#(eACH SIZE AND COLOR HAD TO BE A DIFFERENT LAYER)

[cathalbravecog]

struggling w art? wanting to test art things anyway? fear not, joyous little chibied high roller to the rescue

[notapradagurl7]

Miss Me?

Black Fem! Reader x Elijah “Smoke” Moore.

Summary: After those years of hearing of his disappearance, your husband Elijah “Smoke” Moore had finally returned home, and you weren't up for a warm welcome. But he wanted to speak with you, and remind you that you're still his. Only his.

A/N: Here is something for our main man Smoke, 😩 enjoy!

Warnings: dirty talk, praise, possessive!Smoke, slight back talk, stubborn reader, fingering, cursing, unprotected sex, use of the n-word, established marriage, creampie, consensual intimacy, multiple orgasms, squirting.

Taglist: @megamindsecretlair @satoruya @planetblaque

@playgurlxoxo @dabratzchronicles

@becauseimswagman1

@beenathembo @brattyfics

@hxneyclouds @yassbishimvintage

@nahimjustfeelingit-writes @nayaesworld @ovohanna24

@novahreign @writingsbytee @avoidthings @kimuzostar @slippinninque @keyera-jackson @theblacklewinsky

@euphorichappiness10 @life-in-the-slut-house @secret89sblog @ranikyani

@uniqueoutlierblog @mama-2001

@fakxmbj @kaylalb @theereina @uzumaki-rebellion @blyffe @kumkaniudaku @luckydaye777 @that-one-anxious-mango @rose-bliss @wanderingreader1 @kindofaintrovert

—————-

The rich aroma of marinara sauce mingled with a variety of seasonings and spices, enveloping the medium-sized kitchen, the walls painted in sage green and pictures of you, and Smoke.

Your deep brown eyes were fixed on the bubbling pots simmering on the stovetop, the vibrant colors of the food enticing your senses. With a gentle turn of the knob, you watched as the blue flames flickered and gradually faded to embers, silencing the hissing gas.

You moved with quickness, pulling out an array of containers, each one filled with fragrant foods. Scooping out generous portions, you layered your plate with creamy mashed potatoes, perfectly cooked spaghetti, and sautéed cabbage with sausage that glistened with a hint of olive oil.

A low rumble from your stomach reminded you to eat, prompting a sigh of relief as you finally took your first bite. The flavors danced joyfully across your tongue, eliciting a soft hum of delight as each taste unfolded, cleaning your plate, after sipping your glass of water to quench your thirst.

Suddenly, a sharp knock echoed through the air, cutting through the meal you finished and breaking your concentration. You wiped the remnants of food from your lips.

You let out a resigned sigh, reluctantly leaving your plate behind as you hurried to the front door. Peering through the window, your heart raced as the amber-orange glow of the porch light illuminated a familiar silhouette, casting a soft shadow that stirred curiosity and cautious within you.

Smoke or as you called him, Elijah. That was who stood at your door, a shadowy presence in the twilight. Also known as your husband.

He was the twin brother of Elias “Stack” Moore, a pair known for their ruthless dealings in Chicago and New Orleans, everywhere.

Together, they undertook the grim tasks laid out for them by the notorious Al Capone, their hands stained with the dirt, and blood of their illicit trade.

In a moment that felt both tender and fleeting, he had expressed a desire to marry you before he vanished into the chaos of the city.

His promises dripped with hope as he claimed he would return to you, that the day would come when you would once again find him wrapped in your arms.

But as the shadows deepened and trouble began to swirl around them like a whirlwind, each passing day drew you further away from that heartfelt vow, leaving you to wonder if he would ever return.

Your family warned you that marrying him was a grave mistake; they insisted that being with Smoke only invited trouble.

Yet, despite their concerns, your love for him and his love for you ran deep—deeper than you could articulate. Now that he was finally back home after those long years, everything felt different.

With a sigh of disappointment, you shook your head. “What the hell does this nigga want?”

You knew you'd regret this, at least a little. You were still his wife, and he was still your husband.

Turning the brass knob, you swung the door open. Your gaze fell upon the man in his gray suit, blue tie, and the hat he had removed. His brown eyes met yours, brimming with raw emotion—love, longing, and a hint of fear.

“So, you’re back?” you asked, tilting your head slightly, skepticism lacing your voice.

His expression softened momentarily before he composed himself, gripping his hat tightly. “Yeah, I’m home, back wit’chu. Just like I promised, baby,” he said, his tone laced with seriousness and tenderness, each word resonating with sincerity.

Elijah stepped into the house, and you quickly closed and locked the door behind him. The way he said “baby” sent a shiver down your spine, igniting a wave of desire within you. How could you feel this way at such a moment?

The scent of the meals you cooked filled his nostrils, his stomach rumbled as his tongue glided through his lip. “What’chu cookin’ tonight? My favorite?” he teased, smirking at you.

You should have been angry with him; he was at home, but he might have been driving for work, putting in long hours until his hands hurt and his body was exhausted. Smoke couldn't wait to return to you.

“You can always make yourself a plate, sweetie. Don't starve yourself.” You replied frimly, you walked through the hallways as he followed behind you.

You settled into the chair at the neatly set table, the crisp brown cloth contrasting with the rich, dark wood beneath. He began to fill the meal, carefully lifting the lid from a steaming porcelain dish and dishing out vibrant, aromatic food that filled the air with its savory aroma.

The utensils clinked softly against the plates as he prepared his serving, a sense of expectation hanging between you. You knew he loved your cooking, there was no need to speak about that.

Taking his seat across from you, he dug into the meal with a satisfied hum, savoring each bite and clearly relishing the flavors.

You watched him intently as he slipped off his shoes, the soft thud breaking the gentle ambiance, and unfastened his coat, draping it casually over the coat rack. “I love your cookin’ you know that?” he mentioned, his eyes on you.

Your lips curled up in a warm smile, your heart fluttered in your chest. “I know that, you tell me that shit every time I cook,”

He then moved to the counter sink, filling a glass with cool water, the sound of liquid pouring into the glass punctuating, and took a long, refreshing gulp.

His gaze wandered over you, lingering on the nightgown you wore—the delicate black fabric that clung to your figure in all the right places, a garment he adored.

The playful glint in his eyes suggested that the food was not the only captivating thing in the room, making it thick with undeniable attraction. He stood up from the table, made his way to the sink, washed his hands and his plate. Drying them off with a towel.

“Why did you come back? After all these years, couldn’t you have stayed with your brother?” You replied back, your brows knitted in anger.

“You gon’ kick me out? This is still my home. I bought this place for us, so we’d always have a home to return to, Y/N,” Smoke retorted, placing his empty plate in the sink.

You stood up from the table, walking toward your husband where the sink was, cutting the distance between the two of you. His gaze locked upon you, the closeness he missed so much was here, the intimacy beckoning for both of your calls.

He was right about that, ever since the two of you were teenagers, he vowed to do this, keep you happy and safe from the threats of his life, be with you.

He stepped closer to you, his clothes lingered with the scent of gun smoke, and his fresh cinnamon, eucalyptus cologne evaded your senses. Why don't you just speak up? Tell him.

“I…I never thought that you'd be back for good, all this time I prayed that you weren't dead, and you can't make up for those years taken from us, Elijah!” You yelled harshly, your voice broke with emotion.

His hands cradled your face, bringing you closer while your face softened at him, his thumbs swiped over your cheeks to wipe those tears away, and your hands laid on his clothed chest.

“You pushin’ me away cuz’ you think I'm gon’ leave you again? Nah, I'm a man of my word baby.” Smoke replied firmly, his voice filled with sincerity, grabbing your hand in his.

He placed your hand on his middle of his chest, feeling his heartbeat like a drum, he smiled at you before kissing your forehead and then lifting your chin, kissing your lips passionately before pulling away to look at you again.

“You feel that? My heart beats for you, keeps me alive, and strong. I ain't going nowhere, you hear me?” Smoke replied, wrapping his arms around you.

You chuckled lightly, shaking your head. “You a poet now, my love? I hear you but who did you get that from? Langston Hughes?”

“I'm tellin’ you what’s on my heart, darlin’ or do I need to show you?”

“Why don't you do that?”

Following that, the two of you retreated to the bedroom, clothes strewn across the floor, with soft moans mingling with slurred words as your face was buried in the pillow.

Smoke held your hips tight from behind, driving into you with a rapid yet forceful rhythm. Making sure that you felt every inch of his dick, all you could do was scream his name and you took it like a pro.

“You miss me, baby?” He groaned, his hand delivering a rough smack on your ass, watching your wetness coat his dick completely. The sheets shocked underneath, remnants of the passion he left behind.

“I-i..missed you..fuck!” You moaned loudly, eyelids closed shut nails while your hands balled up the blankets. Tears blurring your vision, you came undone quickly which made him darkly chuckle before kissing you.

He smirked at your face contorting in pleasure, your body shaking against his as sweat covered your bodies, he peppered kisses along your spine, “Good, cuz’ I missed you more, and I told you I'm stayin’ right?” Smoke grunted after every thrust after pulling out.

He wrapping his arm around you and flipped you on your back, sliding his dick back inside you. You shudder at the warm feeling, it felt so right. With him. “Y-yes, I..I need you, Elijah. Only you,” you gasped, your words a desperate plea that only fueled his intensity.

His eyes darkened with desire as he leaned closer, his lips peppered kisses on yours. Wet noises of your pussy swallowing his dick, the bed creaked. “Sounds like your pussy ain't forget about me,” he said to you, his voice deepened. He released low groans, “Eiljahhhh..shit!” you lamented, clawing at his shoulder blades. he missed you so much that words couldn't even explain.

“That’s what I like to hear, baby. You’re mine, and you know just how much you mean to me,” he murmured, his thrusts became sporadic and deliberate. Flipping you onto missionary.

Smoke’s hands roamed your body, his nails dug deep every curve as if he were tracing the stretch marks on your dark brown skin. “My beautiful wife, where would I be?” he said, His fingers tangled in your braids, pulling you closer as he thrust deeper, hitting that sweet spot.

“Elijah! Please—more,” you cried, your back arching as waves of pleasure coursed through you. You could feel his heartbeat matching the rhythm of your own, tiny cries from you spurred him on.

He chuckled darkly, his thrusts becoming more relentless, pushing you to the edge. “You think you can handle it? You’re not too sore for me, are you?” he taunted, his voice thick with lust.

“No, I can take it! I want it all, Elijah!” you whimpered, feeling yourself teetering on your climax.

“Damn right you can,” he growled, his hands gripping your thighs, holding you in place as he drove into you. Your knees buckling in response.

With each crazy thrust, he punctuated his claim, and you felt your body responding, tightening around him, begging for release. “Elijah…I’m gonna cum,” you breathed, your voice breaking. Your legs rested onto his shoulders.

“Can I give you some twins, baby?” he coaxed, his lips finding yours again, swallowing your moans as you succumbed to the overwhelming pleasure.

“Yes…baby,” You cried out his name, your body shaking as you came undone once more, Smoke followed closely behind, his warm cum spilling deep within you, giving you the twins he asked for.

Breathing heavily, he pulled out and collapsed beside you, pulling you into his arms. His hands stroked your face, “You good?” he asked, and you felt the warmth radiating from him, “Yeah…I’m good…” a comfort you had longed for during his absence.

“I missed you so damn much,” he confessed, his voice softening as he pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“You’re here now, baby. And that's what matters most.”

—————-

[softaestluv]

Sticky When Wet

Three times Ghost swore he hated honey with his tea and one time he admitted he couldn’t live without it.

Alpha! Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x Omega! Reader

Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, Omegaverse, Alpha/Omega stereotypical behavior, Scenting, Angst, Miscommunications, Denial, Simon is bad at feelings, Possessive behavior, Jealousy, Size difference, Eventual smut

Pt. 1 of 4, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4 | masterlist | ao3

Black Tea.

Ghost cherished black tea more than the average person. Every morning: a fresh cup to start the day. Stressed out? A cup of plain and natural black tea would bloom deliciously in his chest. Solved most of his problems, burnt away the tension in his body.

Honey.

Ghost appalled honey more than the average person. The taste, smell, and consistency, everything about it, down to the yellow color. It was too sweet; a pungent aroma of warm sugar like butterscotch and woody cedar made him turn away in disgust. Plus, it was sticky and tacky. Clung to every surface it touched. Glued his counters and fingers in layers of goop that he struggled to scrub off.

He wasn’t one for sweets; rarely was he given the privilege of a sugary treat in his childhood. Candied items were even more rare in the military, though most luxuries were in his occupation. So, he never developed a sweet tooth; he lived without it for so long.

