#with some details added in black ink

[mutantenfisch]

It's been 84 years, but i finally drew an Alexander von Humboldt again and am also only 6 days late for his 255th birthday. :3

[monstermonger]

Quiet corners 🐈‍⬛

[natalieriess]

FIRE ALONE...CAN SAVE OUR CLAN...

Full illustration from the hardcover jacket cover of WARRIORS: THE PROPHECIES BEGIN Volume 1 + some details!

Process, WIPs and detail rambling under the cut:

Sara and I rarely get to do detailed, non-comic page illustration work, and wanted to get some painterly texture to set this apart from regular comic panels. We did some tests early on in the process:

(inked lineart on the left and graphite lineart on the right)

Sara used some soft, chunky (8B!!!) graphite pencils to get the storybook texture we ended up going with. I also used a gritty digital "gouache" brush to softly paint the whole illustration, and used a watercolor texture overlay I had on hand for added crunch.

These are the rough sketches I sent in to our editor and designer- I normally do a rough color pass at this stage. It's a little extra work, but it's worth it to not feel totally lost on color later in the process.

(Pencils by Natalie, printed and handed off to Smo, who "inks" with a heavy graphite pencil)

More WIPs...I think it looked pretty good in black and white too, honestly!

Thanks everyone for all of your kind words about the book so far! I'm already drawing volume three ;w; see you in a year!

[marypaol]

Copy Of A Copy

Draco Malfoy x fem!Reader

Summary: Whatever is drawn on your skin shows up on your soulmates skin.

Warnings: Annoyance, Draco being Draco, I honestly can’t think of anything let me know if you see something!

Note: I’ve been planning on writing this for so long and I’m finally doing so! Hope you guys enjoy. :)

Masterlist

Request Requirements

The pale fingers of the Slytherin carefully-but skillfully- chopped the ingredients for the Potion, trying to cut out the conversation of Potter and Weasley. They were clearly trying to keep their voices down but failing to do so due to Draco’s hearing abilities.

It was at that moment he wished he was temporarily deaf, so that he didn’t have to hear the bickering of Potter and wanna-be-Weasley.

“Haha! Look at Seamus, Malfoy.” Crabbe said, his big face scrunching up as his fat finger pointed to the clumsy boy across the room. Draco spared a glance, seeing the boy with a black face, looking into his potion helplessly as the explosion just occurred. Malfoy rolled his eyes, shooting Crabbe a glare before looking back to his task at hand.

But, when he glanced at his hand, he saw little flowers forming, the ink moist as whoever was drawing it was doing it in real time. Petal after petal appeared, forming a decent picture. He grumbled, grabbing the towel Seamus used to wipe his face and aggressively rubbed the skin, terribly smearing the ink on the back of his hand, the flowers mushing together, making it not look so decent anymore.

He flung the towel on the table beside him, and picked up the knife he placed down, going back to his previous actions.

“What now, Malfoy?” Goyle asked. Draco snarled.

“Stupid soulmate drawing on their skin again. Seriously, they can’t draw on a piece of parchment?” He complained, his chops becoming more harsh on the cutting board.

Goyle shrugged. “Unless they’re bored in class. What is it anyway? Little reminders?”

“No, course not! In fact, I’d rather it be that instead of rubbish drawings of dumb flowers! Look at that rubbish,” Draco started, repeating the word he said earlier with a bitter taste growing in his mouth. He showed the two boys what was left of the flowers on his hand. “Honestly, how ugly.”

The two boys agreed, but they had hints of smiles on their faces.

Draco noticed and barked. “What’s so funny, boys?”

The smiles dropped instantly on Goyle’s face but Crabbe still had a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Nothing, just that your soulmate draws on her skin.”

Draco squinted. “And what’s so funny about that? Enlighten me, I’d rather laugh than roll my eyes.”

Goyle shrugged. “Just that she must be doing it in purpose. Ya know, for you to see?”

Draco thought about it for a moment, ignoring the new lines forming on his hand.

“Why would I want to see this?” Draco wondered, irritation brewing inside him. “Especially on my hand, I don’t need it there, it’s annoying really.”

“You know how girls are. She’s desperate, man.” Crabbe jumped in, entering the conversation once he found out Draco wasn’t as upset as he thought.

Draco scoffed. “You know what, you’re right, Crabbe. She’s desperate for me. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s annoying and I don’t want it there.”

Draco then finally looked down at his hand, and this time he saw an eye with shading, the smooth strokes of eyelashes now forming on his skin. Once she was done, Draco saw more stokes forming above the eye, and, wondering what it is, leaned forward to see what she was drawing. It turned out to be an eyebrow, but the way the lines were drawn helped Draco see the direction the hairs were going in, adding detail to the drawing he didn’t know was needed.

He gripped the towel between his finger tips of his other hand, but he felt some sort of guilt eating at his chest for rubbing away such work. But he didn’t want to be walking around with silly eyes and eyebrows on his hand, so with unwanted shame brewing in his chest he rubbed the fabric on the back of his hand, the once was ink smearing, covering his skin in black.

The girl frowned deeply as she watched once more the drawings she made were harshly rubbed away. The ink from her quill was a black blob now once the person was satisfied enough. Satisfied that the pictures were gone.

Her heart sank in her stomach for an unknown reason.

Well, she knew the reason, she just didn’t want to admit to herself that what her soulmate was doing was effecting her in this way.

She shouldn’t be surprised that he rubbed them off; I mean, who wants to walk around the corridors with silly drawings on the back of their hand? She didn’t have a problem with it, but he clearly did.

After the last moment of Lupin’s lecture faded away with the bell she grumbly got up and out her things away, making her way to the bathroom to rub the ink off. (Despite the nonexistent problem with walking around with drawings on herself, she did have a problem with walking around with a big ink smear in their place.)

She bent over the sink, her bag discarded at her feet as she rubbed the skin, forming red marks in their wake. The ink slowly ran down the drain, her heart going down with it.

She wished her soulmate accepted her actions on showing she was there, existing, live and breathing, to assure them that someone out there wanted them. But was he just embarrassed? Did he not want her as much as she thought he did? Did he have an annoyance towards the whole soulmate concept?

She sure hoped not, because her want to show her love was strong, yet the want to receive it was even stronger.

She wanted someone to love.

That loved her right back.

Did he even want that?

“Any drawings today, Malfoy?” Crabbe asked, a soft chuckle escaping his big mouth. Draco snarled at the boy beside him, also glaring at Goyle who was making interesting-meaning quite disgusting- noises while he was eating the feast the house elves provided.

The boy who received the glare quickly composed himself, swallowing the large amount of whatever it was down his throat, a loud gulping sound heard around the table.

Draco glared again.

Finally he turned to the other boy who addressed him earlier and replied reluctantly.

“No. Thank goodness. I’ve been sick and tired of constantly having to distress my skin; honestly, the embarrassment of walking around with a red tomato colored hand.”

Crabbe agreed with a hum, in the middle of chewing. Draco definitely noticed him paying extra attention to the noises he was making, so he didn’t annoy Draco any further.

“Never mind that,” Draco said, pulling through Daily Prophet out of his robes, long pale fingers flipping the pages until he got to the one he wanted.

“Father’s in the paper, as always.” He said proudly, showing the two boys the picture of his father. “Oh! And look!” He added, chuckling madly as he pointed to the same article, the name ‘Arthur Weasley’ printed as it told a story about him.

“Ridiculous, honestly.” Malfoy muttered, shoving the paper to Goyle across the table since he was (according to Draco) taking too long to read it.

“Ugh, Care of Magical Creatures today.” Draco complained, looking at his schedule. “That silly Hagrid, honestly, I swear I’m going to die each time I attend his classes.”

Goyle swallowed again. “Seriously, how many times does he have to bring in a deadly creature that might chop my head off-”

“Well I would certainly enjoy that.” Draco snapped. Goyle’s cheeks turned pink.

“God this place has gone to the dogs.” Draco muttered, stuffing his schedule in his pocket, taking one last gulp of pumpkin juice, and storming out of the Hall, and without question, the two boys followed him.

“‘Ello! Please step dis way,” Hagrid said, large hands clapping together. Draco scoffed but reluctantly followed the orders.

“Taken’ care of- well more of lookin’ at interestin’ creatures today; take a step back now.” He warned. (Malfoy gladly stepped back)

The crates ended up being full of slimy creatures Draco ended up forgetting the name of, too busy trying to keep his fingers attacked to his hands. “Gross, Goyle you do it.” He said, handing the boy the food and watched as his friend gave the creature its supper, hands shaking nervously.

Draco looked around as Goyle did the work, folding his arms as he watched with amusement as the Gryffindors struggled to feed the animals.

He then spotted another Slytherin working alone, the back of her head the only thing visible when it came to her features near her face.

Two small braids were on either side of her head, easily blending with her hair but he could see the twisted strands in the sunlight much easier.

She turned so he saw her profile, and, from what he could see, her eyes were bright but hesitant, a look of disgust on her lips as she fed the creature. As soon as all the food was gone, she instantly dropped the tool she was using to handle the food and grabbed a rag, wiping her hands off even though she didn’t touch it or the animal.

It was then Draco saw it. The small detail on her left hand, as so his.

A patch of distressed skin was there, in the same exact shape as Draco’s. He found himself looking at his own hand, then at hers, and back at his once again to double check.

They matched.

They matched.

Which means only one thing.

The girl that he’s never seen before, which was quite surprising since he often told himself that he knew all the Slytherins, was his soulmate.

