purposely went out your way to collect men. That wasn’t the case at all. It’s just that there were two gorgeous faces in the sea of bodies at Coachella that you couldn’t decide which you wanted more. So you decided why choose. That was 4 months ago and now everything was much more complicated than you’d ever intended.

Note: I am the hugest advocate of the “why choose” trope and "why choose" relationships when it comes to women having more than one man (of course while being responsible and transparent). So, we are gonna have our cake and eat it too y’all. Not sure how long this will be, but I’ll write it until it isn’t fun anymore. LOL.

Note II: Do y’all know what 3P means? Hehehehehe! I guess we should thank Ms. Brittany Spears.

As always, thank you guys for reading. I hope you enjoy this.

If you enjoyed this, please, LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG!!

****NOT Edited/Proofread*** ***Slightly Interactive***

Chapter One: Break Down

"I can't share you, Y/N. I--I can't--share you with him", Aaron said.

His voice was small as if he didn't even know if he truly meant the words. You picked up something else in his voice too--pain. Another thing you picked up was his refusal to look at you. But was it refusal or something else?

You sighed softly. It wasn't like you hadn't slightly prepared yourself for this. You had. You wanted to be realistic. The likelihood of both or even one of them being okay with what you were offering was always slim. You’d tried not to allow yourself to get comfortable enough where something like this knocked you out of kilter.

"I know it's not what you want to hear and it's not what you want but I can't. I won't."

Silence. He'd drawn the line in the sand. It was a bold line too. This was him saying that this was his hard limit and no matter how he felt about you he wouldn't cross this line. He was on one side while you were on the other. It had been shaping up to be a beautiful day. The sun was out, birds chirping, the flowers were out in full fragrance and the winds were gentle. It was a beautiful Paris day. Was.

"So that's it?"

Aaron didn't speak immediately. Instead, he kept his head down, elbows on the cafe table with one hand clasped inside the other, both making one large tense fist. You could see the tension in his shoulders and practically feel the discontent rolling off him. You were disappointed by his words, but you couldn't help but feel bad for him too.

"Look at me Aaron," you said softly.

He didn't.

"Come on--please."

He clenched his hands into a tighter fist which made the veins in his hands protrude even more. You tried hard not to imagine those strong hands around you holding you close to his body. You tried even harder to not reach for those hands. Hands you'd held tens of times, hands that had so gently caressed your face, possessively cupped your ass, and even protected you from encroaching paps.

So instead of doing any of that, you laced your fingers together so right not even a wisp of air could infiltrate them, then leaned forward with your elbows resting at the edge of the table so you were now in a mirroring posture to his.

"Aaron," you whispered.

His sudden jerk back took you off guard, as did the outburst that followed, "I can't Y/N! Goddamn it! It's taking everything in me right now to say this to you. If I look at you I know your eyes will make me second guess myself and I'll be right back where I started and that's being in love with a woman who isn't only mine. Sharing the only woman I've loved--truly loved."

His words hit you like a ton of bricks. He'd said them out loud. There was always an air of love surrounding him and his dealing with you. Whether it was gestures to show it, presents to highlight it, thoughtful deeds to insinuate it, or passionate kisses and frenzied body groping in the dark to cement it, but never words to confirm.

Neither of you had spoken them. Now that the words hung between you, you didn't know what to say or do. Did you reach over and pat him on the back? Somehow slip your hand into his Fort Knox-like clenched hands and give them a reassuring and sympathetic squeeze? Lean forward and give him a comforting hug?

You spent so much time trying to think of the right response or reaction that you missed the window to reply or react and unintentionally catapulted this entire meetup into the proverbial toilet.

"Do you have any idea what it feels like to see pictures of you with someone else? I can be scrolling through socials minding my business and bam a picture of you and him out together comes across my feed with so many comments on how good you look together. That shit sucks especially knowing you were with me maybe 2 nights ago looking just as good with me."

You lowered your eyes now, unable to hold his gaze. An emotion similar to shame washed over you and you hated it. What did you have to be ashamed about?

"Or how it feels to see you smile at him the way you smile at me? Or to sit and wonder what you are doing with him if you say the same things to him you have to me. If you let him touch you the way you let me touch you, if you're kissing on him too or something more? Do you know what it does to me when we talk and suddenly you tell me you have to go and in the back of my mind I know it's because of him? Have you ever thought of these things Y/N? Because that is all I think about. These last 4 months have been..."

Aaron released a hiss of breath as he shook his head for emphasis. Silence stretched again. Throughout his outburst, the feeling never left you and it even brought a tight knot in your throat. You swallowed for the 10th time trying to clear it but failing. Grabbing your glass, you finished the Prosecco that had been abandoned ever since he'd first spoken.

"I get it," you quietly said.

"You get it? After all of that?"

"I don’t know what you want me to say, I mean you--this whole time you--"

"I know," he interrupted.

He shook his head again then looked at you with the coldest eyes he'd ever laid on you. If looks could kill you might have been on life support right now.

A resentful smirk spread his face before he spoke again, "You did say love was messy, that it knows no mercy and only one can win never two."

Aaron scoffed then nodded. "Sometimes it lasts in love but most times it hurts instead. Ha! When you said that to me I found it so odd and cynical of you and I found that slightly cynical part of you endearing especially in this world full of blind optimism. I get it now."

You reached for his hands wanting to touch him...needing to. However, abruptly he cleared his throat loudly and then sat back in his chair somehow teleporting himself oceans away though he was still barely 6 feet from you leaving your hands now the ones in the center of the table without his.

"I wish nothing but the best for you, Y/N. You deserve everything good in this world and that includes happiness. Remember that."

He stood then walked away only to stop after a few steps and come back.

"One more thing. It doesn't have to be just 1 person winning in love, it can be 2."

You saw the pain in his eyes, the disappointment, and felt like he was pleading with you to see the truth in his words. With that, he walked away leaving you sitting there to watch his back get further and further away. As he walked away, you were surprised to feel the urge to run after him, surprised by your desire to make things right. However, once his frame disappeared in the Parisian crowd those feelings disappeared, as did the shame.

You weren't the bad guy here. You had no reason to feel ashamed. You had done all the right things. Digging into your Chanel purse for some cash, you slipped the bills under your empty glass and then walked in the opposite direction.

One of the many things your mother drilled into you and your siblings growing up was life kept going and it never slowed so while you were stopped and paused on one hiccup everyone else had gotten 10 steps ahead of you.

"Buck up buttercup," you said to yourself hearing your mother's voice rather than your own. It was something you were used to by now. You carried her voice everywhere.

The rest of your day went on as it always did, quickly. Work always was your favorite distraction and now was no different. As you sat in the creative meeting that was set up to start off the long stretch of shoots you had scheduled all for a concert you were putting on, your mind battled between focusing and drifting.

When the meeting closed and location scouting began, your group went from place to place scoping out the best places for shots and you made sure your voice was heard to be taken into consideration for the final locations. It was slightly hilarious because you had remained so quiet earlier. You hadn't spoken up to Aaron or even said half the things on your mind.

Thankfully, the hectic chaos of the day made it so you didn't really have any time for yourself to allow your thoughts to wander. You'd always preferred being busy though it made it difficult to have a real life but now you were thankful for it.

Your disappointment carried you through the day and though it wasn’t forefront for you, but during your silent moments, it all came fluttering back. When you scrolled through your phone his name was still the last contact you'd texted and that brought back memories of him.

By the time you got back to your hotel, you were ready for a bottle of wine and a bubble bath filled with every one of your favorite essential oils. When you got safely behind your doors, you wasted no time doing just that. Not even 5 minutes after you sank into the piping hot water did your phone ring with a Facetime call.

Seeing Lewis' name on your screen made a wide smile spread across your face. At least things were okay there.

"Hey you," you said as soon as you tapped the accept button.

Lewis smiled but it didn't reach his eyes like it normally did. Those same eyes looked tired and something else that you couldn't place.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Are you okay? You look bad."

"Ha. Thanks, love."

"No not like that. You know you are always fine as fine can be, but you look off tonight."

Lewis sighed then moved sending the camera into shaking chaos. When the movement stopped, he was sitting up, back against something that looked plush and metal and showing plenty of tattooed skin.

"Just getting to bed too?"

"Yeah. It's been a long day," Lewis said rubbing the back of his neck, his braids handing around his face.

"Same. Longer than it needed to be."

He nodded as he stared at you as if he had something to say but didn’t know if he should.

"What is it?"

"I didn't expect you to be as great as you are."