Instead, Simon favored bold flavors; enjoyed the rich malt of black tea. Melting bitterly on his tongue, just the way he craved. He couldn’t even imagine ruining the delectable taste of his tea with honey. Diluting the strong flavor soft and sweet.

There were few things Ghost admitted to loving in his life, but a warm cup of black tea was one he would willingly sing his love for from the top of the hills.

Why would he put artificial flavoring in it? The tea already had the perfect taste.

Ghost hated honey. Hated it even more mixed into his sacred tea. Despised the way your scent radiated it. Loathed how you reeked of sage honey and sweet tangerine. Disgusted each time he smelt your sickly sweet scent, each time you served him a tray in the mess hall stained in honey and citrus.

It ruined his food, ruined his fucking black tea. The delicacy of a pure cup ripped from his grasp the moment you started working in the cafeteria. Your scent soaked into the food, the tea—the whole fucking cafeteria. Filling his senses with warm honey, pungent even through the fabric of his balaclava, melting onto his tongue with each breath. Made his tea sweet and saccharine.

The tea bags stored in the kitchen were tainted by your scent. The only place he could enjoy a cup of tea anymore was tucked away in the barracks, stored in his room where he could peacefully escape your scent.

Even now, walking down the empty corridor to the mess hall, your smell wafted through the doors. Practically suffocating him the moment he walked through them, flooding every sense with your thick aroma. Drenching him in your warmth, clinging to his skin, and making him sticky, exactly the way he hated.

“The hell is this?” A sergeant shouted at you as Ghost walked over, tray slammed loudly against the counter.

Your head snapped up, shrinking behind your shoulders from the harsh gaze of the alpha, voice shaking lightly, “I'm sorry, sir. What’s the problem?”

“Are you stupid? Foods bloody fuckin’ cold, and you didn’t give me any bread.” Belittling tone making you flinch.

“I-I’m sorry, sir. I’ll make sure to fix this for you,” You stuttered, trembling hands scrambling to pick up the tray as his aggressive scent overtook yours.

Your own scent turned sharp, sweet smell diluted, washed away, and tainted from the other alpha’s condescending words. Shifting warmth and tangerine into sour malodorous. The putrid smell alarmed Ghost’s alpha, rumbling in his chest angrily, trying to claw its way out to comfort the omega in distress.

Ghost’s eyes zeroed in on the other alpha, the man who soured your scent. His eyes twitched in irritation, instincts just about ready to maul the threat to your contented smell.

“No. Do it fucking right from the beginning next time, omega,” The man barked, alpha voice curled around the edges of his words, causing you to fight the urge to present your neck in submission.

The use of his alpha voice had Ghost growling angrily, watching you struggle to keep your chin down made him seethe, clenching his jaw tightly.

“Oy,” Ghost snapped, both of your eyes flickering to his looming presence, “Is that any way you should be talkin’ to her, sergeant?”

The sergeant opened and closed his mouth, struggling to find the correct words as he stared at Ghost in shock. Dumbfounded.

“Huh?” He asked dripping in anger, crossing his arms over his chest disapprovingly, waiting for a response, “I asked you a fuckin’ question. Or are you the stupid one?”

“No, Lieutenant.”

The smaller alpha stammered under Ghost’s scrutiny, arrogance since dissipating from his voice and stance. Submitting to Ghost and his demanding tone like a petulant child scolded by his father.

“This isn’t a buffet. Go eat your fuckin’ cold food with a smile.”

The sergeant nodded, ducking his head in embarrassment before scurrying off like he wasn’t just brazenly scolding you. He would deal with him later during training, make him—make everyone understand that he wouldn’t tolerate that behavior.

Ghost turned his focus to you, doe eyes since widened, staring up at him with the same shock the sergeant wore.

“Thank you, lieutenant. You didn’t have to do that.”

“What? Like you were gonna fuckin’ do anything ‘bout it besides stinking the room up with distressed omega,” Simon grumbled, “Though, I guess you already do that.”

Your eyebrows furrowed together, a frown deepening on your plump lips as his words settled in. Sour scent muted into confusion, melancholic. You placed his tray on the counter, mumbling quietly under your breath as you diverted your gaze.

“Sorry about that, sir.”

Simon almost laughed as he grabbed the tray and walked to an empty table. Only he could save someone from an asshole alpha just to end up leaving the situation as the asshole. Though, he wasn’t lying; he had seen countless men scrutinizing you, and you never fucking did anything about it. Just let them walk all over you, folding under their command within seconds.

It pissed him off to watch you give in so easily. Especially when it soured your scent, filling the mess hall with distressed omega. That was almost worse than the sugared honey and citrus combination that overwhelmed his senses. Instead, it made his black tea unbearable; couldn’t even drink it as it burned his throat acidicly. Let alone be in the same room when it had his alpha unsettled, tossing violently in his chest.

Ghost didn’t understand why you didn’t fight back. Why you just let it happen when they clearly spoiled your mood, spoiled your sweet scent sour. Though, he wasn’t an omega, his natural instinct wasn’t to submit. His instinct was to challenge and battle against any authority that threatened him.

It’s not like the men in the military were astoundingly gracious anyway; most of them were pricks with too much testosterone who chose to take their anger out on the weak link, the omegas, to feel powerful. To follow and satisfy the primal hierarchy built into their genes, to make up for their lack of self-esteem.

There weren’t many omegas on base, and Simon was sure you faced most of the brute backlash from alphas. So, he took matters into his own hands, shutting down and shooing away any asshole he saw berate you. It was a known fact by now to the other men on base not to; he had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn’t allow anyone to treat you that way.

However, they were always receiving recruits, and a fresh trainee served as the perfect example for the rest of them. Before whispers were mingling between them ‘not to fuck with the pretty omega or else the lieutenant will make sure your training is a living hell.’

Besides, Ghost was only doing it because he liked his black tea without a side of distressed omega—really.

[pastel-peach-writes]

Switched Roles | Natasha x Nurse!Reader

╰┈➤ PLOT: Now in a committed relationship with each other, you and Natasha have found your groove. You, now being a practicing nurse in the Compound, and she, the patient who seems to never get enough of you. What happens when you're the one hurt this time?

╰┈➤ WARNINGS: Not Proofread, Second POV, No Use of Y/n, Nurse! AU, No Cursing, Usage of the Term Girlfriend/Girlfriends/Partner, But Otherwise Gender-Neutral Reader

(A/N): This is technically a sequel and/or another part to "Learn To Take A Break", my Natasha x Reader Nurse! AU but you don't need to read the three parts to understand what's going on here!

⍣ ೋ Enjoy!⍣ ೋ

You glanced around the kitchen of the Compound, the open and sleekly designed room empty and as still as the trees that surrounded the facility. It was only a matter of time before the Avengers got back from their mission that ended a little over an hour ago.

You wanted to grab a quick sneak of some snacks in the kitchen. You had your own kitchen and mini fridge on the nurse's side of the Compound, but the Avengers had way better snacks. It wasn't filled with all that new-age health junk Steve and Clint tried to get you to eat.

Sorry, guys. But the all-wheat bars with just a hint of fruit flavoring isn't enough to keep me satisfied for the day.

And also, you were out of your good snacks anyway. You just need to find time to go grocery shopping, but why go grocery shopping when a perfectly stocked kitchen is right here? And it's not like this would be considered stealing. You live here! Just... in a different wing... on the opposite end of the campus– Whatever! You're hungry, and you want a good snack.

That shouldn't be a crime.

You peered into the cupboard, the white shelves filled from ceiling to floor with all kinds of snacks. You had your classic chips, your wacky flavored chips, sweet treats, healthy treats, all the cereal you could imagine, and some Trader Joe's specials Wanda liked to dabble in from time to time.

What that woman finds in that store is amazing. You were always asking for her snacks whenever she came walking by eating.

At the top shelf resided your favorite snack of all, your secret pleasure, Zoom O's. They were bite-sized pockets of goodness that had a sweet yet not overwhelming taste to them, with the perfect amount of salt to combat the sweetness. The texture, at first, has a satisfying crunch from the thin icing layer before it turns into chewy goodness.

You had no clue where the Avengers found this snack. You tried every store within a 100-mile radius and even checked online but you haven't had any luck. Given the box's slim yet geometric design with a futuristic blue color and flashy font, you could guess that this snack wasn't found on this world. Or maybe even, this universe.

Turning to the door where there was typically a step-ladder to reach the highest shelf, you found yourself staring at a blank wall instead. Your brows furrow in confusion as you search the pantry and even close the door to see if the step-ladder was on the other side but to no avail.

Where was this step-ladder, and why wasn't it in its rightful spot?

You could stand here and blame every single person that resides in the Compound for not putting the item back where it belongs, or you could take the initiative and do some out-of-the-box thinking.

You nod to yourself, a short smile on your lips.

Yeah. You were gonna do some out-of-the-box thinking.

The shelves are sturdy enough to withstand the weight of a god and the strength of a genetically modified green monster; it could definitely take your weight.

Your socked feet find the lip of the bottom shelf as you pull yourself up to grab onto a higher one. You grunt, eyeing the contained snacks by your feet and making sure you weren't touching them. Once your space from the food was as far as you could get it without slipping off, you reached your arm up to the box of Zoom O's only to find that you're still a few inches short.

The back of your throat possesses a grumble before you step onto another shelf and repeat the same steps as before. Currently, you feel as if you are rockclimbing, which wasn't too bad unless you count the lack of harness and mats to be "dangerous", but you're fine!

You're in the Avengers Compound, for Pete's sake, the safest place on Earth!

Reaching your arm once more, you still find yourself a few inches short from the box. The arm gripping onto the small shelf at your chest was screaming from a sort of break from all the muscle tension you were currently possessing.

Come on... Almost... Almost...

The slam of a door a few feet away and the loud arrival of Tony Stark and the others startles you out of your concentration. Your arm and hand finally gives up on keeping you steady on the shelf and your feet slip out from under you, sending you falling back onto the floor way faster than you indented.

You brace yourself for a long fall but because the fall was shorter, you land wrong on your knee and almost end up twisting your ankle. Thank goodness you didn't, otherwise--

The sudden tripping over a plastic jar of jam sends you tumbling into the pantry door. Your only hope to catch yourself is the handle, but you try and stand yourself up, the handle moves and you lose your grip.

You nearly faceplant the floor before using your hands and knees to catch yourself. The only downside to falling hands and knees is that now the palms of your hands sting and the knee, the one that you landed wrong on before, banged against the floor. You groan out in pain, the feeling of hitting your knee familiar to hitting your funny bone.

You could see the bruise now.

This is what you get for trying to sneak snacks from places you weren't supposed to. You should've been an adult and gone to the store like everyone else. It's not your fault the store was at least an hour away from the Compound. You chose to live on campus; that was your issue.

"Whoa!" Scott commented as he entered the kitchen. He wore a blue flannel, regular jeans, and he smelt of regular soap not like must and sweat like the Avengers did when they returned. There's no way he showered that fast. "You okay?"

You pull yourself up to your feet with a hobble, an embarrassed smile at your lips as you try to reassure him. "Yes, I'm fine. Just misstepped. How long have you been here? Did you not go on the mission with the others?"

Your attempt at redirecting the conversation was successful but trying to play off your aching knee and now ankle you swore was blowing up in your sock seemed to be the challenge.

You didn't know that mentioning Scott not being on a mission with the others and him not even knowing about the mission was going to be the cause for a never-ending conversation about his feelings.

You didn't talk to Scott much due to conflicting schedules, but boy. When this man speaks, he speaks. It took Natasha coming into the room with Tony to get him to stop talking.

"Hey, Miniscule Man," Tony called out to him, much to Scott's frown. "Could you not talk my nurse's ear off? Thanks. We need them down in their office, where they should be–" Tony gives you a pointed glare to which you innocently whistle and look away. Natasha chuckles softly at your action before Tony continues, "–to do an after-mission check-up and analysis to make sure none of my guys are hurt."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." Scott waves Tony off in an apologetic way. "Totally. I was just making sure they were alright and then we started talking and– am I not a part of the team, by the way?" He gestures questioningly towards Tony. The other man only groans in response. "Because I heard that you guys were on a mission and I was like, 'hey, I'm a part of this team too so I should be on the mission', right?"

As Scott continues to ramble on in a conversation Tony can't seem to get away from, Natasha steps over to you with a playful smile on her face. "Come on, My Nurse. Let's get you downstairs and talk about why you're up here in the kitchen and not in your office during hours."

Her voice had a teasing hint in it, her lips trying to suppress a smile but only for Tony's sake. If he wasn't already peeved off from how today's mission went, she wouldn't care about sparing his feelings and making the occasional joke.