What was more surprising though was something much weirder and stranger. And that something was this:

The realization didn’t bother him one bit.

Tag list: @thatonepupkai @squishneon @buttersuaa @bxtchsimp @amayaaaxx @ssailormoonn @redvelvet103 @yasmine12xxx @youreyesareasprettyasstars @cassiethefab @iambored24601

Thanks for liking the post! (I will also be tagging y’all in the Harry one- let me know if you changed your mind about it and don’t want to be tagged!) :)

Skin To Skin (part two!)

[theorphicangel]

bookshop owner!reader with tattoo artist!suguru is actually brainrotting my mind.

coincidentally, the two stores are directly opposite each other and you can’t help but be drawn to the simple tattoo parlour across.

in bold, the name of the parlour stands above, clean and glistening windows with italic writing promoting to customers. if you squint you can spot artworks displayed in the window, even from afar you can tell how detailed and professional they are.

you’ve never been one for tattoos, your excuse being that you have a low pain tolerance for getting them. but in reality? you’re scared of the idea of a tattoo being permanent , the idea that you’ll get a tattoo you’ll regret or the design will come out ugly or that it’ll—

“do you need help with that?”

a silky voice interrupts your thoughts as you stood staring at the the shop with a cardboard box in your hand. the box contained one of the last piles of books for the store, new arrivals were to come in the next few weeks finally filling up the shelves.

a tall, long raven haired man stands besides you with nothing more but a friendly smile on his face. he stands in a large dark blue sweater, a paper cup of coffee in his hands probably from the local cafe on the same street as you.

it takes you a few seconds to snap back into reality, noticing piercings on his bottom lip and eyebrow.

“I’m fine! thank you.”

“I can take that in for you or at least hold the door open.” the stranger suggests, raising a brow.

a shift appears in pit of your stomach — would it hurt to say yes?

“that would be great, actually.” you return a friendly smile.

as you make your way inside with the assistance of the coffee scented stranger, he begins to make conversation, helping you to the back rooms. “you interested in the tattoo shop across the road?”

you let out a huff, “oh no, not for me. tattoos seem…” you pause for a split second attempting to find the right word, “regretful.”

“how so?”

you ignore the teasing charm of the stranger and continue to give your explanation.

“well for one… it hurts like shit.” you start, “and what if the designs don’t come out the way you want or the person tattooing you messes up? now you’re stuck with this permanent mark on your body, it just seems like a waste of time and money to me anyways.” you huff, finally placing down the box amongst a pile of identical boxes.

the scent of old wood and dust fills your nostrils. The building was older than most among the street yet it still held some sort of modern look. cosy and comfortable was the atmosphere you had wanted to create for your bookstore and it took you ages to find this hidden gem, sending the deposit almost immediately.

the stranger lingers by the doorway of the back room of the store, his dark hair tied up into a man-bun yet it doesn’t fully restrain the few locks which seem to escape. he’s pretty, you muse, as he opens his mouth to speak again.

“maybe this would be some bad news for you but I actually own that tattoo parlour.”

he says it in a lighthearted tone but that doesn’t stop your stomach from dropping any harder.

“oh.”

awkward silence swiftly crashes into the two of you, your face heats up in record time.

you fucking idiot—

“it’s nice to meet you.” the stranger finally speaks, outstretching a hand and as he does so, his sweater rides up his arms a little where you see black ink begin to pattern across his skin.

“shit, m’ so—

“don’t worry about it, s’ not for everyone.” he smiles again with that friendly smile you saw outside. you shake his hand tentatively hoping that he wasn’t offended by your comments. his palm feels soft in yours, fitting into his perfectly. quickly you pull away before you get too absorbed in your thoughts.

“call me suguru.”

you repeat his name and for a second he swears there’s nothing but pure nectar in your voice.

in a reply you introduce yourself and a flash of white teeth come your way in a full grin. he tries out your name for the first time too, adding a compliment.

“I’ve been wondering when they were finally going to sell this building. ” he begins. “I think a bookstore is perfect for this place.”

your face heats up again and Suguru asks for a tour. the store isn’t fully ready yet but you’re hoping for an opening at the end of the month.

“I hope to get an invite.

“Of course, we’re practically neighbours, you’ll be the first to know the date.”

“glad to hear it.”

as he leaves, you wave him over to the other side of the street watching him open up his store.

for the first time in your journey you can’t help but feel a tiny spark inside of you that makes you feel excited for the change coming up ahead and in particular, getting to know this suguru more…

join my summer event here!

[nekohooch]

I promised I would provide some detail costume breakdown of my Azem summoning circle. It took me about 85 hours total over 19 days. The skirt is overlayed over a red petticoat (because it’s the only one I had long enough) I made the skirt about 7 in longer than floor length for me because I’m wearing platform shoes!

The skirt is two layers of black chiffon. The bottom layer is a normal circle skirt, top layer is a seven panel circle skirt. Figuring out the math for this part was hellacious I do not recommend it. The top was gold lamé with black chiffon overlay. The waistband circles are gold upholstery bolts that I used bolt cutters to remove the stabby bits of and the beams from the waistband are from a fringey door cover that I dissected. I then twisted the beams (fringe) and fastened them to the skirt.

The Ps and the filigree things are from bathroom wall decals that I cut into pieces. Then I added rhinestones, these triangle book decorations, and sequins for the designs and the giant summoning circles.

The rest of the designs are various additional pieces of fringe, rhinestones, and hand painted designs with gold calligraphy ink. I almost added my statics job symbols into the summoning circles but I didn’t have time.

There’s still more I want to add to this but I’m ecstatic how it turned out and felt like an absolute goddess.

[writerdream22]

requested by: anon, I sincerely hope you like this ✨🌻💛

pairings: Sirius Black x reader (platonic), James Potter x reader (platonic), Lily Evans x reader (platonic), Remus Lupin x reader, etc.

warnings: female!reader. there might be some curse words

a/n: for the Amortentia smell I took inspiration from a post by @littlemessyjessi (it was amazingly detailed omg)

It has been some time since I’ve last written on this blog, and I'm not confident in my writing anymore. I'm sorry if this is too long or confused of a piece to read!

feedbacks are always appreciated!

If you wish to be part of a taglist don’t hesitate to ask!

You hated Remus Lupin.

He was your arch-nemesis, the one individual that kept you from becoming the best student in your year. The one that always managed to be awarded the most points for your house, except for a few occasions (which were quite scarce to be honest).

It seemed like he found some sort of enjoyment in seeing you strive for the professors’ attention. Needless to say, you did not enjoy any part of this academic rivalry.

The other Marauders were quite invested in the dynamics of the relationship between you and Remus. As a matter of fact, it looked like they came up with all sorts of plans in order to see the two of you together.

On one particular occasion, you and the other fifth-year students were attending potions class and experimenting on Amortentia and all its properties. Professor Slughorn was walking between the worktables and monitoring everyone's work.

Just as you were about to write down the correct dose of peppermint before adding it into the cauldron, Slughorn spoke.

"Can any one of you recall who was a pioneer in the creation of Love Potions?"

Your eyes widened. You knew the answer, and you didn't want Remus to take the glory and win the points for Gryffindor once more. You were determined to win.

"Yes, Mrs. Y/l/n?" professor Slughorn questioned, seeing your raised hand.

"I reckon it was Laverne de Montmorency, sir"

The older man nodded at your response before saying"It was her indeed. Very good Mrs. Y/l/n, five points to Gryffindor!".

You smiled widely and took the opportunity to turn around and see Remus' face. He was glaring at you, while Sirius and the other Marauders were teasing him.

"Got anything to say, Lupin?" you asked, to which he curtly responded with a "No".

The whole ordeal died out within a few minutes, and everyone went back to doing their assignment.

After some time Slughorn decided that it was time for his students to show the results of their work; therefore he called out a couple of names at a time so that they could be evaluated.

It didn't take very long for him to say your name which was followed by Remus', much to your dismay.

"It seems like there weren't any incidents in the preparation so there shouldn't be any problems with the potion. Mrs. Y/l/n, why don't you begin?"

You could not understand what he was talking about.

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Tell us about the smell that comes from your cauldron."

You could feel everyone's eyes on you. Especially your best friend's, and the Marauders'.

Needless to say, as soon as your face was above the cauldron you hesitated to analyse the smell coming from it.

"What do you smell then, Mrs. Y/l/n?"

You cleared your throat and spoke up, even though you were too anxious to even utter a single word.

"Uhm, let's see — warm cashmere, cassis, parchment paper, ink, and— chocolate, I think"

As soon as you said that you noticed that the Marauders started whispering between each other. You couldn't see Remus' face since he was standing next to you, but from the way Sirius was giggling it seemed like he was shocked.

A strange thought came to your mind, but you quickly brushed it off. It couldn't be, right?

Slughorn's voice brought you back to reality.

"Very well. Now, Mr. Lupin, tell us what you smell"

It was obvious that Remus was as nervous as you were when he started describing the smell coming from his own cauldron. You did not dare turn to watch him directly since you couldn't stand embarrassing yourself more than you already did.

"It's a bit unclear but—" he stated "I smell a hint of roses, then... books, cedarwood, basil and thyme".

Your eyes widened once again. You always wore a rose perfume, and had developed the habit of lighting up a cedarwood, basil and thyme candle with your roommates in the Gryffindor common hall. Something which Remus always complained about whenever he and his friends walked into the aforementioned place.

You swore you could hear Sirius and James snorting for how much they were suppressing their laughter.