You snorted and laughed. "Oh yeah? Expected me to be a bitch on wheels?"

"Funny. Not that just--different. Everyone knows you and there have been so many stories of you that everyone has their own version of you in mind and the way I thought you were made it easy, no not easy, but sensible or bearable for things to be how they have been with you--and him."

Choosing what to focus on right now, you momentarily ignored the nugget of info that sounded awfully close to him admitting he thought you were some brainless tart who was after fun, drinking, and money. Ignoring that for another conversation, your stomach dropped for the 2nd time today and you knew what was coming. It was quite possible there would be no other conversation.

"Uh-huh."

"And now that I am so great and not a nightmare?"

Lewis remained quiet for several moments and you sat there staring at the screen waiting for him to continue.

"And now...now it's not sensible and sure as hell not bearable to think about you and another man."

"I wonder if this is how your harem feels?"

Don’t start the bullshit Y/N. You know it's been months since I had anything to do with any of them"

"It was just a hypothesized assumption. You most likely just voiced what they can't because they don’t want to fall out of favor or be replaced."

"This has nothing to do with them or any of that," Lewis countered.

"Then what does it have to do with? This is coming from left field and I'm feeling pretty blindsided."

"I saw you guys today."

"What?"

"At that cafe together. There are pictures all over Daily Mail of the two of you today. Pictures of the two of you together after we texted, after you told me you were having drinks with a friend."

You closed your eyes then dropped your head back onto the stylish padded rim of the modernly luxurious freestanding tub.

"Wanna talk about blindsided now?"

The dry sarcasm in his voice was evident, "Did you want me to say I was having drinks with Aaron instead?"

Lewis hissed first, then spoke, "Shit I don’t even know. I just know I felt blindsided today and it's not the first time."

"Everyone wants to act like I am this bad guy when you knew from the beginning."

"Wow. This isn't about who is the bad...you know what never mind. He can be cool with this and your antics but--I--I can't do this anymore."

You sighed as a plethora of emotions filled you, annoyance, disappointment, sadness, anger, and hurt but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Rather than allowing each of them to blossom across your features, you steeled your face instead. More of your mother's words filled your mind.

"Don't let them see that they have an effect."

"Ok. I understand,” you said, voice even and hopefully strong.

Lewis stared at you now with a confused expression and eyes so intense it felt as if he were staring into your soul. This man and his intrusive eyes, you thought to yourself.

"You understand?"

"Yep."

He scoffed, shook his head then rolled his eyes. "Of course you do. Good luck to you and him Y/N. You--." He sighed then dropped his eyes before looking back at you. "I wish things were different, I wish I felt differently about you and that your mother's voice wasn't so loud inside your head. I hope you find happiness."

With that, the video ended, and you were left sitting in water that was piping hot a few minutes ago but was now as frigid as Scotland in December. For the second time today you'd been dumped and for the second time today you were tempted to go after another man with hopes of changing his mind, this time by calling Lewis back, but again--you didn't.

You sat there quietly for several minutes letting it all sink in. Then a hysterical laugh started, it was a laugh that came from the depths of you, making your entire being shake as it filled the room. The thought that brought it on lingered in your head making you laugh longer and longer. Before you knew it, your cheeks were wet with tears, and you were winded.

"Everyone wants me to be happy because I deserve it, but no one wants to stick around and actually make me happy. How ironic. How absolutely... ridiculous."

It was all too loud right now, too loud, and too much. Slipping under the water, you allowed the world to slip away and your brain to quiet, but it didn't completely. One looping thought remained.

"Were you in fact, the bad guy?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[wolfjackle-creates]

Ghost!Robin Arc 2 Part 4

Here's everything I shared during the ask game event with some minor edits. Most of the edits are around the results of the scan, I more accurately described what I was trying to say.

Story Summary: Everything changed the evening Jason met Jazz's brother. Danny introduced him and his entire family to the ghost that is, apparently, haunting him. The ghost of the Robin he had been.

The ghost of the person everyone he's ever known wishes he still was.

All he wants is to make it go away.

Arc 1: First, Last

Arc 2: First, Previous

Word Count: 1.7k

-----

Frostbite looked between them and hummed. “I should like a blood sample from you”—he nodded to Jason—“and an ectoplasm sample from you”—he indicated the ghost—“please hold out one of your arms.”

Jason sighed and gave his left arm. The yeti took out a syringe, thankfully a normal sized one, though it looked tiny in his giant hands. He watched as Frostbite carefully pierced his vein and filled a vial with blood. It went as smoothly as any blood draw he’d ever received from Dr. Thompkins or Alfred.

“You’re good at that,” he commented.

The yeti gave him an amused look. “I should hope so. I have been a doctor for many times longer than you’ve been alive.”

Jason flushed. “Sorry, it’s just… I wasn’t sure how many living patients you’ve ever had.”

“Many ghosts come to us for healing. And of those who were once alive, their ghostly bodies often mimic the ones they had in life. It is not so different, drawing blood from a living body as it is drawing ectoplasm from a ghostly one.”

“Huh. I guess that makes sense. I didn’t realize.”

Frostbite ruffled his hair and it took every ounce of self control he had to not pull away. “That is quite all right. You will learn in time.”

Jason had to bite his tongue to keep from saying he didn’t want to learn.

But the doctor was already turning to the interloper and reaching for his arm. Jason couldn’t help but watch as they made more of those chirps and trills at each other. The ones from Frostbite were much deeper than the ones from Danny or the ghost, but they were unmistakably the same sort of noises.

When Frostbite took the ectoplasm sample, it really didn’t look any different than a normal blood draw. Except the resulting fluid was bright Lazarus-green. He shuddered and looked away.

Frostbite pulled out what looked like a transparent tablet and typed something on it. “A technician will be along shortly to collect the samples and run a few tests on them. Now, Prince Phantom said he scanned you and it showed the two of you are tied together. I should like to repeat the process but with our own scanners.”

“What do your scanners do?” asked Jason.

“I will show you. See this machine?” Frostbite indicated a machine that was positioned in the corner of the room. It looked like an old-fashioned x-ray machine you might find at a dentists’ office. It was about the size of a standing shower and was mostly open. “This part here”—he touched a piece of metal that reached from floor to ceiling—“will circle around the two of you and track your ectoplasm. It serves a similar purpose in ghost anatomy to an x-ray of a human. From the readings, I will be able to assess your core, young Robin, and your liminality, Sir Jason.”

“Just Jason, please.”

“Are you not a warrior of your people? And you are courting Princess Jasmine. No, to call you anything else would be improper.”

Jason flushed. “Then what should I call you? Aren’t you the leader here? Is it King Frostbite?”

“You may call me Doctor or Chief Frostbite should you wish.”

“You’ve got it, Dr. Frostbite. So will you have to scan us together? Doesn’t look like there’s a lot of room in there.”

Frostbite hummed. “I believe three full scans, one of each of you alone and one with both of you together. I apologize for the size; this is the first time we’ve had to scan two individuals together like this.”

Jason scowled, but didn’t comment. He would do anything to get rid of the interloper.

Before they could start, however, a knock sounded on the door. Frostbite opened it to reveal two more yetis.

“Ah, Silverclaw and Snowfur. Thank you for getting here so quickly.” He grabbed the vials of blood and ectoplasm. “These are the samples I want tested.”

“Of course, Chief. We’ll get to work on them right away.”

“I know you will. Thank you.” Frostbite nodded his farewell. Once the two yetis had left, he shut the door and turned back to Jason and the ghost. “Which of you would like to get scanned first?”

Before Jason could even think of volunteering, the ghost let out a trill and flew to the machine.

Frostbite chuckled. “Very well, young one. I shall begin the process shortly. Please remain still as the scan is in progress.”

Jason watched, curious, as Frostbite pressed a few buttons. The machine whirred to life, blue lines lighting up along the metal. Then the panel Frostbite had pointed out before slowly rotated around the ghost. Five times it completed the circuit before stopping in it’s original position by the wall.

A screen lit up on the wall, also transparent like the tablet, and on it images very much like a human x-ray appeared. Only instead of bones, it showed a ball of red-orange light. Tendrils spread out in the shape of a humanoid body. A thick cord of light extended off the screen. The cord was mostly gray and it’s tendrils wound around the red-orange ball and mixed in with the branches that made up the rest of the ghost’s body.

Frostbite hummed, but didn’t comment further, and Jason didn’t know him well enough to know if it was a good or bad hum. “Sir Jason, it is your turn.”