You smile warmly at Natasha, your eyes meeting each other's as you both snake away from Tony and Scott and make your way back to your office.

As you two begin your journey down, your girlfriend can't help but notice how you're favoring your right side and trying to keep your face stoic when you're in obvious pain.

She'll mention it to you later, but for now, she wanted to see how far you were going to go in masking your pain.

Just weeks ago, you called her out for doing the very same thing you're doing. She couldn't help but find the irony and humor in this otherwise serious situation.

"So, you gonna talk to me or are you going to let us walk the entire time in silence?" Nat chimed from beside you. "Because I'm perfectly fine with walking in silence. However, you typically ask a lot of questions when we come back from assignments."

You bite the tip of your tongue, both out of embarrassment and suppressed pain. "I do not," you croak.

She raises a brow at the delivery of your sentence but doesn't say anything about it. "Oh, you don't?" She chuckles to herself. "You always ask how it was, if we're okay, if the people are okay, and if anyone needs immediate attention. Actually," Natasha's head tilts in amusement while a snarky smile sits on her face, "I don't seem to remember a time where you didn't ask us questions."

You would be defending yourself and indulging in this witty conversation with her if you couldn't feel your literal knee plate move with each step you make and your ankle pulse.

"Ha ha. You're so funny, Natasha," you dryly express.

Natasha hummed, satisfied with your answer. Out of the corner of her eye, she can your face twist with pain. Her green eyes travel down your legs, more specifically on the leg you're not favoring, and she takes notice of your hand just barely covering the bad knee.

"Okay," Natasha exhales. She stops her movement to look at you with her arms crossed over her chest like a mom. You stop moments after, barely masking the soft hop you had to do to face her. She makes a gesture to your knee. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." You shrug at her. "I didn't do anything."

She scoffs a chuckle, though there was no humor behind the exhale of laughter. "You expect me to believe that? You're limping and holding your knee like a high school football player after a tough game."

You snort. "I don't think that's a fair comparison."

She shrugs. "Doesn't need to be. You're hurt." She steps closer to you, carefully analyzing your legs and how you move as you step—er, hobble—further back.

"Natasha," you mutter, trying to give her actions awareness. Your words fall upon deaf ears. She keeps walking towards you, your proximity threatening to close each time until you hobble backwards. Eventually, she had you backed against the hallway wall. Her eyes remained glued to your legs.

You grunt in slight pain.

Your back pressed against the concrete wall. Your heel and Achilles now throbbing since you scuffed them against the wall as you were backed into it.

"You're hurt." Natasha's voice sliced through the air, her tone firm. Her green eyes flicker up to hers, and while you expected some sort of disappoint in them, you couldn't find that at all. Instead, you found concern and a hint of frustration. "Why would you try to hide that you're hurt?"

You give her a weak shrug. "I didn't think it was anyone's business. It literally just happened a few minutes ago."

Natasha opened her mouth to scold you but decided to listen to your full story before assuming the worst and so, she took a deep breath. "Okay," she strains. "Why didn't you say anything before our walk?"

"Again, I didn't think it was anyone's business. It's just my knee and ankle, okay? I gotta get these evaluations done and then I can tend to my needs if I still need to."

The redhaired woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose while the other hand rested on her hip. "Should I remind you that you're a nurse? You, out of all people, should know some things can't be ignored."

"Okay, well, this one thing can. I have a job to do."

You understand Natasha's concern, but you couldn't bring yourself to listen to her statements. You were embarrassed by the way you injured yourself. If someone were to see you icing your knee or walking in somewhere with a wrapped ankle and/or crunches, questions would arise. Questions you really, really didn't want to answer.

Imagine how much of a fool you'd look like telling literal superheroes who survive aliens, falling buildings, and who knows what else that you hurt yourself by trying to get a snack. It was humiliating. Your best bet right now is to ignore the cries of pain your body's making and tend to them later.

After dark.

When everyone, especially your girlfriend, is fast asleep.

"How can you expect to do your job when you literally can't walk?" Natasha retorts. You snort at her, hands on your hips and an interesting smug smile on your face for someone who was in pain mere seconds ago.

"I have a really cool swirly chair."

Natasha deadpanned and met your eye only to find a playful glint in them. The same playful glint you gave her when you made a terrible pun in the examination room the first day you met.

She hated yet loved how your smile made her feel. How she wanted to cup your cheeks or pinch at them teasingly as if she was a grandma. How she wanted to shake her head with a smile she failed to hide, even despite her best efforts. Or how she wanted to place kisses on your cheeks just to make you smile wider.

The training she endured in the Red Room did nothing to prepare her for your smile. Nothing at all.

You know Natasha too well to not notice her own smile trying desperately to break through while she averts her gaze to the side with a snort. The apples of her cheeks puff up just ever so slightly, the beauty mark on her cheekbone making her look cuter than she already was.

"You're a dork," she finally says while letting a smile seep through.

"Yeah, I know. You like it, though."

She can't help the laugh that escapes her. "So," she says, laughter at the end of the word as she crouches down to your knee and applies a gentle pressure around the bone. When you wince, she eases but continues to feel around. "I'm going to ask you again, and I want an actual answer this time. What did you do?"

Her persistence wasn't going to go away. When Natasha Romanoff wants to know something or get something done, she gets it done.

It's an admirable quality until it's used on you.

You groan slightly as she presses a tender part on your knee. She mutters a "sorry" before adjusting so you can sit on the floor with your legs in front of you.

She slowly bends your bad leg and straightens it as she watches you both for an expression of pain and an answer to her question.

"I may or may not have landed wrong when trying to get something. And then tripped, maybe rolled my ankle, and banged my knee against the floor as I tried to grab the door handle for stability."

Natasha shakes her head fondly at you. "You should be more careful. Why would you grab onto a handle to support you? All the handles here are janky."

Your knee eases as she lets the leg lay flat on the floor again, and you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. She slides across the floor, not caring if she was getting her pants dirty since they were already dirty from the mission. She didn't have time to shower once they came back.

When Tony asked Friday if you were in your office and the AI said no, she immediately volunteered to go find you. Well, more like she told Tony that she was coming with him to find you, even after Friday told him about your exact whereabouts shortly after saying you weren't in your office.

She wanted to see you. She wanted to see what you were up to and to be evaluated first while everyone else took showers because she loved the way you looked at her when you were doing your necessary examinations. It may be selfish, but being selfish isn't a crime.

And yeah, maybe she should've showered so she didn't smell like city buildings, sweat, and ash and have dirt marks on her face, but she didn't care about that. Thank goodness she didn't; otherwise, who would be here to take care of you in this hallway?

"Yeah. All that money and Stark still can't invest in good things like doorknobs," you snicker. Natasha also snickers, now by your feet and just now noticing that you don't have any shoes on.

"Where...?"

"Oh," you chuckle a little. "I had to take my shoes off to get something. Don't worry about it."

Her face squishes in confusion, head tilted and brow raised. "You had to take your shoes off to get something in the kitchen?" she incredulously asks.

"Yeah," you give her an infuriating vague answer with an "innocent" smile. That same smile Stark calls you out on when you try to play the innocent nurse. "As I said, don't worry about it."

All this vagueness that surrounded your answers was really getting on Natasha's nerves. The "maybe's", the "I'm fine's" when you're totally not fine; it was all ticking her off, and all she wanted was a clear answer from you.

"You know," she said as she peeled back some of your sock to expose your bare ankle. "Even if you don't tell me what happened now, I can ask Friday to give me footage from when you fell, and I would find out then."

As you suspected, your ankle was swollen, but that was the least of your worries at the moment.

"So," she moves her head in a way that would fling her braid to the other side, "you can either tell me now and spare yourself the embarrassment, or I can find out through video where I wouldn't hold back my reaction and share with the team." Her eyes narrow towards you, as if she dares you to choose the latter. "Your choice."

Well, with an ultimatum like that, how could you choose the latter?

You let out a sigh of defeat, and Natasha grows giddy on the inside.

Finally, after all the huffs, puffs, and beating around the bush, she was going to get the answer and hear how all of this went down.

When you tell her how you received such injuries, she deadpans again, her face unreadable this time. You couldn't find the hint of a smile, the processing of information, nada. Just green eyes staring back at you with hooded lids.

The silence as her eyes bore into yours felt like forever. Like you were frozen in judgement and you wouldn't be released into the present time until Natasha deemed you as ready.

She puts the sock back around your heel and ankle, nodding to herself as her tongue pokes the inside of her cheek. "Okay."

You lean forward, hanging onto the words you were expecting her to say, but they never come. "'Okay'?" you echo. "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

Natasha wraps your arm around her shoulder, and she pulls you to your feet. She moves your body so you're leaning onto her as you two continue your journey to your nurse's office. "Well, what do you want me to say, Nurse?" she chimes. You can basically taste the tease coming. "That you were so smart for that 'out-of-the-box thinking' you called yourself doing just to fall and bust your butt? All over a box of Zoomieo's I might add?"

You whine. "They're called Zoom O's. What the heck is a 'zoomieo'?"

She snorts. "I don't know. You tell me since you wanted it so badly." Natasha can't help the laugh that comes from her belly. She tried to be polite and not laugh about your injury to your face, but the situation was too funny not to.

Besides, she's not laughing at you. She's laughing with you.

You know, for when you look back and laugh about this situation in the future? Yeah. She's just getting a head start.

Luckily, the rest of the journey to your office wasn't as far and leaning onto her side definitely made time go by faster, so you don't have to listen to her laughing and endure the embarrassment for long.

She sits you down on the examination bed despite your pleas to sit in your chair. You watch as Widow effortlessly moves around the room, going into the correct cabinets and drawers for the medical supplies she needs.

"How many times are you in here?" you ask, astonished at how well she knew your system.

"Not much at all." She shrugs with a single-use ice pack and ankle wrapping tape in her hands. "I'm just very observant." Taking her seat in the chair, she scoots forward until she's right in front of your legs. "And when I like something, I tend to keep my eyes on it." She gives you a flirty smile you don't dare to look away from before she moves your sock again and tends to the injury.

You don't know where she learned how to tend to someone like this, but you were grateful she did. Although your job is to tend to people and you could tend to your own injuries in your sleep, it felt nice every now and then to be cared for. You were sure Natasha felt the same.

"Okay, now I need you to ice this until the swelling goes down and keep this compressed." She gestures to your now-wrapped ankle with a wide smile. She twirls across the office, still in your chair, to where you keep the ice packs and comes back with another one. "Same with your knee. Ice it. I didn't feel or see any swelling, but that doesn't mean you're not going to be sore."

"And what about yourself, Miss. Widow?" You hum as she comes back to you. She pops the single-use ice pack and shakes it to get the fluids moving. Once the sounds of liquids sloshing around turns into ice sloshing around, she presses the pack to your knee.

"What about me?"

"Well, don't you and the team need some tending to? I can't do that if I'm icing."

"Oh," she chuckles through a smirk, "so now you listen to me." You playfully roll your eyes before she continues. "Don't worry about us. No one is really hurt from today. Tony's just a little pissed off and wanted to make sure we didn't have smoke in our lungs. That's something all the robots around here can detect and fix. Right now, I'm all about taking care of you."

Smitten and bashful, you smile to yourself. "Okay... and that smell of smoke in your hair?"

"Ain't nothing a shower can't fix, sweetheart." She pats your good knee twice before rising from the chair and cleaning up the mess she made. "I'm gonna take you to your room and then after I shower, I'm going to check up on you."

Again, Natasha moves around your office as if she was the one that built it brick-by-brick and organized it from medical supply to medical supply. You knew Natasha had a nurturing nature to her, yet you never thought you would be the one to receive it. Not in a million years, not even in daydreams.

As she finishes up her cleaning and sanitizing, her back to you, your heart can't help but swell by the gestures and the things she did for you today.

You knew your relationship was more than nurse/patient, and being each other's partner definitely aided in that, but after what she did today, your relationship status finally felt real.

You were Natasha Romanov's girlfriend and she was yours.

"Do you need anything else from me in here?" she asked, removing her jacket to reveal the black tank top she had on underneath. You had to pull your gaze away from her toned arms, not wanting to get caught staring as you did once before, though seeing them was always a treat.

"No," you reply, voice barely above a grateful whisper. "Thank you."

She slings her jacket over her shoulders before doing the same with your arm and helping you off the exam bed. "No problem. Just don't pull a me, okay? If we're going to be partners and work together, there's only enough room for one of us to hide our injuries, and I prefer it not to be my cute nurse."