Professor Slughorn could clearly sense that the situation was somewhat getting out of hand, so he warned the boys about giving them detention and dismissed the class.

You were tempted to run away, but you had a couple of classes left so you pushed through and waited until they ended to finally get into your dormitory.

Thankfully, you hadn't seen the Marauders since the incident a few hours prior. However, the fact that you were with your best friend Lily Evans (who was James' girlfriend) implied that you were bound to meet them, eventually.

Unbeknownst to you, while the two of you were sat in your dormitory the Marauders were busy talking about the aforementioned "incident" during potions class.

"Admit it, you smelt her perfume!" Sirius exclaimed, to which Remus responded with a scoff.

"Don't you 'hmph' me, Moony! You like her and she likes you!"

"No, I must've interpreted the scents wrong... I despise her! She always tries to be better than me and steals the points that I should get for the house!" Remus remarked.

"Too bad we don't believe a word you're saying!" James stated "If you really despise Y/n, tell us why"

"Well, for starters, she always seems to know things better than I do. I feel like that annoying perfume of hers is always up my nose and she never seems out of place. And, and— she's... I just hate her guts!"

The Marauders stared at each other for a few seconds, then bursted out laughing.

Remus was so confused that Sirius had to explain to him that those were not valid reasons to hate someone, but rather he was just saying what he liked about her.

Moony kept denying his friends' accusations, but there was a part of him that couldn't help but think that maybe they were right. Just maybe.

Maybe he didn't really hate you. Maybe those very parts of you which he had insulted were the reasons why he liked you, and wanted to distance himself in fears of hurting you. He couldn't pinpoint the exact things he was feeling in that moment: it was like a flood was pervading his mind and heart.

"You really think that—" he muttered, to which the other Marauders responded saying "Yes! You must tell her, Moony. Right now!"

Even though a part of Remus kept telling him that things might have gone awfully wrong and that he wouldn't have been able to do it, he took courage and walked up the stairs and to your dormitory by himself.

Unbeknownst to him and his friends, you and Lily had been busy talking about the same thing: you and your feelings for Remus.

Your 'girls talk' was interrupted by a knock on your door.

"Who is it?"

"Y/n, it's Remus. I have come in peace"

You immediately stood up from your bed, and rushed to the door.

"Yes?" you opened the door, expecting to find all the boys behind him. It was rather surprising to see Remus by himself.

"I was wondering if we could talk. Just the two of us" he stated, to which you responded with a nod of your head.

You turned around to see Lily standing, with her thumbs up and a big smile on her face, which suggested that she was going and you were staying there.

As soon as she began walking down the stairs, you shut the door and invited Remus to sit down on your bed.

"There is not an easy way to say this. But I'm not going to beat around the bush" he said "I didn't think I would ever say these words, but... Recent events have led me to come to the conclusion that I like you"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I like you, Y/n. I am in love with you, and I hope that you reciprocate my feelings or else I've made a fool of myself"

You were looking at him like he was an alien. Did you or did you not understand the weight of his words?

"I'm sorry, what?" You asked once again.

"Oh for fuck's sake. I am in love with you, Y/n Y/l/N!"

With that, you started laughing.

"Why are you—"

"I heard you the first time. I just needed the information to sink in" you said, giggling "I like you too, Remus".

What a strange way to react to one confessing their feelings for you.

Remus smiled. He couldn't believe that it was all real. He had to protect this newfound tranquility, the beautiful yet unexpected source of his happiness, at all costs.

"I won't force my affection on you or anything. If you're comfortable doing so, I'd like to hold your hand"

"Of course you can"

And he did.

Remus slowly reduced the distance between the two of you, then timidly held out his hand which you took with the same bashfulness.

You loved Remus Lupin. You really did.

And you couldn't wait to live your future with him.

[highlynerdy]

"I do it because I want to protect him from the world, and sometimes from myself. I want to tell him every secret I ever had, and yet I never want to make him choose, to see the hurt in his eyes, to put this, too, on him. I want-I want so many things. Sometimes, I just want."

Turning The Page by @queerofthedagger / art by @schweetheart

I started this fanARTifact in July 2021 and finally, finally finished it in September 2024. Click below to see so many more pictures and read probably too much about the project.

This project was a LABOR OF LOVE because y'all...I failed so, so many times during the making of it. I had grand dreams of all the things that I was going to do and learn and every single time I tried something it was like the universe telling me to go ahead and go fuck myself, we're not doing that. But it's done and I'm pleased with it. I hope Mona and Schweets are. Let's talk about the process.

I read this story back in July 2021 when it came out and immediately wrote @schweetheart on July 23, 2021 to ask if I could use her art for the back because it was such a crucial part of the story.

She graciously allowed me to use it, and even sent me a high res file so I could have the portrait of Arthur printed on art paper.

THEN. My brilliantly stupid self decided that just making the book wasn't enough. I mean, I had already done that for Arthur's journal back in 2020 and I am nothing if not a nutter about learning to do new things, especially for my fanARTifact series.

SO. I'm going to learn to make paper. Yeah. Totally a reasonable escalation in terms of new skills, right?? ......... Nope. I bought a small 5x7 mould and deckle to practice with and some cotton linters to make the pulp. Twas. A. Failure. I didn't have a press or the felts or the sizing needed to make the paper actually, ya know, usable. This was the first time I put the project down for a while.

Moving on to another new skill in late 2021, I decided that I wanted to make the walnut ink myself. Luckily, I was part of a pigment subscription in 2020 (that is a hell of a nerdy statement, even for me) and had all the supplies in my art studio to attempt this endeavor.

I didn't fail this part! Fucking huzzah for small miracles. Now I had two small bottles of black walnut ink to use for the calligraphy that I wanted to do for some of the excerpts. Except now I was stuck again on the paper making part so I put it back down again for an eternity.

Picking it back up in late 2022, I asked Mr. Highlynerdy to make a custom size mould and deckle for me so I could have long pieces to fold for my signatures. It was his first time doing anything like this but he's a buddy and a pal and gave it a try. Surprising no one if you've read this far, we both failed this part. Even now, I'm still not sure we succeeded but eventually we did get something workable. And considering professional mould and deckles cost in the hundreds of dollars...yeah, it'll do.

It took a hot ass minute for me to feel ready to attempt the paper making again but once I was ready, I ordered wet, pre-beaten pulp from Twinrocker. A very curt man on the phone helped me figure out what I needed and added internal sizing to the pulp I ordered. I didn't take pictures of any of the paper stuff because it was very messy and annoying. Once again, Mr. Highlynerdy helped me rig up a drying box with tri-wall cardboard and ratchet straps and a box fan. Once the paper was dry, I used a gelatin mixture to paint on external sizing. Since I'm primarily a painter, I needed the paper to be able to handle ink, paint, pencil. Sizing paper is the only way to do this, but no worries, I won't go further into the nerdy details about this.

Once the paper was ready, I decided to sew the text block. Here's another part where I failed YET A-FUCKING-GAIN. I talked before on Arthur's Journal post about how books were very, very rare in the 6th century (Arthurian period), but BBC Merlin is soooooo anachronistic that it's fiiiiiine to just do what I wanted. HOWEVER. I did want to try to do visible spine binding. But. Unfortunately I had gone ahead and used all of my paper to bind the text block as if I was going to case it in. FUUUUUUUCCCCCK. It's fine. We're fine. Come on, brain. What can we do.

Well, what we CAN'T do is use a piece of leather from my large remnant that I bought for my first journal because someone - FUCKING ME - measured and cut the last piece NOT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE WIDTH of the text block. So now it doesn't fit. And refusing to buy a new piece of leather I'm forced to pivot once again.

I decided to cut the leather spine even shorter, buy some wood pieces and sand them, paint them a matte black, and then glue the leather to those pieces. Cool cool cool. We're moving on. I tested a lot of different glues for this and good ol' super glue ended up being the clear winner. Cue putting this project away again for a whiiiillle.

In October 2023, I decided to pull it out again and do the calligraphy and drawings I wanted. This story has so many gorgeous parts but I finally decided on the first page, the last page, and the page about Gaius.

I mixed my handmade walnut ink with my beloved Finetec gold and used the quills I bought from John Neal Booksellers to practice my Uncial. I shouldn't have been rusty after lettering an entire fic for this fanARTifact, but I was.

The little dragon was inspired by medieval manuscript dragons I found.

Narratively, I loved the idea that Merlin's writing would start off soft and delicate and become stronger by the end of the journal. Also, I loved that the end word "WANT" would be just gold because the ink blend changes throughout. Something magical or whatever.

This part needed tears. They might have been real ones...

Annnnnnnnd, the project was put down again until a few days ago when I decided, after getting back into Merlin fic, I needed to buck up and finish it.

I did so many tests for the cover. I tried embossing, carving, and debossing and hated all of them. I settled on painting it with acrylic paints in the shape of a Celtic knot sort of pattern. I originally wanted to do a triskelion but after reading a bit about how some asshole groups have co-opted the symbol for shitty purposes, I decided against it. It's a mix of black and gold and it's hard to capture the depth of it through photos...eh, I did what I could.

Still. Something wasn't quite working with the brown leather and the black covers with the new symbol so I broke out my matte black leather paint and decided to go all black.

All I had left to do was glue in the text block and it would be done! And that still took me a few days to work up the courage. The book opens nice and flat, which will be good for me as I will use it as a sketchbook.