The ghost flew out of the scanner and Jason entered. “Will it feel like anything?”

The doctor shook his head. “Indeed not. You may hear a humming, but the scan itself will not affect you in any other way.”

“So I just need to stand here for a minute while it goes?”

“Indeed. Simply remain still. Are you ready?”

Jason took a deep breath and stood tall, arms by his side. “Go ahead.”

Frostbite hit a button and the device lit up with the same blue light he’d seen before. Then the scanner began rotating around him. As the yeti had promised, he didn’t feel anything but the hum of the machine.

And soon enough, it settled back into its rest position.

Jason didn’t wait for permission before stepping out and taking a look at the results of the scan. The same cord of light that had been coming off the ghost seemed to be stretching to him. Tendrils of it wrapped around the areas where his heart and brain would be if the scan showed human organs. Thinner tendrils stretched through the rest of his body, but the majority clustered around his heart and brain. His light was mostly gray with the red and orange bleeding in.

Chills ran down his spine. The ghost had integrated himself entirely into Jason’s body. Would it even be possible to get rid of him without killing himself? But could he go on living knowing that the interloper, no, the parasite was tied so closely to him? He’d finally started to move on from his death and the anger!

“Calm down, Sir Jason.” Frostbite’s steady voice cut through his thoughts. “We have one more scan and then I shall explain my theories as to what is going on and how we might address the situation.”

Jason gave a single nod and unclenched his fists. He closed his eyes and took a few seconds to go through a breathing exercise Jazz had taught him. “Fine,” he said when he was sure he wouldn’t start throwing out cursed.

Didn’t stop him from stomping over to the scanner.

Frostbite rested one giant paw on his head for a moment. “I understand this is a lot for you. But I will assist you to the best of my abilities.” He glanced away from Jason towards the interloper. “Both of you.”

Jason frowned but didn’t bother mentioning that that was what he was worried about.

“Now, young Robin. If you could come here as well.”

Frostbite took a moment arranging Jason and the ghost within the scanner. This was the closest Jason had been to the interloper since he learned about his existence and the proximity raised goosebumps on his arm. Why did things like this always have to happen to him? He hated it. He just wanted to go back to arguing with Bruce and trading insults with Tim and pranking Dick. But he couldn’t do that if the ghost of who he’d used to be was following him everywhere.

Jason closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the creature’s stupid uniform or too-young face.

Then the humming started again and Jason could only assume he the scanner was running. He held entirely still, both because the scanner needed it and because he and the ghost were so close that if he moved, they might brush arms or touch.

He held back a shudder and didn’t open his eyes until the humming had stopped.

He couldn’t have said who evacuated the scanner first, they both rushed out quickly and set themselves up on either side of Frostbite while the image loaded.

As predicted, it was as if the two previous scans had been put together. The cord connecting Jason and the ghost was thick and strong. It originated from what Jason could only assume was the ghost’s core and spread out until it latched onto Jason’s brain and heart.

Frostbite hummed again. “I will need to ask both of you some questions that you may not want to answer. I apologize in advance for any discomfort my questions may cause. But let us get comfortable first. Afterwards, I shall explain my suspicions.”

Jason nodded and took a seat on the examination bed that Frostbite gestured to. Robin crossed his legs and appeared to sit in midair. The doctor pulled up a chair for himself and settled in.

Even sitting and with Jason on a high bed, they were roughly eye-to-eye due to the yeti’s large size.

“Young Robin, what do you remember of the time between your death and Sir Jason’s resurrection?”

The ghost, of course, only replied in the trilling language, leaving Jason out of the conversation. Asshole could’ve signed if he wanted to. Jason bit his tongue to keep from saying anything, though.

After a time, Frostbite nodded and turned to Jason. “And now, Sir Jason, I must know how you were brought back to life.”

-----

Ah, Jason really isn't going to like this conversation. None of it is fun, but this conversation will be his least favorite.

And look at Robin being just as petty back! Refusing to bring Jason in on the conversation.

How will they move forward from this?

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[walks-the-ages]

If I didn't mention it, I'll be voting for Jasmine Sherman (they/them) in November, Because they already have Ballot Access in 48 states , as opposed to Jill Stein who currently only has ~23 states with Ballot Access.

EDIT:

Someone has commented to point out that while Jasmine Sherman's website lists out 48 states that they're on the Ballot for, there's no sources given for this information, and right now, while its only wikipedia articles, neither of us can find any ballot access map or list not on their website that confirms that information independantly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Green_Party_presidential_primaries#Declared_candidates

Jasmine Sherman's own "how to vote for us" section of their website encourages people to use Ballotpedia, they're only listed as being on the ballot for one state , while the Presidential Election 2024 page does not list them at all and neither does their ballot-access tracker at politico:

Jasmine Sherman's website also lists them as being on the ballot under the Unicorn Party.... but I have not seen any list anywhere that list where the Unicorn Party is on the ballot except for their website.

There's also the fact that their website's policy on the Death Penalty not only supports it, but wants it to be either by Morphine Overdose or fucking Firing Squad with only 1 year of appeals??? There's a footnote above it that says their position has changed and they're leaving the original policy up for preservation but like...

.. you can't run for President saying you want the Death Penalty to be done by Firing Squad of all fucking things when people almost universally hate the death penalty (not least of which because it kills so many innocents) and then just leave a note that you changed your mind but not what your new official stance is????

https://jasminesherman.com/death-penalty-policy/ [note at top of Policy page] *Jasmine wishes to inform the readers that this post is being preserved to uphold transparency. While the death penalty contradicts the Green Party’s platform, it would be disingenuous to ignore the evolution of Jasmine’s stance on this matter. Their transition from previous support to a different standpoint is noteworthy, highlighting that a candidate’s position is not solely driven by personal preferences but also reflects the desires of their constituents. [Policy] Purpose: Institute a federal standard for capital punishment. Scope: Encourage states to be more efficient with resources surrounding the enforcement of “Capital Punishment.” Our policy: Capital Punishment – is to be reserved for those convicted of mass killing and serial killer events only. Due process is to take no more than one calendar year. There should be two options available for the execution; morphine overdose or firing squad. All other capital punishment cases will remain as they are or will be subject to incorporation into the Unicorn Party’s “Restorative Justice Treatment Program”. Definitions: Mass Killing Event: A multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered by any means, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity. Serial Killing: The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.

So, uhhhhh, yeah. If you want to kill people who are Officially Criminals by Firing Squad I don't really think you can be trusted to be thinking in terms of humane death or punishment. Note how the website does not include what their official new position is at all, when that's literally what the Policy page is for!

If you believe in Restorative Justice and universal healthcare because everyone deserves the right to life .... if you truely believe in that how can you support the Death Penalty at all, let alone by such barbaric methods?

There's also the "Policy" about "Rights of Sentient Beings" that says

"The majority of research does suggest that primarily plant based consumption for humans is ideal. This doesn’t include those with disabilities or health phenomenons we do not understand.

which.... from almost everything I've read out there published by actual medical professionals, unless you're going out of your way to eat very specific things each and every day, you're going to run into nutritional deficiencies and need to take supplements if you're going vegetarian or vegan! In fact, you have to as much as double your iron intake on a plant-based diet because the iron we get from plants isn't as digestible as the one we get from meat. Because. You know. we're literally omnivores for a reason.

SO! After doing some more deep dives into their actual policies (such as they are), and looking deeper into the supposed-ballot access, Jasmine Sherman is not a candidate I will be voting for.

You can advocate for the humane treatment of animals without insisting that all humans except disabled people are perfectly capable of healthily living on a vegan diet, because that's simply not true without supplaments or a vastly increased access to a variety of foods, and if you truly believe in abolishing the criminal-justice system, there's no way in fucking hell you would support the Death Penalty.

Like I said in my longer version of this post (which is still relevant, check out the reblogs), voting third partym eans being adaptable and doing research in pursuit of a Free Palestine , which means, until we can get some independant verification of Jasmine Sherman having ballot access in 48 states, (and an actual proven change on that horrific stance on Capital Punishment!!!!), it is back to Jill Stein for me.

Unlike Jasmine Sherman, Jill Stein actually wants to abolish the Death Pentalty entirely, and has a long list of changes she plans to implement for restorative justice if elected:

[myobsessionsspace]

Maybe im wrong and making things up but jk looked a bit pissed off/annoyed during that weverse live you posted (after the naked live🥰), don’t know of course if because of the comments he was reading (i never understood, though, were there other inappropriate comments he didn’t read out loud too? People at the time complained a lot), because of stress or both. But im always glad he never fakes his feelings and is often transparent with us.

referring to this

Hi lovely,

“But im always glad he never fakes his feelings and is often transparent with us.”