You can't help but snicker as joyful fleeting feelings fill up your stomach as the two of you walk to your together. "Yeah, yeah."

After feeling like you had to keep your injuries to yourself and convincing yourself that you would be the one doing all the nurturing in your romantic relationships, Natasha took no time in proving you wrong, and that was something you didn't dare to complain about.

FIN.

WC: 4,344

[eddiediaaz]

alie! I absolutely adore this mirrorball x buck set that you made last year! (/post/701462848238403584/) (also I can't believe it's been a year, like seriously what is time?) I was wondering how you did the shattered glass effect in the first gif? in particular how you made the black and white gifs appear distorted within the glass if that makes sense? thank you!!!

ahhh thank you so much renee! literally what is time lol, this gifset is still one of my faves that i made. the shattered glass effect is mostly just a lot of layer masks to be honest hahaha. i'm so glad i still have the psd, so here's how i did it under the cut~

(this tutorial assumes you know how to put multiple gifs in the same canvas and are familiar with layer groups and masks)

I. PREPARATION

first things first, create an empty canvas of your desired size. mine was 540x540 px.

then, you need to find a cracked glass texture. if i remember correctly i simply googled something like "broken glass png", "cracked glass png", because i wanted something already transparent.

(a texture that's something like black lines over a white background definitely works too, you'll just have to put that layer's blending mode to darken or multiply.)

here's the png i used (and a download link for best quality):

and after positioning it into my canvas.

II. CREATING MAIN SECTIONS FOR GIFS

so basically when i did is i sectioned parts of the texture for each gif that i wanted to put. following the texture's lines, i zoomed in and carefuly drew a first shape along the lines with the polygon tool. you can also put a color fill layer behind the cracked glass layer so it's easier to see, like i did.

once you have your shape selected, click on the folder icon (1), then on the layer mask icon (2). it should give you a nice masked group to put gifs in hehe

then i repeated the process until i had all of my desired shapes. i've put some color layers so it's easier to see, but here are my 6 main shapes and how my layer groups look like so far:

III. GIFFING TIME

after screencaping and making all 6 gifs required for each section, you need to put all of them in the same canvas. i simply put one smart object gif layer in each group created earlier. then, i resized and rotated each gif to fit its group (by hitting ctrl + T while selecting the gif layer), as you can see with the gif labeled 6x02 in the layers preview. for the coloring, i went simple with black and white for most of them.

once i have all six gifs sharpened, colored, and placed in each shape group, the gif looks like this. the broken glass texture does most of the work to be honest:

obviously the center gif doesn't have any kind of effect, it's just colored as usual, so i'm not gonna go over it. it's just one gif layer in a masked group.

IV. SUBSECTIONS FOR DISRTORTED EFFECT

okay so for the distorted effect it's even more layer masks! basically i created more smaller sections within each main shapes already, still following the cracked glass texture's lines with the polygon tool and put them in individual masked groups like i did in the second step. here's how i ended up dividing each main sections:

yep, each color here is a different masked group, for example the 2nd and 3rd shape sections:

for each main shape section, you want to duplicate your gif layer the same amount of times as you have subsections within that shape. so if the main shape has 5 smaller subsections, i want 5 layers of that same gif. just make sure to not change its duration or position yet, and make sure the coloring layers/group stays on top of the groups in its shape section. then, simply put one gif layer duplicate in each group. example of my layers for the second shape so far:

then just repeat this until all subsections have its own gif layer.

V. DISTORTED EFFECT

this is the best part! and it's really easy. basically you want to slightly move each subsection by a few pixels, so they're in a slightly different position than the ones next to it.

to do so, select one of the gif layers and with the arrows on your keyboard, move it left or right, and even up or down if it looks good. i do this for all duplicated gif layers, making sure it looks like they're all slightly offset. focus on the cracked glass overlay's lines while nudging the gif layers, it's easy to see how the shapes break when you move them. for example here:

this is really just all trial and error, you just need to move each subsection gif layer by a few pixels with the keyboard arrows until it looks good to you.

here's my result once i've done this for all (23!!) subsections:

VI. FINAL TOUCHES

i don't think i did much else to this before typography besides adding a bit of contrast overall and a thin drop shadow to the cracked layer texture on top of everything. if you have a transparent png this definitely helps to give a bit more dimension to the effect. so here's the final result:

i hope that was clear enough hehe :D

[hopelesslygaysstuff]

50 Shades of Red || Chapter 9

pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Natasha Romanoff

summary: Natasha shows Wanda around her playroom, and they have a discussion.

content warnings: BDSM toys/playroom

word count: 2.4k+

masterlist

comments and reblogs are always appreciated! happy reading ♡

The first thing Wanda notices is the smell; leather, wood, and a faint hint of cinnamon. It feels almost inviting, the soft, subtle warmth of the lighting creating a pleasant atmosphere. She can’t locate a source, but it seems to glow from the corners of the room, the soft shadows creating a relaxing ambiance. 

The walls and ceiling are the same dark burgundy color, giving the room a spacious, warm feeling. The floor is dark brown wood, varnished and smooth. Looking across the room, Wanda’s eyebrows raise slightly as her eyes land on the large cross-shaped like an X. It’s fastened to the wall across from the door, the straps on each of the corners telling her exactly what it is. 

Valiantly fighting a blush, and acutely aware of the woman standing right beside her, Wanda continues to look around the room. Above the cross is a large iron grid, suspended from the ceiling. On it, many ropes, chains, and shackles hang. Near the door are an assortment of paddles, whips, riding crops, and thin sticks with feathers sprouting from the ends. 

Near the door is a large chest of drawers, the dark mahogany fitting the theme of the room perfectly. Each drawer is slim, as if they were meant to hold old items in a museum. Wanda sonders what the drawers actually do contain, before a sliver of fear works its way into her brain. 

Does she actually want to know?

Clearing her throat, Wanda continues to look around, unaware of the way her body leans subconsciously towards Natasha. In the far corner of the room, a leather-padded bench innocently sits. The legs look bolted to the floor, and Wanda fights her rising heart rate as she looks at the wall near it. There is a large wooden rack, similar to one used to hold pool sticks, but actually holds multiple canes of different lengths and widths. 

The main event, the thing that dominates the entire space, is the bed. It’s somehow larger than a king-sized bed, with detailed wooden posts carved as they stretch towards the ceiling, a sturdy-looking metal grate as the canopy. It’s intricately designed, with gleaming chains and cuffs attached. There is no bedding, just a mattress with a dark red leather cover and a pile of red satin pillows at the head of the bed. 

Looking around the room, Wanda finds herself surprised that the wood, dark walls and soft warm lighting make the room almost… romantic in a way. She supposes that this might be the way Natasha shows true affection, and the sudden urge to unravel the woman’s layers and secrets hits her. 

Biting her lip, Wanda turns towards the woman beside her. Dark green eyes stare intently at her, just as Wanda somehow knew they would be. Natasha’s expression is unreadable. Walking further into the room, Wanda smiles slightly as the older woman follows closely. There’s an object that has her intrigued. Hesitantly, Wanda reaches out a hand and touches it lightly. 

The suede leather is cool to the touch. It looks like a small cat-of-nine-tails, but slightly bigger. There are small, dark red, plastic beads on the end. 

“It’s called a flogger,” Natasha says, her voice soft. 

Wanda just nods, her mind slightly numb. There aren’t any words coming to mind, all she can do is look around and absorb the dark furniture and various toys neatly arranged around the room. What is the appropriate response? Wanda would have appreciated a slight warning or hint before she walked into a BDSM wet dream.

It’s not that she was… upset. It was just more of a shock. Somehow, the thought of Natasha Romanoff being a domme wasn’t too hard to understand. Wanda had read quite a bit about different kinky aspects of sex, but she’d never had the opportunity to actually try much of anything herself. 

The farthest she’d ever gone was light groping behind the school bleachers with her ex-girlfriend. And not many other opportunities had come her way since. 

Wanda shakes her head slightly, wiping the thoughts of her past away as she forces herself to walk farther into the room. She can feel herself becoming almost… excited.

“I’m assuming that you’re a Dominant?” Wanda finally manages to say, her words feeling muffled and quiet in the space. She flushes at the pleased look that spreads across Natasha’s face, the woman’s lips turning upwards as she responds. 

“That is correct,” Natasha steps closer, watching Wanda as she runs her fingers over one of the delicately carved bedposts. “You don’t seem shocked.”

“I read a lot.”

“Ah, Ms. Maximoff,” Natasha’s voice is teasing, “What kind of books are you reading?”

Wanda lets out a small chuckle, a mere exhale of laughter really. “I’ll bring them over for you sometime, I’m sure they’ll be really enlightening.”

Letting out a thoughtful hum, Natasha smiles at the response, letting her eyes linger on the younger woman’s for a moment. She feels satisfaction building at the way Wanda flushes, her eyes blinking rapidly before she distracts herself by once again looking around the room. Then, Natasha’s eyes narrowed.

There’s that goddamn lip bite again.

Before she can even process the movement, Wanda feels firm fingers gripping her jaw as her eyes meet Natasha’s. The woman is looking down, her pupils dilated as she gently runs her thumb over Wanda’s bottom lip. 

“What have I said about biting your lip,” Natasha asks, her eyes dark. 

Wanda feels her back pressing against the same bedpost that she’d been admiring just seconds earlier. It’s rigid between her shoulder blades, the back of her head resting against it as Natasha holds her jaw captive. The feeling of the older woman’s body pressing ever so slightly against hers is sending her brain into overdrive. 

“Um,” Wanda says, feeling her eyelashes fluttering. She can practically feel her heartbeat as it pulses strongly through her veins, her whole body feeling weightless with need. “Something about you biting it for me.”

Because Wanda is looking at the older woman’s lips, she sees the way they curl into a pleased smile. She finds herself desperately wishing that Natasha would kiss her, and feels her heart rate spike as the woman leans in closer. 

Her lips graze Wanda’s as she speaks, the scent of cinnamon wrapping Wanda’s brain in a pleasant haze. “You understand that as a Dominant, I have rules, yes? If you comply, you’ll be rewarded. If you disobey, you’ll be punished.”

Wanda’s eyes dart over to the rack of long canes as Natasha speaks. Somehow, she isn’t frightened at the thought. Rather, she feels herself growing excited at the prospect. Sure, she’d read all about the BDSM community, even visited different blogs and websites where Dominants and Submissives shared their experiences, but actually being in a dynamic?

God, it was the most thrilling and exciting thing she’d ever considered. 

Taking a deep breath, Wanda forces herself to concentrate. She wants to give in, to let Natasha take control and make her feel good, but she resists. “Can we talk first? I just… want to make sure we both understand what we want.”

Leaning in fully, Natasha leaves a gentle kiss on Wanda’s lips before fully pulling away. Her eyes are gentle, a pleased smile on her face. “Of course, I’m glad you asked. Would you like to talk over dinner?”

Nodding, Wanda lets her tongue wet her lips, wishing she could taste more of Natasha’s lips against her own. She never thought she’d have the opportunity to explore the more… kinky, hidden desires she had. 

But now, looking at Natasha Romanoff in front of her with her perfect red hair and dark green eyes, surrounded by all of the tools a Dominant could need at her disposal… Wanda felt nothing but excitement. She also felt a strange fuzzy feeling threatening to take over, but she adamantly pushed it to the back of her mind. She needed a clear head for this discussion over dinner. 

— 

Watching Natasha cook had been a surreal experience. For some reason, Wanda had assumed that she would have a cook to do everything for her. After all, that’s what rich people do, right? Natasha had chuckled when Wanda voiced that thought, telling her that she did have a cook, but it was rather late at night. 

Wanda had glanced at the clock, her eyebrows shooting up at the numbers that read 9:37 above the stove. She hadn’t realized so much time had passed, but she quickly forgot about the late hour as she watched Natasha prepare what looked to be a warm grain bowl. 

“There’s a bottle of white wine with a green label in the rack,” Natasha said, gesturing in the direction of her wine rack. Wanda looked, catching sight of it as she stood from her spot at the table. “Would you mind grabbing it for me? There are glasses in the cabinet above the rack.”

“Of course,” Wanda murmured, watching as Natasha turned the stove off, sweeping the baby tomatoes she’d cut into a bowl. Carefully, Wanda grabbed the wine bottle and opened the cabinet. A limited selection of glasses told her that Natasha didn’t host many large dinner parties, but the glass was cold and heavy against her fingers. Selecting two wine glasses, Wanda made her way back to the marbled kitchen table, slowly setting the glasses down with the bottle in between them. 

“Where is your corkscrew?” 