Sitting here, on September 1st, I have completed a project that taught me many new skills and also taught me a lot about humility and perseverance. There was no way I was going to abandon this project, and maybe I should have started over many of the times, but I am quite in love with the final result and I just hope that it does it's inspiration proud. Thank you @queerofthedagger Mona for all you create and share with the Merlin fandom, and thank you @schweetheart for allowing me to use your gorgeous art.

Also, you may see quite a few other fanARTifacts in this photoshoot because I will use any opportunity to show them off lol.

If you read to the end of this, you deserve a cocktail and a cookie. Thank you. 💛✨✨

[shy-urban-hobbit]

Modern au

Lambert takes his niece to get her ears pierced for her birthday and oh no, the new guy at the studio is ridiculously hot!!

"You still sure about this, kid?" Lambert asked as the two of them rounded the corner onto the next street, Ciri took a break from demolishing her purple frosted doughnut to give him an excited nod. It was the answer he'd been expecting but it still didn't hurt to check. Ciri had expressed interest in getting her ears pierced a few months prior and the agreement she'd reached with her father was that if it was something she still wanted by the time her birthday came around and it wasn't just a passing whim then she had his permission. That day had finally arrived and Lambert had volunteered to make the arrangements and take her to his usual guy, fully convinced that Geralt would just end up wandering into the nearest Claire's otherwise - having no personal experience, the man had proven himself to be clueless when it came to researching reputable places.

He felt Ciri press a little closer to him and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He didn't blame her, they weren't exactly in the most respectable part of town anymore - he was pretty sure the rats would try to mug you if they were capable - and if any of Ciri's three parental figures were with them (Jaskier was definitely in the realms of honorary parent at this point, whatever the situation was with him, Geralt and Yenn) they'd probably be making them turn around and head back. They weren't though; and Lambert had been using this place for the last seven years, since he was eighteen and making questionable choices just to push Vesemir's buttons.

There'd been some new graffiti added to the red brick of the outside of the studio since the last time Lambert had visited - not that it'd stay there very long before one of the inhabitants covered it with work of their own. Years of this has led to a good portion of 'Dyn Marv tattoos and piercings' being covered in a mish-mash of traditional tattoo designs, psychedelic swirls, detailed wolves and tigers and a relatively fresh looking comic style UFO by one of the top windows.

Lambert's brow furrowed a little in confusion at the noise that greeted them as they entered. There was music playing - nothing unusual in that, there was always music playing on a low volume but this wasn't Cedric's usual heavy metal or Schrödinger's classic rock or even Axel's K-Pop. It sounded almost like folk rock if Lambert had to guess, unfamiliar but not unpleasant.

The figure behind the counter was also unfamiliar as they stood with their back to them, fairly tall and dark skinned with black curls tied back with a strip of blue cloth, a sleeveless white tank showing off muscular arms. Lambert cleared his throat awkwardly to catch their attention, then felt his throat dry up instantly when they turned at the noise. Oh no.

He was fucking gorgeous. A few loose curls framed a high cheek-boned face, full lips framed by labret and septum piercings pulled up into a wide smile which in turn caused khol rimmed, emerald eyes to crinkle at the corners. A silver chain disappeared into the low neck of his tank top which also offered a glimpse of toned chest, the edges of black ink barely visible.

"Hi there, can I help you?" He asked and oh god, even his voice was hot.

"You're not Cedric." Lambert immediately wanted to go drown himself in the customer bathroom.

"He left me in charge while he had to run out. Something about moving apartments and Schro getting stuck in a box again..." He finished with a shrug, "I'm Aiden."

Lambert felt something click in his brain, "Cedric's brother right? He's mentioned you a couple of times."

"Whatever he's told you, it's all lies." Aiden said with a wink, leaning on the counter and resting his chin on his hand - the back of said hand Lambert noted, sported a tattoo of a realistic snarling, green eyed black cat.

"So anything I can help with today or would you rather hang out and wait for Cedric, although I couldn't tell you how long he'll be."

"Depends. How are you with kids and piercings?" He knew Dragonfly only dealt with tattoos whilst Joel specialised in the more 'adult' piercings and didn't tend to take clients under twenty one. Lambert gestured to Ciri who had wandered away from him to browse over the display of various spiked cuffs and brightly coloured necklaces for sale.

"I've experience with both. I did my apprenticeship and got my qualifications under Cedric and Axel and have many niblings and foster siblings, as you probably already know if you know Cedric."

Lambert nodded. Cedric and the others ran a tight ship, they wouldn't allow Aiden to work here if he didn't meet their standards, "Ciri." He called, dragging the girls attention from a plastic unicorn necklace she'd been eyeing up "This is Aiden, he's going to do your piercings, ok?"

Ciri scrutinized him for a couple of seconds before giving a nod. Aiden grinned back.

"And what are we going for today. Nose, belly button? No don't tell me... eyebrow!"

Ciri giggled, "My daddy said I can get my ears pierced for my birthday."

"Oh really?" He threw a quick look at Lambert and something in his expression closed off, "Well let's get some studs picked out and then we'll get you all comfy and set up."

"Can I use the bathroom first, please?"

"Just through there, sweetie." Aiden said, gesturing to the lime green door behind her before placing one of the standard forms in front of Lambert, "We'll do the boring paperwork in the meantime."

"I'm not daddy by the way." Lambert blurted out after a couple of minutes spent in awkward silence.

"Huh?"

"I'm her uncle." He held the form out for the other whilst trying his damned hardest not to stare at those lips.

"Well," Aiden deliberately brushed his fingers against Lambert's as he went to take it, voice pitched lower as his eyes slowly looked Lambert up and down, "If you ever want to be someone's Daddy, I wouldn't be opposed."

Before Lambert could even think of a response to that Ciri returned and Aiden was back to being professional, yelling for Dragonfly to come watch the front before showing his newest client all of the different earrings she could choose from and having a serious discussion about red Vs. blue as if he hadn't just made Lambert's brain short circuit. Dragonfly chimed in with her opinion every now and then too whilst throwing a smirk at Lambert which left him wondering how much of that exchange the petite, heavily tattooed blonde might have heard.

Lambert was ready to leave at a moments notice as Ciri glanced around Aiden's workspace, sitting stiffly and looking far too small in the leather chair.

"Ok Ciri, we're all ready to go." Aiden settled on a stool next to her, angling himself so the tray bearing the bright pink studs (and more importantly, the needle) was out of Ciri's eyeline, "Now, you look a teeny bit nervous there so would you like me to explain everything to you or just shut up and get on with it?"

"Could you tell me please? I don't like not knowing what's happening."

Ten minutes later, after having Aiden show her everything he was going to be using and answering all her questions, a much calmer Ciri was staring at the far wall trying to count all of the band stickers which had been put there and added to over the years, with Lambert sat on the now vacated stool by her feet "Feel free to swear kid. We won't say anything if you don't."

"Absolutely." Aiden agreed, "Ok. And 3...2...1"

"BUTTS!"

Lambert rolled his eyes heavenwards whilst Aiden looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh.

"Well, I can honestly say I've never had anyone scream 'butts' in my face before now. You got a poop to go with it? 3...2...1"

"POOP!"

"I need to be having a word with her dad if she thinks butts is a swear." Lambert muttered as he paid, Ciri back to hanging around the jewellery display and proudly showing off her new piercings to Dragonfly.

"Oh come on. It was pretty hilarious." Aiden chuckled somewhat awkwardly, "Hey, I'm sorry if I came on a little too strong earlier by the way. Sometimes my mouth shoots off before my brain kicks in."

Lambert made sure Ciri was suitably distracted before leaning in closer, "It's not your mouth I want to make shoot off."

The hitched breath he got in response was incredibly satisfying.

"Uncle Lambert, look what Dragonfly gave me!" Ciri yelled, breaking the moment and holding up the unicorn necklace from earlier.

"For the birthday girl." Dragonfly looked a little too smug and Lambert was going to figure out a way to get revenge.

"Well then...if there's nothing else I can help with today...?"

"Actually-"

Vesemir sighed, shaking his head in defeat as he caught sight of Lambert, "Please tell me taking Ciri wasn't just a cover for that. What on earth were you thinking?"

Lambert merely waggled his eyebrows in response, the new gold bar in the left catching the light as he did. Right now he was thinking getting an impulsive piercing to give the pretty guy a reason to touch him wasn't the dumbest thing he'd ever done by a longshot. Especially when said pretty guy gave him his private number afterwards "Incase you have any problems with aftercare."

He smirked as he fished out his phone, firing off a message to Aiden inviting him to find out sometime exactly how seriously he took aftercare.

[radcowboylad]

I've drawn a lot of designs like this recently since I got to saw them at the Brisbane concert! I might post the rest here later too.

Made on Photoshop, took about half a day coming up with a concept on paper and then making it digitally. I originally wasn't going to have the stitches, I only added them when I started inking but I think it made it look 10x better.

I tried to make each quarter show their most iconic part of face paint, while still making sense to be done in some type of order. Luckily I was able to capture that with everyone; the messiness of Papa I's makeup, then the more modern design of Papa III's eye and nose, Copia's black lips, cheek design, big ass chin, and Papa III's edgy mouth lines and cheek design. Papa III's hat was a fuckin pain to detail.

I was also going to make each quarter's smoke be the colours of their respective albums but I just could not make it look good or harmonize so I stuck with just Opus Eponymous since it has a better striking palette for something with limited colours.

Top left is Papa I,

Bottom left is Papa II,

Top right is Papa III,

Bottom right is Papa IV.

[leixo-demo]

any tips on how to draw in the splatoon style?