Tbh that’s why I posted it. To show Jungkook being honest. To show Jungkook’s willingness to answer army, to show that he answers question when army ask things within the realms of boundaries.

To show that if he has something to answer about the members he will, but he can also keep things to himself. Like we know even though he said schedules didn’t align for a live with Jimin, that he did want to do one with him, from saying what he said we can infer they had discussed a live but had something better in store, the fact that this live was done after their US trip, was another reason I was reminded of it and wanted to share it.

I also wanted to share it for the poignant part that I included in an ask. That he sees the things people write in the comments of lives and he sees the invasive direction of questions. We can assume shipping questions, girlfriend questions, family questions, all sort of personal questions and him letting it be known to as he said ‘let sleeping dogs lie’.

I too felt some irritation at parts of the live too. The members, Namjoon and Tae I clearly remember have said in lives that army should try a bit when it comes to Weverse live comments and I know Yoongi is definitely over the ‘what’s that behind you?!’ schtick

April ‘23 live Tae was over it, he said it’s been 10 years guys 😩

Weverse army were flooding with a lot of nonsense and I know twitter army due to that live and a few other lives of other members started up again spreading info sheets of good conversation starters in Korean translations for army to use when the members go live, also messages of encouragement etc.

BUT to be fair the clip I posted was like 3 minutes tops, of a nearly hour long live.

❕When someone has a purpose behind an edit, they can convey what they want❕

I always try to include links to the full original source and will always implore people to watch things from the source and form their own opinion, not just from edits.

For me there were times he was irritated in the live but times he was happy, found things fun and humorous but overall was his open and honest self. I’m glad you appreciate that about him and you still felt his sincerity☺️

Thanks for chatting with me

💜

[pancakesandanxiety]

wrote this at 4 in the morning and thought it would be cool to share it. enjoy !! (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

ps. minimal editing. was rushing, sorry.

read at your own risk: teens doing the deed

trigger warning !! unprotected sex, soft femdom, breeding if you squint, creampie, overstimulation, praise kink

~

"eun tae ... oh, eun tae, yes - !!" (name) drawls on her boyfriend's name as her back is plown from behind. a ragged groan on her ear causes her to flinch.

"so, mmh, tight ... " eun tae continues to ram his cock into her dripping hole without so much a thought, the tip continuously kissing her cervix and bringing out those delicious sounds he loved to hear from his girl shaking against his hips. they have been at it since his patience thinned due to that stupidly short skirt hugging (name)'s thighs whilst they were out on a spontaneous date. and of course, said girl of his was well aware of the effect she had on him, even purposely wearing his favorite lace bra underneath one of her more transparent blouses. it was difficult to hide his hard on the more he noticed the tips of her mounds oddly perked up. plus, that low buzzing he had been hearing from underneath her skirt. he tried so hard to pass it off as his imagination because he barely had a few hours of sleep night but was relieved to pull a vibrator from his girlfriend's stimulated pussy. a privilege, really, he nearly came at the sight.

his grip on her hips tighten when the memory of minutes ago strikes him again, one particularly hard thrust pushing (name) further into the mattress.

"fuck- you're still t-thinking about it, yeah?" her last word lilts, as if it wasn't the first time eun tae had reacted like this. "you like it when I play with myself at--hahh--the thought of you, huh? oh you n-naughty boy." despite the obvious wobble in her voice, she pushes his buttons just as easily even when she is not beneath him. the nickname pulls a low growl from the back of eun tae's throat, loving how she easily breaks him apart like this, his pace growing rabid.

his hands seek refuge to lock with (name)'s, pinning her in place as he chases both their orgasms. the action causes her walls to squeeze around his shaft and eun tae's knees buckle. he had found out that she specially liked it when they held hands during sex, it didn't matter what position they were in, it was the intimacy that puts (name) in a chokehold. and so would his cock the further her insides suck him in.

"g'nna cum, fuuuuck, g'nna inside, gah- please please pleaseeeee." at this point, even eun tae could barely be coherent. he didn't know what to say, he just really wanted for (name) to milk him dry and plant that damn seed he always dreamed to do. as if he hadn't been doing that for the past rounds, a ring of white already in form at the base of his length, a mix of both their spend after the first time she enveloped him with her warmth. (name) whines pathetically at the feeling of their juices dripping from her trembling thighs and into the damp sheets. even in bed, eun tae's stamina is endless but what better way to match that with a girlfriend whose libido nearly exceeds it?

hearing no response from her, his lips find refuge on the sensitive skin below her ear, snapping (name) out of her cock-riddled daze to muster one. "fill me, yeah? nice and deep for me? want it to overflo-"

her orgasm cuts her short when a finger carelessly rubs her clit, too stupeified to realize a rough hand had snuck down to the apex of their lovemaking. a loud moan bursts from her lips and (name) thinks she's never cum so hard in her life. eun tae is not too far behind as he gives one last thrust into her gummy walls before spurting strings of hot semen far into her womb, a moan of his own riding out both of their highs. when he's all emptied, he falls to the side, his softening cock still devastatingly buried inside. he pulls his satisfied girlfriend closer in a tight hug from behind, his face at home at the sweaty crook of her neck. both catch their breath after what seemed like hours of nearly breaking the bed. fortunately, (name)'s was made out of good material and reinforced for times like these.

a hand caresses eun tae's arm around her waist, the other reached behind to pet his head.

"you were amazing, darling. so so good for me." the praise falls into his now half hardening cock and (name) has to lightly slap him to snap out of it. eun tae whines.

"you call me those names and expect me not to pounce. you foul woman." he rolls his hips in protest but regrets it when the overstimulation melts into his body. (name) hisses in pain. immediately, he stops, instantly realizing his mistake. it's enough to convince him to save it for another day.

or later when they get ample respite. and lots of begging.

[anitalenia]

hii i luv your work soo much and also the headers and the stuff you make is rlly good 😻 i was wondering if it’s too difficult to make the headers etc? specially the ones that are more like gifs? and also is it too hard to find the images? bc honestly i haven’t seen a lot of them, just wondering! i get it if you don’t want to share i just genuinely think that the work is rlly rlly good<3 (sorry for such a long ask omgg)

Omg thank you so much hi hi 🥹🥹💞💞💖💖🌸🌸 first of all thank you so much for liking my work and supporting me, I so so appreciate it ✨✨🫂🫂💐💐 And omgggg you’re making me BLUSH thank you thank you thank you for the kind words 😭😭🫂💞💞 I love when people compliment my works it makes me feel like I’m doing something right 😫💐💐 flowers for you for being so great ✨💐💐🌷🌷🌹🌹🌸🌸

To answer your question, the dividers and headers are actually very easy to make. The animated dividers I make aren’t difficult per se, they just involve a few more steps than making a normal divider does. As for my animated headers that I use for my fics or masterlists and what not those are also pretty easy. I’ll try to explain a little more about what I use in depth below. If you would like a detailed walk through explaining how I make them I could do that as well 💕 Prepare yourself, there’s a lot 😭💖

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐒 / 𝐖𝐄𝐁𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐈 𝐔𝐒𝐄 — Picsart, Pinterest, PicCollage, Vita, Polarr, GIPHY, Photopea, Etsy, DeviantArt, Phonto, ezgif.com, onlinegiftools.com, Iloveimg.com, various fancy font generators (I don’t use these anymore, I use an app now for fonts, but this is what I used to use the most), various sparkle emoji combos + decorative text ( I use this one a lot + there are a lot of symbol apps on the App Store you can download, I have two apps that I use from time to time )

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒕 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is a photo editing service / app I use to make regular dividers. They have a lot of aesthetic / cute stickers and pngs like the ones I use in a lot of my dividers. They have a transparent background option I love that makes it easy to make a divider. You can save the stickers you like to a collection and follow artists / users you like as well. I 10/10 recommend this one. They also have a bunch of photo editing software like cropping, retouching, etc. if you’re into that.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — You have to buy Picsart Pro to use a lot of the “pro quality” services, and the better quality stickers not made by an individual user (I.e. stickers Picsart itself has created) are not accessible to users not subscribed to Pro. Also, when you crop an image Picsart has a certain limit to how thin it can go, so I use an image cropping website I mentioned above Iloveimg.com. I only use Picsart for divider making purposes though so I don’t have to worry about allat. Not compatible with animation / gifs