Natasha looks over her shoulder at Wanda’s question, her features soft in the kitchen lighting. Wanda feels her heart melt slightly, the relaxed line of the older woman’s shoulders setting her at ease immediately. She can almost envision Natasha like this many years from now, completely comfortable in her own space as they make dinner together. Shaking that thought from her head, Wanda grabs the corkscrew as Natasha speaks, her fingers gesturing towards a drawer while she carefully pours the steaming quinoa from its pot on the stove into a large bowl. 

They don’t speak, a comfortable silence lingering as Natasha sets the table, Wanda’s fingers only slightly shaking as she uncorks the wine, refusing to think about how expensive the bottle is. 

It’s not until she’s almost halfway done with her bowl that Wanda finally speaks, the wine she’s been sipping on giving her courage. “I have a few questions.”

Natasha pauses, setting her fork down and gently wiping at the corners of her mouth with a napkin. Her eyes are intent and focused, locked on Wanda as she tilts her head slightly while her hands rest casually on the table. It’s an open stance, and it makes Wanda trust her even more. 

“Ask whatever you like, Wanda. I don’t intend on keeping secrets from you.”

Wanda feels the urge to leap across the table and crash her lips against Natasha’s when she says that, but luckily keeps her cool and casually sets her fork down as well. Well, she tries to at least, the metal clangs slightly against her bowl, and she curses her shaking fingers. 

She’s not… scared, exactly. Mostly just nervous and slightly intimidated by the powerful, knowledgeable woman in front of her. Not to mention, she was a Dominant, and Wanda had never exactly interacted with someone from the BDSM community before. She really didn’t want to say the wrong thing. 

“Do you want a romantic relationship or just a Dominant and Submissive relationship?” Wanda asks, trying not to cringe at her bluntness. 

Nodding thoughtfully, Natasha takes a deep breath before responding, the only sign of her emotions is the slight tightening of her fingers around her fork. “I want both.” She says, her words firm but her eyes searching Wanda’s with an almost nervous energy. 

It’s strange, to see someone so confident looking at her like this. Wanda doesn’t know how to feel, but she knows that she’s grateful for the vulnerability that Natasha is showing. After all, expressing your true desires and emotions is a scary thing, Wanda understands that. 

“So do I,” Wanda says, smiling at the relieved expression that washes over Natasha’s features. “Although, I will admit that I’ve never really been in a relationship with a Dominant before.”

Smiling, Natasha takes a sip of her wine. “That’s perfectly alright, Wanda. I don’t mind at all. In fact, I think it’s rather exciting to be the one to introduce you to this dynamic. If you’d like that, of course.”

“I would.” The words are out of Wanda’s mouth before she can think about them. She means it, every word. This was something she didn’t know she needed, but ever since Natasha had shown her this side of her, especially her playroom, all Wanda could feel was an intense, deep craving. 

She wanted this. Wanda wanted to explore everything she could with Natasha. She wanted to build a lasting relationship with her, one built on trust and love and a deep understanding of each other. Sure, it wasn’t like the conventional relationships she was surrounded by, but Wanda didn’t quite care. She wanted to be happy, and right now, Natasha Romanoff was the only person she could see herself truly being happy with. 

“Perfect,” Natasha says, taking another sip of her wine, her green eyes intent and hot as she watches Wanda. 

Wanda can’t quite focus after that. She compliments Natasha on the food, of course, as it was one of the best meals she’s ever had, but her mind is elsewhere. The only thing she could think about was the way Natasha’s lips had felt against hers and the intensity of her eyes as she watched her look around at the various toys and tools in her playroom.

The wine is making her head slightly fuzzier than usual, her nerves dissipating as they talk about random things. She learns all about the art Natasha has hung up in her office, and even enquires about the all-blonde staff. 

Natasha laughs at that, telling her that she hadn’t exactly planned it out that way, but most of the qualified candidates for each various position just happened to be blonde. She doesn’t even mind when Wanda tells her about how out of place she’d felt during their first meeting, or about how awkward it was to walk into her building for the first time. 

After a while of mindless chatter, Natasha asks a question, one that turns Wanda’s blood to ice. 

“Are you a virgin?”

Her cheeks burn, embarrassment and insecurity flooding her. What if Natasha didn’t think she was experienced enough? What if she wasn’t good enough, or worse, if she made a mistake and ruined everything? Doubt consumes her, but Wanda forces herself to breathe, to calm the raging emotions inside her. She can’t let fear control her now, not when she’d gotten so far already.

“Yes.”

Next Chapter

---

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[jiyascepter]

Midgard Mischief: An Evening in New York

Masterlist

Pairing: Loki x gn!reader

Words: 1,831

Warnings/Content: Fluff. Loki and reader are both Avengers, soft, protective Loki, kissing, mention of other mcu characters (say hello!)

Summary: Loki's first trip to the Earth realm. You take him for an evening out in New York where his protective instincts surface.

A/n: alr first of all let's appreciate this beautiful candid picture of tom. he's so beautiful i can't. i just. can't. this is one of my favourite pictures of him.

Also I needed some suggestions. I'm thinking of writing a series (or more like, parts) ─── 'Midgard Mischief' where the reader & loki visit different places on earth, like they do in this fic. There will be different plots, not connected to each other. How is the idea & if you like it can you suggest some places (countries, famous tourists attractions, random places, anything! ANYTHING!) if possible? It would be a great help! Dms are always welcome !

After a long wait of six months, your boyfriend Loki was finally in Midgard. For the first time. Last time you met him, Thor had invited you to Asgard to fight some dark elves and their leader, Malekith. That’s when you fell in love with his brother, the charming god of mischief.

Today you decided to take Loki out with you and show him around your city like he had when you came to Asgard. But for Loki, it was more like a challenge, almost scary, to face everything in the realm.

The air of Midgard was thick with unfamiliarity— every sound and sight was alien to Loki as he traversed the bustling streets of New York City. His blue eyes darted through the tall skyscrapers, the throngs of people, and the cacophony of noises that assaulted his senses. Layers of confusion built in his mind whenever he saw the bizarre blend of technology and…magic? Is that what it is?

“Images and sounds transmitted through a glowing box? It's like watching a vivid dream unfold before my eyes, except I'm certain no magic was involved. Or was it?” He asks you while you both were passing an electronic shop with many televisions of different sizes on display. “Humans can’t do magic, Loki. I told you before.” You respond with a smile, finding the confused expression on his face too cute.

You were excited for him to be introduced to these things. Things that you used to find normal were a whole new concept to him, and you loved it when he used to listen to you so carefully— the innocent baby-like expression on the almighty god of mischief.

Loki was never one to admit fear. The unfamiliarity of the mortal realm, coupled with the constant possibility of unforeseen dangers, stirred a sense of unease within him. He always had thought mortals were one of the weaker species in all of the nine realms because of shorter life and no knowledge of magic, yet when seen closely, they were a beautiful yet a scary kind. Able to progress so much in a little span of time was fascinating yet frightening at how much these mortals can progress out of curiosity, if given the resources.

Yet, he knew he had to conquer his apprehensions to savor every moment with you, determined to make the most of your time together despite the lurking fear of losing you amidst the chaos of the place.

You take him to Times Square, as what better place could it be for a newcomer to visit?

As you two approach the iconic location, vibrant lights and towering billboards illuminated the night sky, casting a kaleidoscope of colors upon the bustling crowds. Loki’s grip on your hand tightens. So many people. Mortals. Unknown mortals. What if you get lost here? What if someone just grabs you away from him? What if he loses the grip on your hand and gets lost and never finds his way back to you?

You smile at Loki’s reaction, thinking he’s just flabbergasted with the scene. "Welcome to Times Square, Loki. This is one of the busiest and most dazzling places on Earth." Loki looks at you and his face softens and glances back at the buildings. "It seems mortals have a penchant for excess.” You chuckle. “Hm…you could say that. But it’s certainly captivating isn’t it?”

“It’s quite…different from Asgard.” He says with a tinge of fascination as well as skepticism. You snicker and nudge him playfully. “Well, that’s the beauty. It’s diverse, chaotic and endlessly surprising.”

You both continue to move along the street, with you leading Loki through the multitude of people. You notice he was holding on to the helm of your top tightly as you move through a narrow space and turn your head and give him an assured smile. “You’re not gonna get lost, Loki.” He huffs, a tinge of red on his cheeks as you point that out. “But you can."

“Come on, I know this place well.”

He rolls his eyes and looks at you. “The place is too crowded, one glance away and you’ll be gone. And let’s not pretend there are no other dangers as well.”

You raise an eyebrow. “What other dangers?”

Just then, a speedy car whizzes by, its blaring horn causing Loki to instinctively pull you closer to him, shielding you from the potential danger. His heart races for a moment, the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he realises the precariousness of mortal life in such bustling environments.

"That," he says, his voice low with concern, "is one of them."

You take a breath, still holding on to him tightly after what happened. “That was close.” He looks down at you, stroking the back of your head and looking at you with concern. “See, I told you. How you managed to survive all this time here is beyond my understanding.”

You chuckle. “I’m fine, Loki, and this incident was just a matter of chance.” You lean in and place a comforting peck on his cheek. He scoffs, cheeks red, but not taking in your point.

“Just take care of yourself, that's what I want…” He mumbles, takes your hand, and walks forward with you.

As you continue your stroll through the vibrant streets of Times Square, Loki's protective instincts seemed to have heightened after the car episode. He was keeping a watchful eye on your surroundings, his grip on your hand never loosening.

Suddenly, a street performer dressed as a superhero approaches, causing Loki to tense up. He positions himself between you and the performer, eyeing him warily as if he were ready to defend you from any potential threat.

You can't help but snicker at his overprotective nature, finding it endearing how he's so quick to jump to your defence.

“Easy there, sweetie.” You chuckle, gently tugging on his arm to calm him down. “He’s just a harmless street performer.”

Loki relaxes slightly, but his guard doesn't falter. He shoots the performer a distrustful look before turning his attention back to you, a faint blush dusting his cheeks as he realises his overreaction.

"Sorry," he mutters sheepishly, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "I just don't want anything to happen to you. You’re too precious."

You smile reassuringly, squeezing his hand affectionately. "I know, Loki. But you don't have to worry. I'm safe with you." His face softens and he leans in to place a kiss on your forehead.

Just then, you realise that maybe the hustling roads of Times Square might not be a place of interest for Loki. You hold his hand and start to pull him along with you.

“Where to, my darling?” he asks.

“A museum.”

As you step into the cool, quiet space, Loki's tense shoulders begin to relax, and he takes in the sight of the ancient artifacts and priceless artworks with a sense of wonder.

You guide Loki through the museum, stopping at various exhibits to admire the intricacies of each piece. His eyes light up as he marvels at the craftsmanship of ancient weapons, the delicate beauty of sculptures, and the vibrant colours of centuries-old paintings.

"Impressive," he murmured, a hint of admiration in his voice. "It seems mortals have a talent for capturing beauty."

As you both wandered through the halls, Loki's curiosity was piqued by a particularly striking painting depicting a scene from Norse mythology. He studied it intently, a flicker of recognition crossing his features before he masked it with a smirk.

"Ah, a tribute to my exploits," Loki remarked, his tone laced with amusement. "It seems I've made quite the impression on your kind." You chuckle. “You’re unforgettable, that’s why.” He smirks, then continues reading through the information provided below the exhibits. He liked it here, it was calm, and not many people were visiting at this hour, allowing him to soften his guard a bit.

“You know,” you say with a light smile playing on your face, your voice echoing through the empty hall, “I always had this fantasy to kiss my boyfriend in a museum.”

Loki turns, a grin on his face as he approaches you. “Is that true, darling? And why a museum?”

You blush and look away. “They just used to show it in the movies a lot…” You murmur.

With you talking about movies all the time, he knew what you meant. He cups your cheeks and turns your face back to him. “So I should fulfill the wishes of my beloved like a good lover, shall I not?”

He takes your hand and pulls you into a corner, tugging your hair behind the ear. You attempt to cup his cheeks, but he takes your hands and gently holds on to them, then reaches out to caress your lower lip softly with his thumb.

“Thank you for bringing me here…” he says in a low voice, then lets go of your hands and leans in to meet your lips.

When you finally pull away, breathless and flushed with desire, Loki gazes into your eyes with a look of adoration and longing. "I never knew a museum could be so…stimulating," he murmurs, his voice husky with eagerness.

You laugh softly, pressing another lingering kiss to his lips. "Well, now you know," you whisper.

x ────

On the following day:

“Jarvis, read the morning news for me.” Tony calls out while walking in the living room of the Avengers compound.