Ive been trying over and over to answer this question but i simply can't, cus i dont know how i make stuff, i did 2 tutorials in the past and they are simply me going "yeah you just go black in your mind and then come back and boom!" I tried to film myself a few times but still it's simply me zoning out filling a canvas of millions of sketches and then just drawing and drawing. There's no step by step thing, I simply just go BRBRBRBRBBRR and like adding really REALLY specific details and then BRBRBRBBR.

I tried hard, to think, why I make it accurate, I honestly tried for over 4 years to do splatoon looking art before i even opened this account, especially for commissions or doing more splatband art, people can give you feedback and if you're good enough they'll pay you.

I really came to think I was the best to just hate the art i did 3 days after, I did the "pufuu" moment trying to fake leake art or something and you can really put there if ppl is 1) so desesperated for new art 2) youre good at it

Then I tried to think, well did i studied the style? Yesss,,, at the begining, then i starts to differ as different artists besides Inoue, and his style also develops, so basically as long it fits,,

These 3 drawings just look complely different from each other and still it simply makes them more unique.

"But then how you make it splatoon?" You simply can't, cus it is not just one person, there is a lot, make it your own, give it your own twist, but, what about brushes, THATS what gives the style... right?

MogaChumu, on devianart

this art LOOKS officinal, but it isnt, thre's barely any rough edges like in original, there's some shading but it is not like in the original

is it the anatomy? neither, you can clearly see how they change every time how they draw inklings, sometimes the draw eyebrows in place, sometimes they round the faces sometimes they color pink they mouth despite the ink color. IT IS NOT JUST ONE PERSON.

I can't really give you more than this. As I mentioned in other posts, I use clip studio paint, my brushes were made by myself 4 years ago. If you have a hard time making your own there's (again) pufuu's brush set for procreate: https://x.com/pufuulive/status/1427743911708143617?lang=bn

the same but for psd and csp: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15Ib-jyvKxIDi0um0FnX3LcBet6m1pym3

and if you use another program just search for "Splatoon brushes" and go to the image tab, ive seen brushes uploaded in devianart for paint tool sai and for ibis paint. I just searched for splatoon tutorials and I found this saved: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/how-to-do-splatoon-art-style

Here's one of my videos if you can take anything and analyse it better than me, I'm sorry I can't really give you anything better,

[opluffys]

Mentor + Mentee-

-second part-

somethin quick, this was posted to my archive first as usual. pls let me know if there are any errors or if it copied weird. enjoy!!! :)

tags- thigh riding, vaginal sex, creampie, rough sex, toxic relationship, fem reader.

3.5k words.

-Ghost x Reader-

-nsfw/smut-

Hanging up and tossing the heavy wired phone onto your desk, you groaned in pure exasperation. The paperwork on your desk seemed endless, the monotonous and drab of black ink on bright white paper burning your irises, enforcing a migraine on you.

You've just gotten off the phone with, whoever the fuck, discussing the possibility of getting an assistant to help you with the excess of paperwork you've been filling out as of late. You were a doctor, your main job consisted of ensuring your patients didn't bleed out under your steady and careful hand. It was already hard enough, and now you had the added stress of the sneering stack of papers mocking you.

You clicked the ballpoint pen, bouncing your leg as the tip of the pen hit the paper, dark ink pooling and bleeding through the thin material. Your grip tightened just then, the bouncing of your leg increasing tenfold as your thoughts ran wild.

And as you continued to think, you remembered a crucial detail.

The Task Force, fuck, they're coming back today. From some mission, and you're sure Gaz told you all about it while you gave him a routine checkup, but for the life of you, you couldn't remember the main gist of it.

You didn't want to face them, face him.

•

Biting back a wail of pain as you removed the intravenous line from Soap's arm, you heard Gaz howl in laughter from the spare cot he rested on. Which had garnered him an angered stare by Soap.

"You're such a baby," Gaz laughed, turning on his side to stare right at both you and Soap.

"Fuck off." Soap gritted, hissing in agony as you continued to stitch up his lesion.

"You gonna make me?" He teased, his stare not faltering on Soap's. He glared at him, about to retaliate with his own quip before you proceeded to wipe his wound clean, the sterile stench of the antiseptic flooding your nostrils. He let out a muted scream, his good arm covering the top half of his face.

"Keep still, Johnny." You huffed, adjusting the surgical mask pulled over your features. Gaz seemed to be having a field-day at watching the scene unfold, a smug smile on his lips.

"Gaz, I can stop the morphine drip, you know." You hummed, a hidden smile of your own forming. He looked at you, a glint of fear striking his honey eyes. You held back the urge to laugh, you enjoyed teasing both of these boys in your office, and you knew the three of you were aware that you'd never do anything to bring them more pain.

"Sorry ma'am."

Now it was Soap's turn to laugh, and you discarded your surgical gloves while hearing the two hurl crude insults at one another. They provided decent white noise, and you'd take that over the deafening silence of your rampant thoughts whilst your pen danced elegantly over the various documents.

The two eventually quieted down, a tranquil silence over them as you watched the pain medication take effect on their bodies. Not even five minutes passed before you heard them snore loudly, all cuddled up into the scratchy hospital blankets.

It'd been a couple of days since the entirety of the Task Force had returned. You've only been treating Gaz and Soap, your full attention on them. Usually, you would treat them all, but you honestly didn't want to face Ghost one on one. So, to take some heat off of you, you asked another medic to tend to both Price and Ghost. Just so he didn't feel like you'd singled him out.

But, your attempts would be in vain.

•

Stretching and hearing your joints and ligaments pop in relief, you slumped over the desk, a heavy sigh leaving your lips as you filed the last group of papers. Both Gaz and Soap had left your office today, thanking you for taking care of them (after raiding your lollipop drawer).

So, you sat alone, the small swooshes of air against your body feeling welcomed, the ceiling fan above creaking with every spin. All you'd have to do now was stamp the final line of the packet, ensuring you've read over the contents carefully, and then you were free. Free to run into the uncomfortable and ill-fitting confines of your bunk.

You were lost in the work, so much so you hadn't even noticed the hulking figure taking up most of the space within your office.

"You're avoidin' me."

You nearly shrieked in terror, almost developing a fatal case of tachycardia as you held your hand over your rapidly beating heart.

"What?" Part of you wasn't really surprised that Ghost had managed to sneak up on you, it was his job, after all.

"You're avoidin' me," He repeated, stepping closer to you in large and fluid strides.

"No, I'm not avoiding you. Don't be ridiculous." Yes, I am.

"Actin' all innocent on me," He was right across from you now, his large hands resting on the cheap and fake wood of your desk, hearing it creak under his weight, "we both know that's not the truth."

"It is." It isn't.

"Get up." He commanded, and you knew that tone, that authoritarian inside of him being twisted and used against you in a way that it shouldn't.

"I'm busy." Liar.

"I won't ask again."

You shuddered lightly, telling yourself that it was just because of the excessive air from the ceiling fan skating across your heated skin. But you knew such a thing was a falsified truth.

"What? What is so important that-"

"Come over here." He hushed you before you could even finish your sentence, seating himself on a sterilised and neatly prepped cot. It was all too familiar, to the point where that same damned familiar throbbing and heat was felt in between your legs.

Your legs shook, hesitating to even take a single step towards Ghost, your mind and body both telling you different things. It was tearing you apart in the most agonising and tortuous way.

Still, you'd made you way towards him, standing idly as you struggled to maintain eye contact with him. A scowl formed on your lips, eyes flickering to his chilled demeanour. You hated how he was always so calm- so tranquil and at ease, like he wasn't feeling the same things you were, maybe because he's not, at least not for you.

"Sit." He spread his massive legs, indicating exactly where he'd wanted you. You listened wordlessly, taking a seat on his muscled thighs, your hands fisting into your scrubs.

"Make it quick," You huffed, now attempting to remove your uniform, "I have a lot to do." You sighed, fingers hooking at your waistband and pulling down, or at least you'd attempted to do so, being stopped by a harsh hand encapsulating both of your wrists.

He held your hip with his lone hand, beginning to slide you over the thick muscle of his thigh, hearing you gasp in shock. His eyes pierced your own, roughly continuing to move you atop him, the material of both your scrubs and panties against your clit overwhelming.

The both of you continued to stare at one another, your breath quickening as you felt that cursed familiarity of your orgasm creeping up on you with silent strides. Your hands were still stuck in Ghost's firm grasp, wanting nothing more than to grab at him, to pull his mask forward and kiss him like you'd perish without it. Without him.

Just thinking of such a scenario had you reeling, your hips jerking as you felt your clit being rubbed just by his thigh alone. The feeling of his as well as your uniform dragging against that sensitive nub making your mind go hazy.

As you felt your release become imminent, he stopped his movements, unshackling your hands from his grip. He hastily tore your uniform, something of which he'd only done when he was particularly angered. With you or his mission, you had no clue.

His cruel stare on you was discomforting, he looked at you like you were a piece of meat- something subhuman. Just a body to warm his cock, and how fitting your thoughts were- because he quickly slipped his own bottoms down, revealing his erect cock for a split second before burying himself inside of you.

Always so rushed, hurried and lacking any control. A crude opposition to him on the field.

You suppressed a high pitched moan, hands itching to touch him, to ground yourself against him and ride him until your thighs would burn akin to hellfire. He let out a deep grunt, his hand slapping the excess flesh at your ass, bouncing you atop him like you had been weightless.

As much as you didn't want to admit it, you were familiar with the fact that you were just Ghost's stress reliever. How he'd prowl into your office during the late hours to bend you over any surface and fuck you until muted screams left your lips.