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑬𝒕𝒔𝒚 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is one of my favorite shopping apps in general. If you don’t know about Etsy it’s a small business / individually owned business kind of shopping app. There’s a lot of different stores / sellers that sell a bunch of different things. It’s a good place to buy dividers for very cheap, less than $5 dollars, I’ve also bought pngs / stickers as well. I’ll buy a divider pack from time to time and edit them however I please. I never just buy a divider pack and claim it as my own on Tumblr, I always edit them in some way that fits more to what I want. It’s just a good starting point in my opinion. Of course, you can probably find simple dividers online, only you know what’s best for you. Also, this is just a good place for anything web related in general ( they have sticker packs, dividers, procreate brushes, decorative elements, really anything you want for a relatively small price)

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒐 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is an app for fonts. Unlike the usual fonts you see in fancy font generators (𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰, 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, etc.) Phonto lets you upload your own fonts to use on pics. Using font websites you can upload whatever fonts you like in just a couple seconds. I personally like to use Dafont.com for my fonts. You can also use dingbat fonts / decorative element fonts. Not compatible with animation / gifs

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 ⊹₊ ⋆ Who doesn’t know Pinterest?? Literally my favorite app ever. I use Pinterest for image inspo / my aesthetic images. Here’s my Pinterest if you’re curious. This is besides the point but I used to be a Wattpad girly so I have a lot of boards relating to my past OC’s and wattpad stories (like 2016) 😭💕 You can search up literally anything / any aesthetic and the pictures / gifs that relate to it will pop up. Very easy to use and so much fun to make your own boards and stuff. I spend hours organizing my pins, I need to get back into it tbh 😿

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — Users upload a lot of fan made art that isn’t always crediting the original artists who made it. I have found some jjk fan art I use for my headers but no source as to who the original creator is. A lot of profiles do give credit tho so that’s good.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is the same service made by the people who created Picsart. I use this for many purposes. I mainly use it to combine my animated gifs with still images and combine animated dividers together with other dividers. To be honest it’s hard to explain what I use it for specifically but it’s just good for combining gifs and still images into one.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — I don’t think there is a transparent background option, so I have to use a certain website mentioned above to remove gif backgrounds. You also can’t crop the image and unless you pay for no watermark it gives you one. It saves animated dividers / gifs as videos, so I go to Ezgif to make it into a gif and crop the image to remove the watermark. Again, this one is a little hard to explain.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑽𝒊𝒕𝒂 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is a free app I use that’s a rip off of the “real app” I used to have. The “real app” started charging for its services and so I moved to this one. It’s completely the same and FREE. This is where I apply text to my gifs and add the motion to it. Like how my masterlist header is, where it spins and flips, this is the app where I apply those effects. Side note, this is a good starting app for making edit videos like you see on Tiktok. You can turn off the watermark for free.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — This app also turns gifs / animations into a video when you go to save it, so again I go to Ezgif to turn it back into a gif.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒓 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is my favorite filter app for photos. Has very aesthetic filters that I use for my still images and as of recently my Pinterest boards as well. Not compatible with animation / gifs

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑮𝒊𝒑𝒉𝒚 ⊹₊ ⋆ I use this app solely for its stickers. You can find sparkles, butterflies, hearts, anything you want with a transparent background and turn it into a divider. I use this app mostly for gathering animated stickers to make my animated dividers.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒂 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is my go-to for applying effects / filters to gifs or animations. I use this to add filters to my animated headers. I download PSD’s from DeviantArt and use those filters for my gifs. This is not an app, just a browser I’ve added to my Home Screen. I recommend using on a computer because there’s a lot of stuff on the screen and you’ll want to see it all spread out. I use it on mobile only because I know which buttons I need to press so it’s not a problem.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — You have to upload your own filters to be able to add one to a gif. Once you open up the site it can be very overwhelming and confusing with all the buttons and drop downs and yada yada. Photopea is like an animations version of photoshop. I recommend searching for a tutorial, or if requested I can personally make a separate post showing you how to add filters to a gif.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑬𝒛𝒈𝒊𝒇 ⊹₊ ⋆ my go-to website for literally anything gif related. Cropping, removing frames, optimizing a gif, making a gif, turning a video into a gif, and many more. I even use the effects tab from time to time to add a border around my gifs (like the one around the Sugar Water Series header) There’s other stuff you can do of course, I recommend checking it out, I’ve been using it for years.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is a browser I use to remove the background from gifs.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — It doesn’t do the best job at removing a gif background unless it’s a solid color. I always do solid black and it removes it pretty well. If your background is white it will have a hard time differentiating the gif from the white background and will clip out parts of the gif and make it choppy. I recommend having a plain black background as that works best for me. Also it just recently had an update where you need to wait 10 seconds before you can download the finished product. It also claims you can only use it a certain amount of times a day but tbh I’ve used it a bunch in one day and never seem to have a limit. So idk. Like I said this update is recent. I guess a lot more people started using it and now they want to charge people.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑰𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒎𝒈 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is the browser I mentioned in the picsart section where I crop really thin images. Does not have a limit on how thin you can make an image. I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure this is not animation / gif compatible.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒇𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 ⊹₊ ⋆ ONE TWO THREE

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓 ⊹₊ ⋆ ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 ⊹₊ ⋆ Evernote (a notes organizing app I use to organize my fics + I love it so so much), Amino (can find clubs / communities dedicated to bio decor & symbols), Gif Toaster (the og app I used in the very beginning to apply text to gifs), Canva (good stickers / elements + can find aesthetic / cute stickers with keywords on Pinterest), Videoleap (a video editing software I used to use), Remini (an app that upgrades the quality of an image), Symbol Pad & Symbol (apps I use for individual symbols) Snow (has cute animated effects I used to use sometimes a long time ago), VLLO (the app I used before Vita that charged for some of its services), DeviantArt (where I get all of my PSD’s + they have a lot of stuff you can use, pngs and whatnot, I just don’t really use it for those purposes)

[spotlightlowlife]

Helluva Boss has responsibility issues - Ozzie, Bee and Mammon edition

These characters have a job which is to govern over and make business out of a designated part of the psyche, one of the seven deadly sins, but it goes further than a job, they're world leaders and their role is their purpose.

What do they do day in day out?

They have fun.

If they're there to be liked that is.

Bee is a great rep for gluttony

Her design is nice, she looks fun, youthful and vibrant and I appreciate that she's not large or lazy. Many people agree, she represents the positive aspects of gluttony in having fun and indulging yourself with the company of others, eat drink and be merry, something she gains from.

Unfortunately it seems that in order to be liked, she had to be diluted.

Bee, prince of gluttony, got humbled by losing a drinking contest to Blitzø who is half her size and a tiny fraction of her true size. Bee then disassociated herself from overindulgence by seeing that Blitzø was going overboard early and wanting that issues dealt with at a distance not by her.

She claims he's ruining the vibe but does this cut off her supply? Ruin her stock? Does it snap people out of their enjoyment? Who knows, she got pushed as 'nice' so her observation so far is probably from a caring place, not a business stance.

Ozzie is a good representative for lust

Sex positivity is good. Like eople should be able to indulge enjoy, as should multiple people, they should all be having a good time. Shaming a lovey lovey couple for lowering the tone at his lust themed club was something he had the right to, even though love and lust can easily go hand in hand and he clearly caters to anyone interested in kink, it was reasonable (and well written humor) to want them to take that outside.

Where they cutting off his lust supply?

Where they potentially off putting for others?

Who knows, but Ozzie's push of anti-love whilst clearly being in love, served as an excuse to loveably humble him.

He could had he been business minded and had both separately, but it seems that business = bad, which leads on to...

Mammon is an excellent representative of greed

Business and greed got merged into one, there are definitely 'positive' aspects to business and therefore greed. Such as professional distance, going where the money is, trying out different leadership strategies moving with the times and welcoming the new.

This character was able to reveal little of his personal views, but enough to know that he disproved of certain things but would still put in the work in their direction, such as beauty pageants and sxxdolls, however he was able to adapt them to suit himself and everyone, a clown pageant and a multipurpose dolls. It was all about supply and demand for profit.

He set up the pageant for anyone to enter, nobody in mind, he was rather transparent in what the plan was too. Knowing what we know of how profit driven he is, his discouragement of female entering could easily have been more than an excuse to add the Viv credit joke based on sales forecast, yet it was a remark he went on to take back. Through the pageant he wasn't opposed to Fizz losing and fresh meat taking over. He was however opposed to Fizz not putting in the work.