"Sure, sir,” Jarvis says, reading out the heading, ‘Museum Security Footage Captures Romantic Encounter: Mystery Couple Caught in Kiss.'

“In an unexpected turn of events, the security cameras at the renowned Museum of Art and History, New York, have captured a heartwarming moment between two individuals. The footage, obtained by museum authorities during a routine review of surveillance tapes, reveals a tender exchange between two individuals amidst the quiet halls of the museum.

The couple, whose identities remain unknown, can be seen sharing a passionate kiss in a secluded corner of the museum, seemingly unaware of the camera's presence. The footage, which has since gone viral on social media, has sparked speculation and curiosity among museum visitors and online spectators alike.

‘We are currently reviewing the footage and working closely with local law enforcement to identify the individuals involved,’ stated museum director Dr. Rebecca Thompson. ‘While we encourage visitors to appreciate the art and history within our walls, we must also ensure the safety and security of our premises at all times.’ " Jarvis finishes reading.

Tony, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Ugh, seriously? We’re making out in museums now? Can't people save that for the privacy of their own homes? And here I thought Loki was the only one causing mischief around here…" He shakes his head, a look of mock disgust on his face, before turning his attention back to whatever project he has been working on.

Jarvis, in his usual composed tone after running his data on the museum pictures, "Actually, sir-"

Taglist: @chronicallybubbly, @eleniblue, @foxherder, @holdmytesseract, @julia-lokidottier, @vosnatalia, @nyx2021, @wolfsmom1

Want to be added to my taglist? Here! Or hit the comment section or my dms 🥨

[that-gay-guy-from-hell]

TLT TOMBSONA VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS (2025)

Each Tombsona (besides Giest and Armstrong) got two cards. The ones below the divider have some more... tasteful jokes on them lol

Each card has a reference to someone who is super into that character:

Rust: Cas; nail polish, tongue piercing, and (some of the) lighting/shading all from her Tombsona (also Rust's card is a weird size, no idea why or what happened oops)

Zero: Polychrome (burger); hoodie is made up of colors from their character "Burger" and the material is meant to be shiny (because like- chrome-- I know horrible pun)

Armstrong: Beowulf (teslasushanka): lighting and shading- colors from his sona

Tesla: Ashe; a pin on Tesla's collar (Ashe's tombsona colors clashed too harshly with Tesla's colors so I couldn't use it for that)

Doc: FUCKING NO ONE BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW OF ANYONE TO REFERENCE- PLEASE CAN SOMEONE ELSE SIMP OVER DOC WITH ME FOR FUCKS SAKE-

Geist: Fern/Geist; a fern charm on one of their locs, the stones of which are from Fern's tombsona color palette.

If anyone is curious as to why Doc's handwriting is funky, it's meant to be Marshalls, which is "odd" due to the time period he was/is from: a mixture of printing and cursive.

other cards and some random info past here:

Doc piercing debut! Doc has 2 in their lobe in their right (viewer's left) and a vertical bar on their left (viewer's right) lol I'll give the context at some other point cause this post is long. Oh and first time since like 2021 that I've drawn Doc's bottles lmao (I hate drawing them lmao)

New Armstrong design! Obviously, I don't think I'll ever be able to show this part off, but Army's boots have lil cat paws underneath them lol

This is the first time I've fully rendered Giest in a very long time. Their body is meant to be anatomically funky- missing most of the plating that was supposed to cover their entire body. The hole in its middle is from Giest digging inside themselves, looking for a host that they don't have- searching for a part of them that they never will find. A temporary fix was the gloves, but it's been so long since Giest has had matenice that they've torn right through them. I also made sure that the wires and joints are kinda realistic; I used like the videos of old Chuck E Cheese animatronics lol

Turned of the folder that has their front locs- sorry that there is some weird clipping and open spots, those are covered by the turned-off layers lmao The skull is meant to cover their whole face, but Geist has ripped it apart because they feel like they are suffocating (they don't have the ability to breathe). Giest doesn't even have a mouth. Geist's mask eyes are based on the mask Tesla had when Geist was being made- Geist, in general, has a lot of close ties to Tesla, who's brain was subconsciously picked through to (basically) obtain a blueprint that would suffice to make a weapon like Geist.

Here is the second set of cards! The Doc one is actually a reference to my OG cards from 22- warning these are really bad lmao

These were so bad that I fucked up Tesla's mask and had to flip it after posting it because they were missing their gear lmfao

Quite the difference 3 years makes- huh...

TLT Masterlist

[honey-minded-hivemind]

When Fallen Angel! Reader first fell into Heck, the place was empty. With blank black dirt and Black grey skies, the only thing with color is Reader themselves.

They cried and screamed and mourned for a decade or two, hurt by what happened. But after that, they realize that this place was pretty boring. They still had their powers, which was sharper now, harsher and less delicate. But it was still theirs, and they would make this place theirs too.

They started first with the land. Filled it with forests, cities, mountains, oceans, plains, and deserts. Each part planned and crafted out as perfectly as their old paperwork.

That occupied them for a couple centuries, but they noticed the place was still awfully lonely without living beings inside. So they roll up their little sleeves and start their next project.

The first one made is ginormous. Full of scales and spikes and fire. A drop of their blood gives him life and a touch of their own power. He is full of rage. Rage at everything. He is angry at this emptiness, angry at heaven for their misdeeds against his "parent", always angry. They name him Satan, the Sin of Wrath.

They make other sins. Asmodius, Beezlebub, Mammon, Leviathan, and Belphaghor. They are all at least triple their size at any given moment, but they all love their parent. Don't let the size difference fool you, Reader is the only mature one in the group.

They split the realm into 7 layers and assign each Sin a layer much like a parent assigning kids rooms at a new house. Reader takes the highest and most empty layer. It's the closest to the portal to heaven. They aren't sure if heaven will ever open it, and they don't want to find out what they'll do about the Sins if they do.

It was around this time they realized they have physically changed, even though it started when they first fell. Horns instead of a halo, those horns, hooves (they've always had goat legs, they're just normally hidden under clothes and their hooves can easily be mistaken for shoes), eyes, and some feathers looked dipped in red, limbs stained black, slit eyes, and forked tongue. This place has changed them as much as they have changed it.

Eventually, the Sins get bored and ask for people to fill their "rings". Not seeing anything wrong with giving them responsibility, Reader makes much smaller, much less dangerous people to fill "Heck" as the Sins call it (they don't know where they got the affinity for naming stuff). Imps, Hellhounds, Succubi, Innucubi, Goat-demons, Bird Demons, and those Shark-fish demons Leviathan loves so much. They don't make any that go in their ring specifically, but some move in anyway and start the beginnings of Pentagram City. So Reader spends a couple centuries just ruling Heck and keeping their overpowered kids in check ( they love them, but the Sins can be real jerks sometimes.)

The first Sinner comes as a surprise and with the first contact Reader has with Heaven since they fell. Their home is being used as a dumping grounds for the souls Heaven doesn't want, the Sinners are practically immortal, can't leave the Pride Ring (Reader doesn't know if Heaven knows about the other rings, and has no idea how to find out), and are filling in fast. The Sinners are a pretty rough bunch in general, so Reader establishes the Overlord system to try to bring some order, but that only forces them to have regular meetings with the worst of Sinners.

When Heaven sends a second message, telling them that there are too many Sinners (whose fault is that???!!!!) and they will send an Army of Angels once a year to cull them from existence. Any damage they cause to the ring is considered holy justice and will be Reader's problem to fix.

They consider blowing up the portal in sky. (You can't. Satan tried. It didn't work)

(Sugar, I love this ♡^♡!!!)

Reader is revered, even worshipped, in Heck. They are their Maker, their Creator! Every move move make has only made Heck stronger, safer, more prosperous! The Sins love their parent (I'll say they have a few altered designs and aren't quite the same as HB or HH, but they still have their animal motif, because they're so freaking cool).

Satan (Wrath) is proud to be a mama/dada boi. He is bossy, and tries to help Reader with the overload of new demons amd sinners by being very, very harsh with the laws and justice system. You abused your ex and tried to murder them?! You are sentenced to public execution, and your ex will have the front row seat, and can choose which method you die by! You abused orphans and uses them for labor?! You are sentenced to be a servant for ALL ETERNITY, and can only do what you're told! You dared insult Reader, his mama/papa/oldest sibling/maker?! HE WILL SEND HIS LEGIONS AFTER YOU AND BROADCAST YOUR DEFEAT AND FORCED APOLOGY! (Then he'll make sure you can never smack talk them again). Satan loves Reader and his younger siblings, and he favors the Ars Goetia, but no one messes with Reader or the peace they've brought to Heck...

Asmodeus (Lust/Love) is always looking to spread the love their parent/sibling/maker has shown them/him! He was taught its important to have consent, and that their has to be certain moral codes with acts of lust or acts of love. Anyone who tries to be a creep or jerk I on their hit list. They will not tolerate such insolence! Such cruelty! Love is supposed to be wonderful, magical, and feel good! Anyone who breaks that is about to have a serious talk (shovel talk) with the birb Sin... So just be good, and try to act lovingly, like their parent, or you will have to be corrected or executed...

Beelzebub (Gluttony) loves to receive attention from Reader. That's her mama/papa/parent! They get an invite to every single one of her parties, they are sent their favorite foods cooked to perfection, and whenever they need a break, she and Belphagor will happily take them on a relaxing vacation! She likes to indulge others, to feed their hunger for food, or love, or movies, or whatever, really! That's what Reader always did for her, and they even made all the Hellhounds just for her! And they're all so cute and precious and are perfectly loyal to both her AND her parent/sibling/maker! Now, however, she doesn't want anyone hogging all the good stuff! Reader said everyone has to share, and not neglect their needs, so Beelzebub makes sure her ring is taken care of!

Mammon (Greed) is a mischievous sort. He doesn't understand why they can't just steal Heaven from those posers and then rule it all together! (See, he's sharing this once, look how good he's being!) Sadly, they can't do that. Buuut what he can do is make sure Reader's finances amd treasury are always in check and full! He's greedy for love, for power, and attention, buuut he's willing to help others... But he will be teaching them to make sure they have what they need. They shouldn't give everything away for nothing, no! That's what happened with Readee, those idiots stole everything from them, and then cast them into this pit! So for everyone's good, he will make sure none of the rings are underfunded and that he and his siblings and Reader are safe at the end of the day...

Leviathan (Envy) is jealous of the angels. They had Reader, and got to see them when they weren't sad and angry and upset! They got to have Reader at their best self! They had ALL of Reader's love, then TOSSED it away like trash! Well, Heck no! Reader is now THEIRS, and they and their siblings and Heck will keep them! Take THAT! They aren't jealous of their siblings, but they do make sure they always have a day out eith Reader every week or so. They're making sure everyone knows who Reader is, and will paint them in the best light possible. (They totally rile up the Overlords to get back at them for being slimy. Gotta make them jealous enough to get rid of each other after all!)

Belphagor (Sloth) is a sleepy little demon. They appreciate Reader keeping them fed, and happy, and safe, and giving them others made in their image. They like to take things easy, and make it easier on others. So they make medicine that can prevent disease, or that can calm anxiety, or even some simple sleeping syrup for those who have insomnia. They want to help those who need help, and they should relax. They make sure to keep their ring healthy and relaxed, as Reader never wanted them to be overworked or anxious or exhausted all the time...

All the Hellborn are told of how Reader, seeing the Sins so alone, went and made them people, who would bring new ideas and light into this dark pit. They would live there, and be happy, and they'd be safe from Heaven's rule and burning light...

(There is a whole museum dedicated to Reader, and the creation of Heck and it's denizens).

Sinners were... well, they weren't always great people. Some were downright awful, or evil. But some were just unfortunate people who weren't bad, but broken, who'd been dealt a rough hand, who were at the wrong place at the wrong titime. Reader set up Overlords to take care of them, but... well, sometimes they had had be pruned, if they were too vile or too bloodthirsty... Sinners know Reader exist, but are not sure how far they can push their luck with them. They all just hope to please this new tiny being, and try to make the best of their new world...

Heaven is on Reader's sh*t list. The adult angels are about to purge Heaven of its "fallen" and try to set things straight. Because nononO, they are not exterminating these people, sinner or not! Those are PEOPLE.

Let's just say Heaven is about to be under new management, and that peace between Heaven and Heck might be possible...

[credus99-blog]

Around 140 million years ago on Atterra, Atterran mudskippers separated from other Teleosts like their Earth counterparts. These early mudskippers split into two main groups, those that lived in mudflats on the surface much like Earth, and those that found themselves within one of the greater hollows on the eastern continent. Either being washed down into them during a storm and surviving, or entering through submerged tunnels into a mud flat-like environment similar to those seen on the surface. These mudskippers found themselves in a fight for survival against the Atterran anthropods (arthropods that diverged early in their evolution, developing an internal skeleton, lungs, and a closed circulatory system, allowing them to reach sizes comparable to many vertebrates), which had colonized the hollows of the planet during their earliest iterations.