For a while, you didn't mind it at all.

In actuality, you'd enjoyed such a thing. You felt an odd sense of honour swell in your chest, at the sole fact that he'd chosen you. He chose your body to hold onto, to whisper vile and cruel things in your ear, to grab at your body like that was all you were- a body. Void of a soul, a conscious, anything.

Being his personal fuck-doll had its ups and downs, where he'd make you orgasm more times than you could count, fucking you until you cried. But the polar opposite, of when he'd leave dark purples on your thighs, your hips, neck, fucking everywhere.

Like he was doing now.

You felt his hands roam around your softer body, catching at the fat of your hips, anchoring himself to you and bouncing you atop his thick and girthy cock with fervour. It was as if he didn't know the extent of his raw strength, already biting dark hues of purple into your soft and delicate skin.

Your eyes fluttered shut as your body struggled not to slump forward, flush against his strong chest. You didn't touch him, you swore you wouldn't. He didn't deserve it. A pathetic little thing you told yourself, just so you didn't get attached, because there was nothing more you'd yearned for to hold him like a lover did. To wrap your arms around him and feeling him lovingly piston into you, to kiss your cheek tenderly while your wet insides squeezed him with a vengeful grasp.

It's all too late, anyway.

He stopped, grabbing your chin and watching as your eyes popped open in disillusion.

"Eyes on me," Low, accented tone gravelly as he commanded you.

How dare he, your eyes met his instantaneously. Watching intently as his platinum lashes rested on his zygoma for a millisecond before opening back up to look at you. To look into you, to pick you apart, seemingly, until you turned to nothing. An obedient creature glued to his side, aching knees and jaw being ignored as you served him, like the good little thing you were.

His strained sounds were heard, quiet groans and animalistic sounding grunts as he thrusted upwards, bashing into your womb again and again. It hurt so good and you fucking hated it. You hated how just sole eye contact alone would have you naked and pressed against his clothed chest, fat cock stretching your insides.

Fuck, you loved it.

You absolutely adored it, being stuffed full of him, his mushroom tip pressing flush against your womb. Loved the bruises, the blemishes he's caused. His markings, claiming you as his, his plaything. Like an infants grubby hands over a shiny new toy, slobbering all over it and showing everyone that it was theirs.

No, you'd repeat, whilst being lifted off of him, your hands linked with each other behind your back, before being brought back down to him. Heavy cock twitching inside your tight walls, slick coating his dick, veiny and big, always reaching new spots inside of you. Spots that had searing stars incandescently tug at your vision.

Conflicting emotions, a curse, something that'd have you lay awake at night. Lay in your own cot, or sat next to an ill patient. Thinking about him, wondering, perhaps he was thinking of you, too.

How laughable.

Your eyes wandered, the interminable connection of your irises to his inadmissible. His eyes were always so eloquent, nearly showing what he'd been thinking. You couldn't stand it. You enjoyed the mask, enjoyed not seeing his face, because then, it'd be that much more personal. He wouldn't be Ghost to you anymore, he'd be someone, someone more than just a bed warmer.

Would you, though?

He squeezed your hips, garnering your attention to him once more. His brows furrowed, a thin sheet of sweat encompassing the two of you. He continued to fuck into your slick heat, revelling in how you always took him so well, as he said. Drunk off of you alone, and it was one of those nights.

"Fuckin' made for me,"

Just a slip of the tongue.

But no, you took that and ran with it, lungs burning while your legs continued to sprint. Oh, how you wished that was the case. You were tethered to him for a single purpose, for him to empty himself into you, to lay you across the hospital cot and fuck you from the back, always feeling him so deep. A place where no other man could dare to traverse, could never reach, anyway.

Was it on purpose?

Moulding you to his shape, getting you accustomed (it was always impossible anyways, taking him) to his cock. To spite you when you settled down, found a man who would love you, who would care for you. He wouldn't be enough, because Ghost already left his mark.

You were knocked out of your thoughts, thankfully, when you felt his gloved fingers begin to rub tight circles into your clit. His eyes now studied where the two of you had been joined, watching as your greedy pussy would always desperately pull his girth back in for more, a pathetic beg, don't leave.

You suddenly wailed, your hands grabbing his broad shoulders for purchase as your body shook. Toes curling, back arching as your eyes etched shut, sparkly tears trailing down your heated cheeks. You came hard against him, your essence coating his cock as he fucked you relentlessly, low and deep growls rumbling through his chest. He cursed, feeling your velvety insides continuing to take him deeper inside, he's already giving it all to you but fuck, you want more, you want it all.

"Such a greedy little thing."

He always knew what you were thinking.

"Love when I fuck you like this, don't you?"

Yes, no, yes, no-

"When I fill you up, fuckin' love it, don't you," He groaned, throwing his head back as he buried himself deep within you, nearly invading the inside of your womb as his warm and thick seed filled you. Marking you so that no other man could ever- would ever, do something striking even to him. Such a cruelty, acting like you'd belonged to him. You didn't know what he'd looked like, only aware of his name from medical records.

"Always so good for me."

And you hated how that had been the unvarnished truth.

•

You stared at your hands, ungloved and bare. Soft, skilled, shaking.

Why?

You'd touched him, in a way you swore you wouldn't ever. You'd expected to be thrown off, to be looked at as scum, worse than such a thing.

It was an accident, you didn't mean to. You weren't thinking straight, it was unfeasible with him splitting you open atop his lap. You just needed to ground yourself against him, for fear of falling, pathetic excuses.

A rueful thing you'd been over the next days, your usual adept hands quivering and trembling as you'd treated some of your patients.

You heard the click of a door open, and your posture snapped up, glossy eyes searching for who entered your space.

A breath of relief as it had just been Price.

You snapped a fresh pair of gloves on, bright blue going well with your dark scrubs. You led him to a cleaned cot, asking him just what the problem had been.

"Nothin' much, love." You loathed yourself for how your heart desired him to call you more pet names. To fill in Ghost's shadow and take care of you, as the natural leader he was. You were sure he'd be excellent at doing so.

"Missed your stitches, though." He huffed, relaxing into the bed as you ran an intravenous line for him just in case.

You looked at him, a quizzical glint in your eye. "My medic didn't take good care of you two?" Just you-

"Oh, no, didn't mean it like that." He looked penitent, kind eyes trailing over you before returning back to your stare. "Just meant that you know me better, sweetheart."

It was the truth, you were the Task Force's doctor, after all. It was just an innocent compliment of how good of a physician you'd been. Yet, you felt dizzy, the room a pirouette as you forced yourself to become calm.

"I'll keep that in mind next time, Price." You smiled, motioning for him to lift his shirt to check his lesions and other deep gashes that required attention. Your medic had done a good job, stitching and sterilising his wounds. But, the stitches were beginning to loosen, and you didn't need the wound becoming infected.

Your touches on him were always solicitous on him, more so than the others. Your gloved fingertips gentle on his muscled body, your stare wrongfully looking at his abs, lower and lower to that mesmerising trail of h-

"Gaz and Soap again?" He questioned, his gruff voice shaking you.

You looked at him confused, before he nodded towards the empty jar of sweets. You hadn't even noticed, they must've done so when you were out of the room, those stealthy bastards.

"Had to be," You laughed, making a mental note to restock the jar, "sorry you didn't get one."

"S'alright love." He hummed, his striking blues closing as you redid the stitches over his abdomen, watching as his stomach twitched in response to your careful and airy touch.

You finished quickly, removing your gloves and tossing them in a spare bin. You questioned if he'd wanted the extra fluids and medication, but he'd declined, thanking you for patching him up.

You motioned to clean your station, grabbing the bag of saline fluid before it had popped open, spilling all over your top. You cursed in vexation, more angry at the lost supplies rather than your soiled uniform.

Price quickly was at your side, spare cloth in hand as he attempted to clean the saline from your scrubs. "It's fine," You said, not used to being so close to him. His scent was intoxicating, that hint of smoke already having you feel utterly addicted to his presence alone.

He brushed you off, offering his services as he continued to dry you off. The cloth caught on the neck of the scrubs, pulling the material just below your clavicle, just where that array of purple lay, unperturbed on your skin. He let out a rushed apology, fixing you to look decent, his demeanour so focused on you.

Normally, it was the other way around.

But it felt nice being the one taken care of, for once.

•

Tossing your uniform into the laundry, you felt nice in a new set of clothes. No longer being confined to scrubs, but instead a comfortable cotton outfit against you. You eyed yourself in the mirror, clicking your tongue in distaste. Dark rings of purple running around the underside of your eyes, looking as if you haven't slept in years. Hell, it felt that way, too.

You'd had a long day, full of monotonous paperwork, sobbing soldiers who had flooded your office, crying for their mothers, and the thoughts of both Ghost and Price so tiring. You were giddy to finally be able to curl up into your bunk, drifting off into a dreamless sleep before your day would repeat at dawn.

And that was exactly what you had planned to do, to forget the days contents and reset and rest for the next.

But there Ghost was, at your door and telling you something, his words lost on you as you stared at him, balaclava pulled securely in place. Your eyes were fixed on his shoulders, right where you'd touched.

He beckoned you on to follow after him, and you wanted to plant your feet to the floor. To tell him no, to tell him that you had better things to do than to get fucked by him tonight.

Of course, you didn't do any of that.

Instead, you followed his lead, not asking a single question the entire way.