It's debatable that he lacks self awareness because we have already established that this character sets person feelings aside and just wants business to run, furthermore, for all we know Fizz may be bringing hesitation for the first time this year. It makes sense why he's willing to let Fizz voice hatred for him aslong as he keeps up being milked until dry.

A lot like many employers in hospitality (a reminder that Fizz was also fed up in this area) and entertainment.

Mammon stepped into the ever triggering parent role and numberours of them, referring to the future pageant winner as 'stepkid', Fizz as a 'son' and 'grand baby', firmly asserting himself as a leader who commands respect which isn't entirely bad, all whilst behaving like a strict stage parent from the very beauty pageants he criticizes, and why? Because it's effective maybe? Like it or not we saw his shows go on to be a massive success.

In the real world we have things widely and rightfully condemned like low grade junk food and cheap clothes, only at the same time as some fat cat getting richer pushing poor quality, these goods are being made accessible to those with little who can't afford better. A greedy business person person who wants more customers likely doesn't care that they are doing great harm or help.

Looloo land was a good example of corporate greed big business that people benefit from, like it or not. This place was easily accessible and the workforce were anyone.

Mammon protected his rip off inspired work with a contract so tight that the leader of hell can't do anything about it.

A complex contract is something we would see again with fellow villain and successful gangster businessman Crimson.

Blitzø on the other hand is not failing because he's their opposite which is 'good', he is failing because he is a very proud, arrogant individual who wants his idea to just work, there's little wiggle room. It was Moxxie who would learn in the episode where he was allowed to lead his own mission that a 'my way or the highway' attitude can bring more issues than solution.

Back to Moxxie. When his very greedy and sinister dad was ready to use him for a business deal that would involve an arranged marriage, he tried superficially winning Moxxie over by rigging the house with dildos, assuming he must enjoy stuff like that.

This guy objectified and forced the hand of his own adult child with zero interest and regard.

Yet did we have to see Mammon being made to rebuke these behaviours and let us know there's limitations to his greed? No, he didn't need to tone down.

Only 'greed' is held to accountability

The higher ups have to be humbled in order to be liked, the only ways seems to be to have a place themselves alongside and have sexual relationship with those at the very bottom of society

and not be responsible for the negative aspects of what they govern over are.

All the fun and non of the responsibility

As covered, Bee and Ozzie who we had to learn are believers in knowing your limits and consent, are nothing to with any trouble associate with them that follow,

ws. so whilst Crimson provided excellent groundwork for Mammon with his greed and making a loved imp sad, there have been two missed opportunities to passively pad out Ozzie and Bee.

Verosika the sucubus SA Moxxie with her gang, they shapeshifted into cute humans to come to earth and host a sucubus hosted beach party, to corrupt a bunch of youths. Verosika would also be revealed to be an addict, along with Barbiewire. Verosika would travel to earth with beeljuice which caused a massive scene.

Barbie shape shifted into a human, travelled with Ozzie's crystals (something Stolas as high up as he is had to request) and seduced a teenager into helping her push drugs.

But it's not Ozzie nor Bee's issues, they don't associate with the negative aspects of what they rule over.

Two side characters are pushing frowned upon over indulgence and degeneracy amungst kids on earth.

In a story where the parent story tells us that there's a hell overpopulation problem.

An issue that is dealt with via genocide and the mess left behind in the form of devine weapon parts, can slay the higher ups!

But that's not Ozzie nor Bee's issues?

[employee052]

THE NARRATOR INTRODUCTION CARD

feat his new outfit and a whole lotta text/lore!

accidentally made this more like a textbook graphic rather than aesthetic but whatever im proud of it :3

(also non transparent bg ver under the cut! plus the lore i wrote)

THE NARRATOR "VIRGIL" (HE/HIM)

THE STANLEY PARABLE

@ Oswinynknown/Employee052

Written and designed by Davey Wreden and William Pugh 2013 HD Remake developed by Galactic Cafe 2022 Ultra Deluxe edition developed by Crows Crows Crows The Narrator voiced by Kevan Brighting

The Narrator is the voice heard in The Stanley Parable, who serves a general purpose of guiding Stanley. Depending on Stanley's actions. The Narrator can serve as the main antagonist, the deuteragonist, a neutral/misunderstood character, or even Stanley's friend. (Source: The Stanley Parable Wiki)

There are many iterations and designs of The Narrator that are floating around on the internet. This design is by Employee052 on Tumblr, also known as OswinUnknown. The name "Virgil" is related to Dante's Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy. Virgil being the one who guided Dante though Hell and Purgatory. However, the name is directly taken from a well known Portal 2 mod called Portal Stories: Mel. The deuteragonist, A maintenance core named Virgil why assists Mel out of Old Aperture.

Within the fandom of The Stanley Parable, many iterations of The Narrator vary in appearance. For this Narrator in this instance used to wear a brown hoodie with white drawstrings, a black turtleneck, and black pants. However, since 2024, this design was improved upon with a brown blazer, a black polo shirt, and brown dress pants. This design is heavily inspired by the previous iteration, as well as refferences from the Kingsman Actor Colin Firth. Some consistencies between the two designs are the emerald green eyes, yellow rimmed glasses with similarly coloured string. As well as the iconic whote swoop seen since the march vent comic.

[paluding]

Introducing... The Tattooer!

[This version is OUTDATED! Please, check the new version here. I updated the workflow, skipping a lot of unnecessary Photoshop editing. It's way faster! I'll leave this old version and files up though, for archiving purposes. But yeah I still totally recommend you use the new version!]

Finally! I’ve been working on this for so long and I couldn’t wait to share it. This is a series of Blender template files already set up to quickly bake textures from The Sims 4 to The Sims 2. Really neat for cc creators! The different Blender files will allow you to:

-Bake body textures from TS4 to TS2 (Female) -Bake body textures from TS4 to TS2 (Male) -Bake body textures from TS4 (Female) to TS2 (Male) -Bake body textures from TS2 (Female) to TS2 (Male) [Bonus!] -Bake head textures from TS4 to TS2 (Face + Scalp) [Experimental]

Check the file names to see which one is which, and the resolution of the baked texture it will give. Download! SFS / GD

Everything you see in the render above was converted using those Blender files. I only did a couple tiny edits to the eyes and lips to fix them. These templates were made mainly to bake and convert tattoos, but there’s more you can do with them if you get creative. I have to say, these are NOT perfect. Check out the eyebrows on the render above. They look a bit wonky compared to the original, don’t they? I left them as is to keep your expectations with these as realistic as possible. Results may vary depending on what you are trying to convert, so! With that in mind, this is all the stuff you will be able to convert almost seamlessly from TS4 to TS2:

-Tattoos. -Other body details such as body hair, scars, freckles, supernatural/occult details… -Body painted underwear and swimwear, as well as some other clothing that’s mostly painted on the body. -Socks, stockings and maybe leggings. -Even skintones! In some areas they will look weird, so I recommend editing and blending them with other existing TS2 skins. -Makeup. Kinda bad but hey it works! Eyeliner and anything that is around the eyes looks terrible for now, but other stuff like blush may look just okay. -Eyebrows and maybe beards. A bit of hit or miss with those. -Hair scalps. Very useful when converting some hairs! Although keep in mind part of that texture might also need to be baked on the face mesh, you know, that hairline makeup stuff.

Got your attention? Nice! Editing some of the textures from TS4 to match the UV mapping in TS2 using a 2D editing program can be incredibly hard. That’s where texture baking in Blender comes to the rescue!

It is recommended you download Blender version 2.91.0, which is the one I use. Don’t worry, it’s free! There’s also 3 Photoshop actions you will need to set up the textures for baking and then putting them back together, because unfortunately Blender doesn’t support transparencies in that baking process, so that takes a couple extra steps to make it work, but I think it’s still pretty fast and easy. And just in case Tumblr manages to blow up or something, I decided to include a pdf with the upcoming tutorial that will guide you step by step with all this process, so if this post gets deleted somehow (I really hope not!), you will still have that pdf as a backup archived.

You can download Blender here. Personally I recommend picking the fourth option, “blender-2.91.0-windows64.zip”, which is a portable version and doesn’t need to be installed. You will also need Sims 4 Studio to extract the original Sims 4 CC textures you want. As for Photoshop… I’m not going to tell you to buy that subscription service and give Adobe some undeserved money, so… yeah, there might be some other options out there to get it (very legit, yes yes).