To escape predation, the ancestors of terrestrial mudskippers evolved more efficient gaits with their pectoral fins. They utilized their tails to push themselves forward and 'jump' to safety. Eventually, to aid in their survival, their pectoral fins began to fuse and form a suction cup surface as a primitive foot to air them in climbing up rocks, ferns, and fungal towers for safety. Eventually, the fin rays that formed the suction cups evolved into grasping fingers as the pectoral fins developed into primitive arms. The tail following a similar path evolves into an appendage to aid in locomotion. As their limbs became more efficient in movement, terrestrial mudskippers grew in size. They began to diversify into different niches tangential to the anthropods that hunted them. Many Terrestrial mudskippers fill the niches of scavengers, small prey hunters, and small grazers and browsers. Often being found in the second and third layers of the hollows with a handful of species that live their entire lives on the surface.

What aided terrestrial mudskippers in their transition to land was the development of ear bones from ossified gill arches and the formation of a hyoid bone from one of the three major bones that formed their gill covers. The hyoid bone allowed for the development of a tongue to aid in swallowing on land, so they did not have to rely on water stored in their gills to swallow. Creating water-based suction moves food toward the throat once secured in the jaws. A method used by their early ancestors and Earth mudskippers alike during their transition from water to land. The other two bones that form the gill cover became the bones that would support the formation of an external ear—allowing the terrestrial mudskippers to detect the direction of different sounds they hear.

Similar to their ancestors, many species of terrestrial mudskippers have retained their sails to communicate with each other and for sexual display. There are three main lineages of terrestrial mudskippers, the sail backs, which utilize their sails as their primary mode of display. The spine or shield ears utilize their ears and sails for display, and the flag ears have hinged ears with brightly colored flesh that they use as their primary mode of display. Due to the tripod gate of the terrestrial mudskippers not being as weight-bearing as four-legged tetrapods, many terrestrial mudskippers are less than waist height in humans. Only a few species of herbivorous terrestrial mudskippers reach the size of an earth rhino, which is believed to be the theoretical maximum size limit that their three-legged stance permits.

[standfucker]

"My Boy"

Characters: Jinbe

Reader: trans male

Word Count: 4k

CW: explicit N.SFW content, monsterfucking vibes, size difference, vaginal penetration, double penetration in one hole, creampie, exhibitionism/risk of getting caught, oral (giving)

Summary: Polite interactions with your newest crewmate turn a little less polite when you catch each other ogling during a shared bath.

Ao3 Link

@jinbeioyabun

🎉🎉 Happy Birthday El! 🎉🎉

For most of the crew, the best part of getting swept up into yet another conflict is the post-battle celebration. You tend to be more like Zoro–you enjoy the fight itself more than anything, a chance to really cut loose and prove your worth. But when the town you’d inadvertently saved offered the crew their private hot springs to use, it wasn’t something you were going to pass up on, either.

The other men had already finished their soak and gone ahead to the feast. You lag behind purposefully to have the springs to yourself, wanting some peace and quiet to relax properly. As much as you love to fight, it takes you a while to wind down from all the chaos, needing a few hours to really calm your body and mind. You care for the others, but you’d prefer to bathe without the background noise of Zoro and Sanji bickering, or Brook and Franky’s general silliness.

Warm, humid air wafts into your nose and hugs your skin as you step out into the men’s private springs, the warm humidity a comforting promise of the steamy bath you’re about to enjoy. There’s several natural pools in the hot springs, the biggest sporting a cluster of rocks in the middle that men liked to jump off of. You’re about to step into the biggest one when you notice someone off to the far side of the spring. Only his head is sticking out of the water, but the color of his skin makes him stand out against the gray of the rocks. A twinge of disappointment quickly dissipates–it’s just Jinbe, his eyes closed and a serene look on his face. The placid, honorable helmsman is the most favorable of your crew to run into here; you can look forward to a calm soak if it’s just him around.

Jinbe opens one eye upon hearing your footsteps, then closes it again after seeing it’s you. Sliding off your towel and folding it up, you step into the springs. The hot water around your legs is a stark difference to the air around you, almost a little too warm, but you don’t wait to adjust, walking down the scarped steps cut into the rock.

An involuntary sigh escapes you as you’re immersed up to your shoulders, the heat wrapped around your body pleasant and soothing. It’s a little more intense around your healing cuts, close to a sting, but your tired muscles are so relaxed by the therapeutic heat that it well makes up for it. You hear a gruff chuckle come from the other end of the pool.

“It’s really nice, isn’t it?” Jinbe says, smiling warmly. “I never got to experience hot springs until long after I became a pirate. Such a luxury is exquisite…”

“Mhm,” you agree, feeling the bottom with your foot to get an idea of how deep the pool goes. It’s deep enough that the bottom slopes away from your feet, and at least deep enough that Jinbe can soak his entire body. That’s saying something, given that he’s almost ten feet tall. “Makes sense. They don’t exactly form under the sea.”

“No. A shame–the hot water feels great going through your gills.” Jinbe dips his mouth into the water, taking a gulp, and you watch with some fascination as the water flows out of his gills and trickles down his neck. He lets out a sigh of contentment. Your eyes widen slightly as he rises, his massive upper body breaking the surface so he can hook his elbows onto the bank and lean back. “The contrast is nice, too. I enjoy how cool the air feels on my skin.”

“Mm,” you reply, the sight of his broad, broad pecs erasing proper words from your vocabulary. They’re hefty and thick, a layer of fat that you know hides powerful muscle underneath. His upper arms are the same, deceptively soft looking until he flexes and shows the bulging of huge muscles. You’ve always had a thing for big guys, and even more so for Fish-men. Finding Jinbe attractive was a given, but you didn’t really anticipate the effect seeing him naked would have on you.

That’s probably why he catches you staring. You realize it too late, your eyes meeting before you rip your gaze away. At least he’s too polite to say anything about it. He scratches the back of his neck while you look anywhere else.

“You fought well today,” he says awkwardly, but sincerely. “Given my brief time in the Straw Hats, I haven’t had the chance to see how everyone fares in combat.”

“What, did I surprise you?” you ask, grinning at him.

“Yes and no. I knew you’d be strong, but I didn’t expect you to tank hits as well as you did. I’m always impressed by the resilience of humans. Especially the smaller ones.”

“I guess that makes sense,” you shrug. “But I’m alright. Look, this is the worst that I got today.” You stand on the tips of your toes so your shoulders come out of the water and point to your clavicle. There’s a long cut across the middle, and while it bled a lot initially, it was just shallow enough to not need stitches.

“You were injured?” Jinbe says, pushing himself off the wall before you can respond. Dipping low again, he moves through the water toward you swiftly and gracefully. Even on land, he moves elegantly, surprising considering his size, but it doesn’t compare to how he swims. The water seems to part around him, barely disturbed like a swan gliding across the surface.

“Just a little,” you say, taking a step back despite yourself as he reaches you, rising up out of the water. He’s even bigger up close, looming over you. The proximity makes your heart pick up its pace. You can’t help it–he’s just so big, and he’s looking at you with such concern. 

“Has Chopper seen it?”

“No. It seemed minor. I didn’t want to bother him while he was helping people who really needed him.” You have to crane your neck back to look up at Jinbe.

“As a former captain, I’d admonish you…but truthfully, I would have done the same.” He chuckles. “I’m no doctor, but I have treated my fair share of injuries. Do you mind if I take a look?”

“Oh. Uh…” You hesitate, caught between flattery at his concern and bashfulness. “No, I don’t mind.”

Jinbe lowers himself in the water so he’s at eye level with you again, inching closer to get a better view of your cut. You turn your head as he leans in, unable to meet his eye at such a close distance. You can feel his breath on your skin, the soft warmth making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Despite the warmth of the hot springs, you still feel a heat creeping into your cheeks.

“It’s not bad,” he says after a minute. “You made a good call this time. Did you disinfect it?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Good! It should heal up nicely.” He smiles big, making your heart leap, and then he perks as he notices something else. “That’s a nasty bruise there.” He gently rests his fingers on your arm, right below the deep purple bruise on your shoulder.

“It’s, uh, it’s no big deal,” you shrug. Jinbe’s lifted your arm slightly to inspect your shoulder better, and you swallow at the touch. His webbed hand is so large it wraps entirely around your arm. “J-Jinbe…”

“Ah!” he lets go, seeming to notice your unease. “Am I making you uncomfortable? My apologies.”

You laugh nervously, trying to play it off. “Come on. Being doted on by a big, handsome guy would make anyone tense.”

Jinbe’s completely taken by surprise, mouth slightly open as he goes quiet. He clears his throat, and a slow, adorably shy smile stretches across his mouth. “I must say, it’s not often you get that sentiment from humans.”

“I’ve always found fish-men attractive,” you say without thinking. Immediately you realize what you said and start stammering. “I mean, um, you know. You guys are often pretty big, and, uh, really strong, and, I look up to that, and…”

His smile grows as you talk yourself into a corner. “You know,” he says thoughtfully, “it’s not unheard of for fish-men to be interested in humans, either.”

Your stomach does a funny little flip. “Do you…do you know any fish-man like that?”

“You could say that.”

You finally meet his eye. His sheepish grin makes you smile, too, even as your heart pounds. He doesn't move away, and up close, you notice the darkened, violet mottling above his left gills.

“You're bruised, too,” you say, reaching for his neck. Jinbe lets you, angling himself to give you easier access. You brush your fingers lightly over the spot, careful not to press down, and hear his breath catch. Glancing at him, you see the skin of his face tinged violet as well, something you somehow missed earlier. You touch his cheeks gently. “Oh–you also got hit in the face, huh? That's never fun.”

Jinbe clears his throat. “Actually, er, that's just a blush,” he admits, gaze averted.

“Oh!” You yank your hands away. “Sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable this time?”

“Naturally,” he grins cheekily, “being doted on by an attractive young man would make anyone nervous.” Your cheeks flare even hotter at the revelation, more so when Jinbe takes your hand, enveloping it in his large one. “I don't mind. It's nice.”

Your heart stutters in your chest. “I think so, too.”

He puts your hand back where it was on his cheek, glancing aside shyly for a second before looking at you again. He steels his resolve, taking a breath, before he says your name so gently it makes a shiver run down your spine. “Y/n…”

“Yeah?” Entranced, you lean in until there's only a few inches of space between you, and Jinbe answers you by closing the distance, pressing his lips to yours hesitantly.

The contact is fleeting, a brief testing of the waters, but it feels like little fireworks setting off beneath your skin. You two blink at each other, and then you place your other hand on his cheek and pull him back in for another. Like the first, it’s soft and uncertain. The next kiss is more sure, and by the next one, he’s placed his hands around your hips, squeezing when you gently lick along his lower lip.

It’s a little different from kissing a human; his mouth is so wide, for one thing, that he can’t really close it over yours properly; instead he lets you do most of the work, your tongue probing and tracing patterns across the expanse of his. Bringing his hands up your sides to support you, he tilts you back, pressing heated, messy kisses against your mouth. You wrap your arms around his neck, just able to dig your fingers into his hair at the base, and kiss along his lower lip, nipping by one of his large lower fangs. You can’t resist a little chomp on his fang, either. 

Jinbe growls, a sound that goes straight to your dick. “Careful,” he rumbles as you press your cheek to his fang. “They’re sharper than they look.”

“I guess you biting me is off the table?”

He chuckles. “I won’t bite you, no. But if you hold very, very still,” he warns and promises at once, “I can do this.” With the utmost delicateness, he drags the points of his upper row of teeth down your neck and over your shoulder, leaving faint, ashy lines. The sensation tickles and teases, the razor’s edge of danger, drawing a soft whimper out of you. His control is so good it doesn’t even sting.

“Jinbe,” you breathe, running your hands down his broad chest and scraping your nails against his skin–comparatively dull, but he groans appreciatively all the same. “Would you think less of me if I told you I really, really liked that?”

“Of course not,” he chuckles and pecks your lips fondly. “I find it attractive.”

“Okay,” you say, “‘cause for the record, this is my first time kissing a Fish-man, and it’s better than I imagined.”

“Than you imagined?” Holding onto you, Jinbe rolls over so you’re propped up on his chest, both your lower halves beneath the water as he swims backward easily. “You imagine yourself with Fish-men often, do you? What else do you imagine?”