[anamelessfool]

How do you do that? LOL I have no idea what I’m doing (maybe) An Art Tutorial

Folks have commented on my more rendered art recently and I’m flattered. I literally have no idea what I’m doing. Well, I sorta do. I am mostly using masks in Procreate. I’m technically using the Debaser Pack by True Grit Texture Supply, but you don’t really need it. All you need is some texture layers. You could even do this just by making halftones of solid color layers. I used to do a lot of digital photo collage back in the day and at one point had a huge library of scans of paper and fabrics and also random textures I saw on the street. Wood, stone, sidewalk, metal, foliage, water. Took out my digital camera (yes, it was that long ago) and snapped a photo to use. There’s also a lot of free halftone textures online.

I have a few “overlay texture” layers. I “Create Mask” and then invert the mask so I can “paint” the color on. For my more simple stuff I do just that. I add a “Deep Shadow” layer in Overlay mode of a dark brown (or teal if it’s white) to make sure the darkest shadows are truly dark. The white areas are just the mask erased. It helps that fallout ghouls are skrungly and textured to be begin with. Sometimes I select areas and add little bits of black spray paint in lots of very transparent layers.

Everything is rendered under a multiply layer of a hi-res scan of vintage newsprint.

So how about the more detailed things that came about from an embarrassing amount of shirtless photo references??? In a lust-fueled haze I realized I can have a dark layer (in my case, a “black ink texture scan” with an inverted mask underneath a color layer. The color texture layer is around 70% opacity, give or take. On that black ink layer mask I add the white highlights to the tops of forms and use the smudge tool to distribute it across the specific form. Once in a while I shut off the color layer so I can see the bare rendering layer on its own and fix things.

So I just sort of pet him. For hours.

Focusing on the LIGHT areas instead of the shadow really is a game-changer! Before, my digital art looked super muddy because I was invested in adding dark. If areas are very very dark I add that dark brown overlay layer. For tattoos it’s a dark blue overlay mode layer, but with a mask on it so I can softly erase areas to make it look more set in to the skin (without destroying the original art). Very bright areas and the tops of forms I add a “highlight layer” of pure white gestural lines.

Moral of the story is just play around and do whatever. The old times of having a beautifully perfect anime-style drawing with very formal layers of shadow, highlight, color has been dead for ages. It’s what kept me away from pursuing digital art for literal years.

[hewkii]

Acht (Dedf1sh) Cosplay Rundown

feel free to copy or take inspiration :]

assembly instructions and print settings/materials for 3d printed parts are on thingiverse (headphones) (other parts)

models designed by me are in brackets in the materials list

Hat/Tentacles

black trucker hat with blank white front panel

[dedstencil.stl]

fabric paint

shiny indigo fabric

less shiny white fabric

glow-in-the-dark pigment powder

polyfill

metal marbles (to weight the ends so they hang properly)

two of [octosucc.obj] in different sizes

acrylic paint

conveniently enough i've had this hat hanging on my door for years. i got it with N from pokemon in mind but i never actually did that cosplay ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

here are the sketches i based my patterns on (1 square=1 cm). don't forget to add seam tolerances

Headphones

full details on thingiverse (mudmouth not included)

Arms

mesh bolero with built-in gloves

rit dye

fabric paint

10 of [finger_claw_vase.stl] in varying sizes

i wear claws under the gloves, but sometimes i'll wind up taking them off after a while since they can get uncomfortable and they make it hard to use my phone :/

Bracelet

[acht_bangle_vase.stl]

acrylic paint

glow-in-the-dark pigment powder

glossy clear coat

a cut up mello yello bottle

packing tape

eva foam

Misc. Doodads

red mirror shades

color chips

necklace chain

[acht_tag_jelleton.stl]

[acht_tag_ident.stl]

[acht_tag_hook.obj]

did you know that acht gives eight a mobility chip in the trailer but a power chip in the actual game? bc i didn't notice until after i'd already finished making the mobility one. so i've got a spare chip i guess

the dogtags were kind of a spur-of-the-moment creative liberty. i had the jelleton one sitting around from some experiments with composite filaments, and while i was brainstorming a way to incorporate acht's cool fish hook into the cosplay without needing to actually get my ears pierced it all sorta clicked together. i made the ident tag shortly afterwards and swiftly forgot what the text says :P

the rest of it

dress tunic thingy

metal eyelets

red string

camo pants

combat boots

i skimped on accuracy in favor of comfort for the lower half ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the dress is more of a shirt, i added comfy pants bc i hate wearing colored tights (or god forbid painting my thighs green), and shorter boots bc more accurate ones are expensive as hell. plus any heel higher than this makes walking feel like playing qwop (skill issue). speaking of which does it bug anybody else how long acht's feet are on their in-game model or is that just me

idk if it counts as part of the cosplay but i also add a leather jacket when my arms get cold. i think it goes hard

To-Do:

ink the shaved streaks onto the hairnet

swap out the red leather cord for something less stiff

see if beans would work better than marbles

hand bandages?

single pointy tooth?

make a pre-sanitized version so i don't have to scrub off face paint every time

[ilykaveh]

— upon paying a visit to your local tattoo parlour, you leave more than satisfied.

❀ — content: sub fem reader, tattoo artist au, finger sucking, body writing, teasing, talk of toji being a bad dad.

"what can i do ya for, princess?"

though you rolled your eyes at the pet name, your stomach did a flip as the attractive, inky haired individual posed the question. instead of thinking up a clever retort, you merely shook his flirtatious smirk off and explained your ideas for the intricately detailed floral arrangement that you wished to have tattooed on your sternum.

"got any other tats, doll? it's gonna hurt, better make sure y'r prepared."

"yes," you mumbled weakly, finding yourself somewhat intimidated as toji stood up from his chair. his sheer size was frightening, and his black tank top that revealed his own heavily tattooed skin did nothing to soften the man's image.

"don't be nervous; i don't bite. follow me and we'll get ya set up. name's toji, by the way."

you trailed few steps behind him, eyes flickering between the dark lines adorning his skin. you could make out different sized depictions of koi fish and dragon scales, of pagodas and spider lilies. there was even some lettering in amongst the patterns — you assumed that they were the names of those important to him: "megumi" and "tsumiki".

he led you to a backroom and motioned for you to take a seat as he started to set up his station. toji pulled out a folder full of his premade sketches and, lo and behold, you fell in love at first sight. looking up to him with your wide and bright doe eyes, you explain precisely what you wanted as well as placement.

"i'm gonna need ya to take your shirt off, doll," toji instructed, "gotta look at where i'll be tattooin'."

heat rushed to your cheeks at the question, shrouding you with embarrassment. you knew that you'd have to get topless in order to get your desired tattoo, but you hadn't imagined that the artist would be so darn attractive. it took him looking away, busying himself with his inks before you could muster up the courage to slip your shirt over your head. it left you clad in your lacy pink bra that perfectly complimented your skin tone, or at least that's what toji thought. he had to maintain his professional composure, however, you were making it incredibly difficult.

"bra too, sweetheart," he requested, "i can give ya some pasties if ya want, but i gotta see that skin,"

you debated his offer, though ultimately declined — they wouldn't make a massive difference anyways. leaning forward in your chair as you reached around to unhook your bra, only to fumble with the clasp.

"need a hand there?" toji smirked, an empty offer masquerading as a sleazy joke. he hadn't anticipated for you to say yes.

you'd have his hands on you at some point, so why not allow him to help? toji's large hands made quick work of your bra, skillful fingers unhooking it. in an attempt to alleviate your nervousness, you tried to make small talk with the man - but what came out was certainly not what you intended.

"it looks like you're quite experienced at this," you stuttered as soon as the words left your lips, wishing to suck them back in. toji cocked a brow as he looked at you, wondering if you'd really just made a comment on how experienced with women you perceived him to be.

"i- i mean- your tattoos! not, umm, anything else!" you spluttered, mentally cursing at yourself.

"i've done my fair share." he chuckled, loving how flustered you already were. "tattoos and women, that is."

you truly couldn't decipher the seriousness behind his tone, even wondering if he was mocking you. "i, erm, i think i'll go. . ." you mumbled as you reached for your discarded shirt.

"come on now, sweetheart, i'm only messing with ya. it's all business here. . ." he gave you that look, as if sizing you up, before adding a barely audible "unless ya ask nicely." that was punctuated with a wink.

you allowed yourself to listen, getting yourself comfortable in the chair, and toji began preparing you as he did all of his clientele. the pair of you just made small talk for the time being, mostly him talking about his own tattoos and how he got into the business, including sharing that the names on his back were of his children. that line in particular made your heart drop, because of course a guy this attractive was already in a relationship.

"i bet both your kids think you're the coolest," you replied, shivering slightly as toji's calloused hands graze over your sensitive skin. "you know, having a tattoo artist for a dad."

"wouldn't know," he responded flatly. "both live with their mothers; i jus' see 'em every now and then. it's better that way, i guess — ain't go no asshole to fuck 'em up."

"oh," you really weren't expecting that revelation, let alone for him to be so open regarding such deeply personal details. "i'm sorry."

"'s fine, really."

the two of you sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say. you internally reprimanded yourself for ruining the atmosphere, and toji was left to dwell in thoughts of what could have been if it had worked out with his past lovers. it wasn't until the man accidentally brushed his hand over your nipple that the uncomfortable silence that had descended finally ceased. and for the third time during this short appointment, you begged for a mystical black hole to appear and to swallow you whole.

you moaned as toji's thumb danced over your skin, albeit for a brief moment. he looked at you in both shock and awe, amazed at how pretty your whimper sounded — imagine what he could do if he was actively trying to pleasure you. his confidence once again grew evident due to the smirk plastered on his features, akin to cheshire cat leering at you whilst you hurried to gather your things and leave.