So, before we begin, let’s clear out some questions you might have. What the heck is this texture baking thing and what does it do? Well, let’s imagine you have a projector and point an image into a blank wall. Then you pick up some brushes and start painting and copying that projected image in that wall. Texture baking is kinda like that when it comes to 3D models. You align two models and match them as closely as you can in shape and form, and once you adjust some parameters and values, Blender does the rest for you: it will give you a new texture for a new model with a different UV map. These files I’m sharing have everything already set up, so it’s a matter of plopping in that Sims 4 texture and you will get that new texture for TS2 in just a few clicks.

This tutorial assumes you know literally nothing about how to use Blender, so if you feel uncomfortable with it, worry no more! This will guide you with pictures showing where you need to click and explaining what is happening. For Sims 4 Studio and Photoshop the process might be a bit less detailed, but still this should be pretty beginner friendly. For this tutorial, I will use some tattoos as an example. Alright, enough with the rambling. Let’s get started!

·EXTRACTING TEXTURES AND EDITING THEM WITH PHOTOSHOP: First things first, you will need to extract as pngs all the textures you want to convert from TS4 using Sims 4 Studio. Once you’ve done that, open them up one by one in Photoshop and run the “No transparency” action. This will remove the alpha channel from the image, getting rid of all the transparency. Go ahead and save a png copy of it. Then run the “Make Alpha” action on those same swatches (from the beginning, make sure you’re not running the action on an already edited swatch!), which will only show the alpha channel of the image in black and white, and save another copy of that. You should have 2 textures for each tattoo swatch. For the “No transparency” action I like to name it BASE (And your swatch number or name), and for the “Make Alpha” action I usually name it ALPHA (And that same swatch number/name). I recommend saving them in different folders named BASE TS4 and ALPHA TS4 respectively to keep it organized. If you want to make this much faster in Photoshop, there’s an automation option in it that allows you to run an action through a batch of files in a folder and then saves it all. I won’t cover how to do it in this tutorial, but you should be able to find it easily on Google by searching something like “Photoshop automate batch”. It’s really powerful and will make your workflow with actions much faster. Definitely recommend learning about that!

·BAKING THE TEXTURES IN BLENDER: PRELIMINARY STEP 1: CONFIGURING BLENDER’S GRAPHICS SETTINGS: Open your preferred Blender file depending on what you’re going to bake and the desired resolution (in this example I’m going to use the AF-body-4t2-1024 file). Before we start messing around in Blender, there’s one thing you should set up. It is a onetime step, and once it’s done, you won’t need to do it again. So, does your computer have a dedicated graphics card? If you don’t know or you’re not sure, just skip to the next step. Configuring Blender so it uses your graphics card instead of your CPU will make the baking render much faster, so it is recommended you set it correctly. If your computer has a dedicated graphics card, click File (1) > Preferences (2) > and on the window that pops up click System (3) > and select CUDA and make sure your graphics card is there and tick it (4). I have an Nvidia Graphics card but your case may vary. Once you’re done, click on the tiny button on the bottom left corner and Save Preferences (5).

PRELIMINARY STEP 2: CHOOSING THE RENDERING DEVICE: Click on the tiny camera button on the right, called Render Properties (1), and on Device (2) select GPU Compute if it’s not already selected. If you’re not sure if you have a graphics card or not, just select CPU. Then select the Material Properties tab (2) and Save your changes, either by pressing Ctrl + S, or clicking File (4) > Save (5). Okay, time to get into the good stuff!

·STEP 1: LOADING YOUR TS4 BASE TEXTURE: In the Material Properties tab, click the folder icon that says Open (1) and on the window that pops up, navigate through your folders and select your first texture. For now we’re going to bake the BASE texture, so go to that folder where you saved the edited “No transparency” image. To navigate easily, the 3 buttons on the top right (2) are for the display mode. They will show your files in list mode, vertical and horizontal, and the one on the right will display the file thumbnails, pretty useful if you want to easily see your images. And the icons on the left side (3) will let you go one folder back and forward, go to the parent directory, and refresh the folder in case you just dropped something new in there. Double click on the image you need and that will load it into the Sims 4 body model, named “ts4 body”.

·STEP 2: SETTING UP YOUR SELECTION AND BAKING THE TEXTURE: On the top right of the screen, you will see the names of the 2 models in the scene. Hold the Ctrl key in your keyboard and left click on the “ts2 body” model (1). If you did it correctly, you should see “ts2 body” in a yellowish orange color, and right down below, “ts4 body” should look more like a red orange. If not, try again by clicking first on ts4 body, and then while holding Ctrl click again on ts2 body. Then switch to the Render Properties tab by clicking the tiny camera icon (2) and click Bake (3). Depending on your screen resolution, you might need to scroll down a bit with your mouse to see the Bake button. Wait a few seconds for it to finish. You will see the progress percentage down on the bottom of your screen. Don’t panic if you notice your computer fans start ramping up, that’s completely normal! As I said in the beginning, using your GPU will bake the textures much faster than the CPU.

·STEP 3: SAVING YOUR NEW TS2 TEXTURE: Once it’s finished, switch to the UV Editing Mode by clicking “UV Editing” on the top of your screen. And there it is: your new texture! You might have to scroll up your mouse wheel a bit to zoom in and see it in all its glory on the left side of the screen. We’re still not done yet though. You need to save it to yet another new folder (always try to keep your stuff organized!).

You can save it by pressing Shift + Alt + S, or clicking on Image* (1) and then Save As… (2). That will pop a window where you’ll need to navigate again and save it somewhere. Give it a proper name (3) and hit Enter to save it… well, Enter doesn’t always work for me for some reason, so if that happens just click Save As Image (4). In this case, I personally like to call it something like “BASE TS2”.

·STEP 4: GOING BACK TO STEP 1: Alright! So you have your new baked base texture, but we still need to bake the alpha channel to give it its transparency. In order to go back to step 1 and start the process once again, click Layout (1), go back to the Material Properties tab (2), select “ts4 body” (3) and click on the folder icon (4) to open and load the alpha texture you did in the beginning in Photoshop.

Then it’s just a matter of repeating the process from step 2: bake the alpha channel and save it again as a new image (watch out, don’t overwrite your previous image!). This one I like to name “ALPHA TS2”. When you’re ready to move on, close Blender without saving. If you see a small check telling you it will save some images, make sure you uncheck it, so you will be able to use it again in the future from the starting point with no issues. I don’t think it really matters if you accidentally save your progress in these files, but I like to keep it clean and fresh so I can do the process where I left it from the beginning the next time I open it. And in case you mess up and save somewhere, you can always just delete the .blend file and download the template files again.

·FINAL STEP: PUTTING EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER IN PHOTOSHOP: We’re almost done! Open Photoshop and drop in both your 2 new baked textures, “BASE TS2” and “ALPHA TS2”. Keep both layers on top of each other and aligned. For that you can enable the snapping in View > Snap to… > All. Rename these layers so the Alpha layer is “ALPHA” and the Base is “BASE”, and make sure ALPHA is on top.

Then run the “Final Baked” action and now for real, it’s finally over! You just fully baked and converted these new textures. Congratulations!

So, to summarize, here’s a small guide with all the steps of the workflow I developed. Once you get the hang of it, baking and converting one swatch of a texture just takes a couple minutes. It really is that easy!

One small note though, some of the baking blend files save the textures with a resolution of 2048x2048 pixels, as clearly stated at the end of their file name. That’s way too overkill, because TS2 only properly supports up to 1024x1024 for most of its textures and you should always resize your final product to that max resolution. I just made those 2048 versions because there might be some really tiny and slim details on some tattoos that may look a little too blurry when baked into a 1024 resolution, so for those cases use that if you want and then resize them in Photoshop. In the Resample mode of the Image Size menu, there are a few options to choose. For the fine details, I like the Nearest Neighbor (hard edges) option, which, even if it looks a bit pixelated, it still preserves most of the texture and quality.

For anything else, I would just directly bake them using the 1024 versions in Blender.

And for the folks who feel comfortable playing around in Blender, this is just the beginning! Texture baking opens a LOT of possibilities, so feel free to move stuff around and edit the models to your liking! If you notice the baked textures look warped or stretched somewhere, or don’t like where some textures are placed in the S2 body, poke around that area moving stuff and then give it another try. The main objective of the baking process is keeping both overlapping models as close in shape as possible. You may also edit and save new copies of the templates, or make new ones from scratch using mine as a reference (keep a close look on those Baking settings and values, I think they work pretty well) and share them if you want to. Go ham, do whatever you want with them! I have plans on making templates to convert body textures from Sims 3 to Sims 2, but for now it’s not on my priorities, so we’ll see when that happens.