"what's the rush, princess? got a hot date to get to?"

you didn't have anything to say, simply staring at the flooring as your face heated up in embarrassment.

"c'mon, i see the way ya look at me. you ain't foolin' no one, darlin'. now how about ya sit yourself back down and i can give ya a little bit more than a tattoo?"

he'd read you like an open book, even having picked up on the pet names that made your knees buckle most.

"if it's any consolation, sweetheart, i think y'r the prettiest thing that's ever walked into this shop."

and with that, toji inched towards you. his large hand cupped your cheek, caressing your soft skin. he gave you ample opportunities to push him away or to withdraw yourself, but you failed to make even the slightest indication of resistance as he moved to plant his lips on your own. you would have expected a man of his genre to be harsh and bitter, yet every little shift of each muscle was laced with a sincerity and gentleness that you hadn't felt before. kissing him back with a certain fervour, you could feel the corners of his lips turn upwards and the scarred skin around his lips graze over your own.

toji’s hands found your tits, eagerly groping at your chest whilst paying extra close attention to your sensitive nipples. he took a moment to move his mouth downwards, trailing a line of sloppy kisses towards your stiff bud. you couldn’t hold back your whines as the man took your nipple into his mouth, swirling his hot tongue around and suckling lightly. instinctively, your legs wrapped around his waist, working to pull him closer to you. there was an evident bulge in his tight jeans, and you brushing against it drove toji absolutely feral as he ravaged your body.

“fuck, princess,” he growled against your skin, his hand edging dangerously close to your waistband. your mind felt too hazy to conjure an adequate response, resorting to bucking your hips against toji’s hand. although he understood, he wanted to hear you say it. “big girl words, darlin’,”

a group of strangled moans and barely coherent pleas fell from your lips, only for toji to shoot you a playful yet threatening glare. “please…” you mumbled, looking away in embarrassment once again. “wan’ you to touch me, toji,”

“atta girl.”

and with that, toji shuffled you out of the rest of your clothing, not halting until you were fully bare underneath him. the slight cower you had perfectly contrasted the anticipation and lust present in your blown pupils that practically shone under the studio’s lighting. you crossed your arms over your chest, not liking feeling so exposed. toji wasn’t a fan of this, however, for he quickly scooped up your wrists and pinned them above your head with a single hand. the other moved between your legs, assessing how wet you already were for him. his thumb caught your clit as it moved over your arousal, eliciting a drawn out cry of his name.

“you’re already drippin’, princess,”

you opened your lips to retort but failed to utter a single sound before toji slipped his thumb into your mouth, commanding you to suck it clean. you followed his orders perfectly, looking up at him with the most innocent, wide eyes that you could muster. once satisfied, you released the digit with a lewd “pop!”.

“shit, baby,”

without letting go of your wrists, toji used his free hand to shimmy down his jeans and boxers, revealing his heavy cock. it slapped against his stomach, standing tall and already leaking beads of pre. your eyes widened at the sight, wondering if the man actually planned on putting it in you.

as though he had sensed your concerns, toji positioned himself to rest his cock against your stomach, getting a view of just how deep he’d be inside of you. smirking once again, he couldn’t help himself from grabbing a marker from his tattoo station and drawing a line across your lower stomach, just above the tip of his cock.

“ready f’me, hon?” he asked, waiting for you to nod your head before he sunk his cock deep into your cunt. it was a stretch at first, with toji going as slowly as possible so as not to hurt you. strings of curses filled the room, accompanied with the squelch of the man working his way into your cunt. his free hand sought out your swollen clit, alternating between massaging delicate circles and swiping side to side in order to see what you liked best.

by the time that toji had finally bottomed out inside of you, tears were brimming along your lash line. he stayed still for a moment, allowing you to better adjust to having his fat cock buried inside of you.

"you know, darlin'," he began to muse, "you'd look real fuckin' cute with a tattoo here."

toji picked up his marker once again, and sketched a small rose on the left side of your stomach. each stroke of his pen was done with precision and care; in that moment he was truly an artist painting his blank canvas. it took him a few minutes until he was done, asking you what you thought of it.

"can always get ya something a little more slutty if ya want," he added before doodling on your inner thigh, and a set of butterflies soon appeared on your skin. at this point, you'd been cockwarming him for a while and were ready for him to fuck your brains out. this resulted in feeble attempts to buck your hips against toji.

"stop fuckin' moving, sweetheart. i'll ruin that pretty little cunt of yours in a sec, yeah? just gimme five more minutes."

that five turned to ten, and ten to twenty. your entire body ached for an orgasm, and couldn't take toji's teasing any longer. at this point, he'd sketched a good few tattoos on your thighs, and was currently working on his pride and joy for you: a filthy womb tattoo, with intricate spirals linked to a heart in the centre. with a few final swishes of his pen, toji left you with his name written inside of the heart.

as soon as you heard the clatter of him putting down the pen, your pussy clenched in anticipation. toji did consider asking you to beg for it, but you looked so fucking cute covered in his markings that he couldn't hold himself back for a moment longer. he slid all of the way out of your cunt and pushed all of the way back in, beginning with a slower pace. if it wasn't for his grip on your wrists, you would be dragging your nails down his muscular back.

toji's balls slapped against the fat of your ass as he sped up a little bit, brushing over the sweet spot that made your back arch. "fuck, darlin', if ya keep squeezin' me like that, i ain't gonna last,"

even with such little effort, toji had you falling apart underneath him. you admired the flexing of his biceps as he used his grip on your wrists as leverage to fuck into you, beads of sweat running down them. because of how long he’d already been in you, both of you had heightened sensitivities and your respective orgasms were already on the horizon.

you’d been reduced to inaudible begs of “more”, unable to find the strength for anything else. you came with a cry, gushing all over toji’s cock. your cunt pulsed around him, sucking him in as though she was craving his cum. it took every ounce of self control for toji not to fill your pussy with his seed, as he instead opted for pulling out of you. although your babbles shifted to complaints at the loss of contact, the man released onto your lower stomach with a few languid pumps of his cock, defiling your pretty self with his thick, ivory ropes.

he held you still for a moment before placing a kiss to your chest and putting himself back into his jeans: if it wasn’t for the sweat that stuck his raven hairs to his forehead, passers by wouldn’t have expected that anything else was up. meanwhile, you were left lying on his seat, covered in both his sketches and cum, completely nude - you’d even left a wet spot between your legs. toji worked to clean you up, quietly reassuring you that you were okay and praising you for having done such a good job for him. knowing that he couldn’t consciously tattoo you now, he offered to drive you home to make sure that you were safe. it was a simple gesture, the gravity of it only becoming clear upon realising exactly how out of character this was for him.

toji had taken a liking to you, and the phone number that he’d left scrawled on your thigh showed as much.

[lanasblood]

𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐘 | Prologue

pairing: neteyam x f!reader

summary: after fate brought you to awa’atlu and you felt hope for the first time in so long, the sea became the lonely witness of a bittersweet love, making you quickly realize how life withers as fast as it blossoms. [takes place five years after the events of atwow, neteyam is alive]

warning: this story will make you cry. read at your own risk. 

read first chapter →

voice-over by @neteyamfromwish (scroll down for details) 🔊 volume up + use headphones for best experience 🎧✨

note: I am excited to announce my upcoming neteyam mini-series. special thanks to @eclipseatsea​ who gave me the courage and motivation to publish this poem as an intro for the story. she’s such an inspiring person, make sure to check out her beautiful writing if you haven’t already 💕

and again, thank you @neteyamfromwish for being so kind as to complete my request. I don’t know about you guys but I’m in love with this audio, it fits the story and the mood perfectly. for more info, check his website. I highly recommend giving it a try!! the accuracy to neteyam’s voice is chef’s kiss, and I cannot wait to share more with you ✨

let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist 💗

୨⎯ series masterlist ⎯୧

(in case the video doesn't work, i'll leave you the poem here):

for even in the darkest of times, the moons and stars, they always gave you signs. 

with each passing night, you learned more, of the art of loving and losing, and what else was in store. 

back then, the gentle beat of his heart by your side,  comforted you like a river, making calm and serenity collide. 

that night's bright light did glow, with a slender crescent in tow, along with stars above the green trees’ crown,  the deserted sand illuminating on its own. 

the shadows of his lashes long, cast upon his blue cheeks, so strong, the constellation of freckles, like little diamonds,  his beauty almost ethereal to be described by words. 

though you had known him for years, you never looked at him with such conscious fears,  his exhaustion was evident to see, the cuts on his shoulder, the wounds on his knee,  his chest held an elongated scar, that reminded you of the one on his hand so far,  you tried to avert your eyes, but failed, and let yourself sink back, blanket well-veiled. 

a tattered poetry book, a relic of his father’s past,  that you gently reached for, its words meant to last,  the old paper, faded and so rough, the letters, black ink, good enough. 

all I loved, I loved alone, the last words written, all unknown, you knew not much about poetry or rhyme,  but the words cast a spell that stole your time. 

staring out at the endless sea, counting sheep,  with tears in your eyes, you finally found some sleep. 

stars die softly, he had once said with a sigh,  wishing people could do the same, quietly passing by. 

but you wished no one would die and no death would ever come near,  not on nights like this, neither now nor here. 

© 𝖫𝖠𝖭𝖠𝖲𝖡𝖫𝖮𝖮𝖣 2023 — please do not copy, modify, steal, or translate any of my works on any platform.