Whew! Hope none of this was too confusing. Need help or have any issues with these? Please ask/message me and I’ll be glad to help when I’m able to!

Credits for the CC used in the render demonstration: -Skin by Sims3Melancholic -Eyes by Northern Siberia Winds -Eyebrows by PeachyFaerie -Tattoos by xtc -Top by SerenityCC

And the Tattoo I used for the tutorial can be found here, by ValhallanSim

Last but not least, a huge, special thanks to @elvisgrace for all her help testing this for me. I’ve never shared Blender files, so hopefully everything works as intended and everyone can use them with no weird issues. Fingers crossed! And thank you for reading! Hope you have fun playing with this new toy hehe.

[tryan-a-bex]

just wondering why are you so obsessed with fuckboi dream? i remember you handing me a long list of triggers when you'd offered to beta for me way back (completely valid) and fuckboi dream is like a minefield of untagged triggers like gang rape etc so the extreme switch seems a little worrying. hope youre doing well either way

Hi! This is actually an excellent question! Thank you for asking! (For anyone who is curious, we are talking about Fuckboi Dream Was Forced To Experience The Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Alive And All He Got Was This Stupid Husband (by Fall Out Boy) by @dancinbutterfly .)

When I started reading fanfic I had a bunch of unaddressed stuff and I wasn’t sure how it was going to affect me. In most stories I could just read on and deal with it, but for beta reading I have to concentrate on it so I’m still more careful when beta reading.

So as things went on, what happened was that I was not affected by some of the things I thought would be triggering, and I was bothered by the seemingly harmless domestic scenes. The only scene in FBD that has caught me off guard was one where Hob buys jewelry for Murphy. Dishwashing was an issue in a fic. People don’t tag for these things. I avoided pregnancy fics for a while. (See, also, if something bugs me a bit, I can read it anyway and get used to it, and then it bothers me less in real life too. It’s great for exposure therapy, but the warning helps. This is why I can read Corinthian fics now—practice.)

And what I realized was that the issue for me is not what is going on, but whether there is clear consent (or at least a clear recognition that it’s not consensual, as in some of @mallory-x’s excellent bdsm fics). Fuckboi Dream is one of the best fics I’ve read for bdsm protocol—it’s showing that past issues like gang rape can be healed through very consensual relationship but it doesn’t have to be vanilla.

See, even my vanilla relationships had lots of non-consensual stuff. Assumptions, expectations, and just plain differences of opinion that ended up harming me. Generally not violent, just every day stuff. Through FBD and Dancing with the Brutes by @lostelfwriting I learned that I can have what I want in a relationship and it can be consensual and it can be rough and that’s okay.

So I struggled with the questions that raised for months. Then I started researching. Then I joined the local bdsm community. After being too scared to date for a dozen years, now I’m coming up on my one year anniversary with my new partner who understands consent and gives me what I want. I can say yes to flogging and no to dishwashing, if I want (and I do). I have a lot of new kinky friends. I don’t have to worry about them being creepy because they understand consent. The community understands consent, so as long as I can say no (that’s my job) or safeword, people will jump in to help me if I need it (and I’ve done it for others). (You have to be able to say no. My belief is that you are not ready for any relationship if you can’t give and take a clear no. But especially a bdsm relationship.)

Knock on effects continue. Once I had a partner, I was able to find a therapist too. After getting my autistic knuckles rapped one time too many in another server, I found a home with the lovely people in the FBD server, where the rules are transparent and not difficult to follow and the conversation doesn’t run too fast for me to follow, and many of us have disabilities and histories so our stories don’t shock each other.

So, yeah. Absolutely, don’t go blind into FBD. The gang rape was probably initially tagged but there’s a tag limit so the list has been edited. (And in that situation, it didn’t bother me because Murphy considered it kinda consensual—he got into it on purpose— it was his friends who were horrified because he struggled to get out of it—the whole point of the story is that he deserves better and he can have rough without losing consent.) Beyond all the bad stuff which happened to Murphy and Desire, it’s a story about getting hurt searching for love, and then healing with the help of friends (at least the first 22 chapters). I needed that, and it changed my life.

[trutrustories]

STUDY IN LOKI ROMANCE

Part 3: 1893

Since we're only a few days away from the last episode, I decided to COUNT DOWN everything we´ve got so far ( that can be interpreted very easily as romantic ) and discuss what the actual fuck is going on with second season. Because even though I shipped lokius practically from S1E2, I absolutely did NOT expect this kind of development. (Not that I´m complaining)

Warning: This is gonna be LONG post, lots of screenshots, lots of SPOILERS, lot of "oh-my-god-they-so-cute" language, and little bit of meta.

I originally thought that this post would be everything at once, but since I have just too many screenshots this time around, I´ll have to split it. so every post will be one episode. Color coding means:

IIIIIIIIII = anything, that coud potentialy be just acting choice.

IIIIIIIIII = everything else (tzn.: whatever was written, and/or carefully prepared by filmmakers. )

side note: I already wrote, about how amazing it is, that Mobius is unable to fight but fights anyway and how beautifuly, and ridiculously brave he is HERE. But this is about Loki/Mobius interactions, so I´ll try my best not to talk about THAT. (Even when I´m really happy, that s2 continues with this formula and Mobius is still his completely defenseless while aggressively brave self. I love him, btw.)

EPISODE 1 HERE EPISODE 2 HERE

Episode 3, here we go:

22) matching suits part 2 anyone, who work on those costumes: I want to kiss you all!

23) Another exhibition of touches:

the challange name is: "how close we can get, before we sink into each other"

24) "And they lived happily ever after..." They had some lokius fan in the editing room, I´m telling ya! This retro movie style transition... THAT is my roman empire...

like seriously? what is the purpose of this? I can´t wrap my head around it. someone just thought that it is really crucial to end this scene with two of them in a circle. OK.

but WHY?

It was LITTERALY used only once! (I´m sorry, but as someone, who works as an editor, this just driving me crazy 🤒🫠)

25) Loki and Mobius enjoying popcorn:

I have several things to say here:

ever heard about when one person is "forced" to have fun for the first time, and to try new things by the other person, and he´s protesting and is all about work and serious matters, but secretly loves it and is visibly relaxed and happy? - Because I´m sure this is some bloody romantic comedy trope, that everyone have seen about hundred times!

"Oh look, you have a piece of food on the chin, let me just…"

I know I already said this somewhere, but, this is the moment, where in my language suddenly (completely randomly) switched from formal way of speaking to each other to intimate way of speaking to each other. (I´m Czech, btw, and I have no idea, what happened in that recording studio but it had to be interesting)

26) Also... Bickering like married couple (part 3)

27) "You know sometimes I forget, that you are one of them... Blows my mind!"

Mobius being Loki´s fan.

Also yeas. Loki is one of them. God. And Mobius is a small, normal dude. JUST A HUMAN. Analyst, even! And they´re eating popcorn together.... also Loki will do whatever Mobius wishes

28) another "let´s be as close as we physically can" challange

Loki can´t keep only eye on him. he needs hands, because reasons

29) Mobius supporting Loki in using magic...

... or I should say Loki using Magic, whenever Mobius wishes, because...

"Will you handle this please?" "Gently!"

And on top of that... not him, explaining, what just happened, to the public, by: "The amazing Loki, everyone! He´ll be here all week! 🥳🥳🥳"

who the heck asked, Mobius? stop showing off with your magical boyfriend

30) Victor/Ravonna - the most transparent mirror ever:

THIS scene? Are you kidding? Ravonna running towards Victor: "Mr Timley! are you okay? And Mobius running practicly at the same time towards Loki with: You allright?" and both helping their man up on their feet?! IN SYNC! this is too much.

WTF

31) THE BIKE THIS. this is the most GREENLY green point, I can think of. Someone had to have this vision. This idea. And put it in to screenplay. Someone had to find the bike. Someone was shooting this. Camera is moving around them. And they were all like GREAT idea, let´s have them riding tandem bike while chasing Ravonna and Timely, that makes complete sense! (even when we have Loki chasing Brad USING MAGIC one episode back) anyway... ever heard about "let´s do this crazy stupid thing - absolutely not - and then they do the thing" trope?

32) Loki going with Mobius, not even thinking about it anymore.

And to think, that I was expecting something like S01E03 (Lamentis episode)! Once again, I wasn´t prepared for amount of Lokius content I was actually served. What a surprise! 🤯