He’s confident now, shining eyes fixed on you, and you meet his challenge. “Why don’t I show you?”

Jinbe pulls you in for another kiss, the two of you making out until his back hits the opposite wall. Now in only about three feet of water, you slide down between his legs while Jinbe leans back on the sloped bank.

Through the water, you can see the faint outline of his cocks–there’s two–each one at least as thick as your forearm and just as long. Arranged vertically, they’re slightly darker than the rest of him, with a purplish flush beneath the skin. The top one is erect and rigid, the other one halfway there. You try to act nonchalant at the sight, as he’s currently watching you with some amusement. Rather than make a comment, you reach for the lower one, and Jinbe sucks in a breath as you wrap your hands around it.

The skin is silky and warm even under the hot springs. You stroke him from base to tip, thumbs pressing into his frenum, making him gasp. The lower member quickly swells from the attention, stiffening until it’s as big and rigid as the upper one.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Jinbe comments.

“Didn’t want to be rude.” you respond, making him grin. “You’re, um…you’re impressive, to say the least.”

Jinbe’s about to reply when you take one cock in each hand and start stroking firmly, pressing them against your stomach, his balls resting on your lap. Whatever he was going to say turns into a soft gasp. Like a human, he seems to be more sensitive toward the tip, so you focus your attention there. Though you can’t see it, you can feel a sticky, mucousy fluid coating the heads of his cocks, spreading down his shaft by the movement of your hands.

“Ah…you… you’re certainly eager to please, aren’t you?” he praises, one hand cupping your cheek.

“You have no idea.” Taking a deep breath, you plunge your head into the water, shutting your eyes tight, and take one of his cocks into your mouth. His pre-cum is thicker and saltier than a human’s, but otherwise doesn’t have a strong taste. You stuff as much of the head of him that will fit and suck. His groan cuts through the water, cocks twitching in your hands.

As a non devil-fruit user, you’ve gotten plenty of swimming practice rescuing the other members of the crew, so you can hold your breath for some time. You easily spend a while sucking him off, stroking the opposite cock in the meantime, and when you finally surface to take a breath, you switch to the other.

Jinbe pants and groans above you, fingers digging into the pool’s rocky edge, doing everything he can to resist thrusting up into your mouth. Even for him, it proves to be a challenge; you feel his hips shift forward as he squirms just a little. The filthy act already has your cock engorged, but knowing you’re putting cracks in his iron willpower just riles you up worse. To have someone as powerful as Jinbe writhing beneath you is a thrill like nothing else.

You surface, gasping, just a bit light-headed from holding your breath repeatedly for so long. Without hesitating, you start to mount him, but Jinbe stops you with a hand on your shoulder.

“Hold on,” he says. “Is it safe?”

“I don’t have those parts anymore,” you say. Jinbe looks down at your stomach, and the lack of scarring there. “Law removed those for me the last time he sailed with us from Zou,” you explain. “I told him I’d owe him a favor if he would do it for me. Afterward, he told me I didn’t owe him anything as long as I didn’t tell anyone he did it for free.”

“A soft side, hm?” Jinbe chuckles. “Rare for a warlord.”

“I could say the same about you.” You move over his lower cock, lining him up while he holds your hips steady. “For all your strength, Jinbe, you’d never hurt me. Even if I wanted you to.”

Jinbe pauses for a moment, then leans in close. “Don’t misunderstand, Y/n. I’m still a Fish-man,” there’s a low, gravel to his voice now, “I still have my urges. Now,” he starts pulling you down onto his cock, and you gasp as the broad head spreads you open wide, “Shark fish-men don’t bite our romantic partners by nature. Our teeth are too sharp. However…” He doesn’t slow down or give you time to pause, and your fingers dig into his stomach at how easy it is for him to manipulate your body, how his cock spears in deep and bottoms out only halfway down, how his thickness forces your walls wide. “Stuffing you full–” Jinbe presses your back against the pool wall, ”–taking you for myself–” he starts to thrust up into you, “filling you up–” he growls by your ear as you whimper, “all are things I crave doing to you.”

“Jinbe!” you cry, trying to brace yourself against the rocky wall. It’s smooth enough to not cut, but you think he might bruise you if he gets too excited. But he’s currently fucking you so good that you don’t have it in you to care, especially not when his upper cock rubs against your own with every thrust.

“That’s it, my boy, just take it,” he purrs, “you wanna know what it’s like to fuck a Fish-man, I’ll show you.”

There’s so much pre-cum he slides in and out of you with only a slight resistance, and it sticks to your sensitive skin, something you realize must be an adaptation for sex underwater. The upper cock is painting it along your stomach as he fucks you. Your eyes roll back at the dual onslaught.

“Gonna cum,” you whimper.

“Already?” he teases, “I don’t know if to be flattered, or scold you for your endurance.”

“But it feels–ha–so fucking good,” you moan. “Can’t–help it!”

“Cute.” Jinbe chuckles. “Then go ahead–let go for me.”

A few more thrusts, and you’re forced over the peak, your eyes shutting tight as orgasm overwhelms you.

“Ahh–mmf!” Your cry is cut off as Jinbe’s hands wrap around your mouth. He holds you there for a second as you ride it out, shushing you.

“Someone’s coming,” he hisses, pulling you away from the pool’s edge and rapidly swimming backwards. He takes you around the other side of the cluster of boulders in the middle of the springs, hiding behind them. You go still, listening; a moment later the sound of voices reaches your ears–Franky and Usopp. 

Jinbe pulls out of you, only to turn you around, facing you away from him and lining up his upper cock with your center. You look over your shoulder at him in shock. “Jinbe?” you whisper harshly.

“Just be quiet,” he whispers back. “No one will hear with our bodies underwater, so long as you don’t make a sound.”

“But–!” you bite your lip as he starts to penetrate you, his lower cock now positioned to glide over your own.

“Shh.”

The water in the center of the pool is too deep for you to reach the bottom; all you can do is brace your hands against the boulder and take what Jinbe gives you. Every thrust pushes your body up a little, but as you remain submerged up to your shoulders, there's no sound. However, the pleasure proves to be too much of a challenge as you stifle back a whimper.

“Mind your noises, boy,” Jinbe whispers. “You don't want them to hear, do you?”

You're caught off guard by this boldness coming from him–you'd never have thought he was the type. It seemed you had a lot to learn still about your new crewmate.

Franky and Usopp's voices get a little louder as Jinbe presses kisses to your shoulder. You bite your lip in pleasure and nervousness, now able to hear their conversation. The sound of splashing water reaches you both, and upon realizing the other men have entered the hot springs, you tighten up despite yourself.

Jinbe grins against your back, licking up the back of your neck to the shell of your ear. He doesn't need to say it out loud; you already know he's delighted to find out you like the risk. Unable to speak, you're entirely at his mercy in the water, helpless to the pleasure he commands all through your body.

Jinbe shifts, and you feel the head of his second cock nudging up at your entrance next to the first. You give him a shocked look over your shoulder, he tilts his head and raises a brow in question. You can practically hear him ask: Do you want it, boy? Can you take me?

The other men’s conversation grows louder, something about collaborating on a project. They have to be less than 30 feet away now.

You make your decision on a whim, nodding your consent, and Jinbe grins.

The push of his second cockhead is an immediate, challenging stretch, your insides gradually pushed apart to accommodate him. He doesn't stop until he physically can't fit another inch, stretching you taught around him. Like this, there's a constant, firm pressure against your g-spot no matter how he moves, something that makes your legs go weak. You're only held up in the water now by his cocks stuck inside you.

There's no way Jinbe can thrust like this–you're too full. Instead he rolls his hips against yours, humping into you so that his cocks grind up inside you. Your eyes roll back at how good it feels, his hushed panting warm against the back of your neck. One of his hands reaches around to cover your mouth, the other goes between your legs to jerk off your cock, instantly making you twitch and squirm. You keen into his hand, prompting him to squeeze tighter.

Jinbe leans in to growl lowly into your ear. “I was wrong about your endurance. Look how well you're doing…want me to fill you up, right here?” You nod fervently. “That's a good boy…”

He pins you to the boulder, rubbing faster circles on your cock, grinding himself so hard into you there's a slight, sweet ache. It lasts for another secret, filthy minute, until suddenly Jinbe's pace stutters and he breathes out harshly as he hits his peak. Both his cocks spurt into you at intervals, hot stickiness filling you and forcing your walls to swell even further. The sensation pushes you over the edge, your moan muffled into his hand. The orgasm rocks through you, walls spasming around him as you ejaculate into the water.

He holds you there for a minute while you both silently ride out your highs, catching your breath. Then he gently pulls out one cock at a time, only uncovering your mouth afterward. Jinbe presses your legs closed as he whispers into your ear.

“Better not let any spill out, my boy. You'll contaminate the spring even more.”

“Who's fault would that really be?” you mutter.

He chuckles and kisses the top of your head. “Come on. You'd better get back to the showers. Want help?”

“I'll be okay,” you smile wryly. “The real challenge is to climb out of the spring without spreading my legs.”

“I can take care of that.” He hooks an arm around your middle and swims you to the far edge of the pool, where he lifts you up easily and places you out on land.

You have to shuffle awkwardly to keep everything in as you walk around the perimeter toward the showers. Your towel was on the shore by Franky and Usopp, but they've seen you naked before during group baths, so that's not an issue. They call out to you as you come into view, mentioning their surprise that you were there at all.

“Yeah, Jinbe and I were soaking around the corner,” you say, keeping your face as straight as possible.

“Oh, he's here too? I didn't hear you guys.”

“We weren't talking.”

As you waddle off toward the showers, deftly avoiding eye contact, you figure you're technically telling the truth. 

[perfectlysanexd]

How do you do your Final Fantasy edits?

The hard way, my friend. No AI is used here, I do it all by hand. 🥰 I assume you mean the screenshot manipulations I create? I'll try and give a simple summary... First, I boot up Remake on PC and use a "free camera" mod(you can find the links to the mods I use on my archive pages for manipulations, which is on my pinned post) to take a couple screenshots that I think will work well together. Sometimes I change my mind and choose a different one. It can be hard to match the camera angles and lighting, so sometimes I have to mess with that later, as well. But it's easier if they fit together from the beginning. We'll take my current WIP as an example. I started with these two screenshots:

I open them in the free program GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which anyone can download at gimp.org. Then the first thing I do is choose the base image. In this case, they're both facing the same way, so I choose to flip Sephiroth(you can't really do that with Cloud easily because of his earring, and his hair is less symmetrical). Since the camera was closer up on Cloud, and he's the smaller one, I usually choose Sephiroth's to be the base image. With that decided, I roughly cut Cloud from his background and paste him onto Sephiroth's image as a new layer. Then I position him, resize him, rotate him, whatever I need to do until he seems to be in the desired place, which ends up looking like this: (I ended up adding snow for this preview, so it would look more complete than it is when I showed it to my server, haha)

If you look at Cloud, you can still see a thick outline of his old background around his head. Once he's positioned properly, it's time to remove the rest of his background(I use a size 10 eraser with 100% hardness and zoom in about 5 times). Then I need to think about where they're connected, and how to make them look like they're touching, as well as layering to make them seem intertwined, as if they're truly occupying the same space together.

I cut away some of Cloud's shirt, and the rest of that effect will come with shading later. If I wanted Cloud even closer, I would make a duplicate of Sephiroth and erase his background, so that his lock of hair would appear to go over Cloud's face. I could also make it semi-transparent, so you could see the outline of Cloud's face through his hair. You can see I have some small game defects to fix, such as Cloud's hair clipping through his ear. I leave those tiny details for later, typically. Sometimes, because of their height differences, I have to "rebuild" missing parts of them from scratch, such as I did for this other manipulation:

It's a delicate process that's mostly the clone tool(to keep the textures) and some freehand drawing, but I don't have an art tablet, so I use my mouse for everything, which can be quite challenging. I've had a lot of practice from translating doujinshi, where I'd erase the words, rebuild the missing part of the image, and then place the translated words over that spot.

In any case, I decided I wanted more out of this manipulation than just leaning against each other. I wanted Cloud to be reaching up towards Sephiroth, and perhaps for Sephiroth to be pulling him closer. To do that, I needed pictures of their hands/arms like so:

I've taken hundreds of shots, so I looked through what I had first, but it wasn't the right angle, or was the wrong outfit for Cloud, so...then you open up those images and cut out the parts you want. After that, you work on positioning and things like that again. I haven't finished with that part yet, so it looks a little awkward. (And when you're doing these kinds of things, color matching is very important, but that's a bit advanced.)

I'm not fully satisfied yet, so I'll probably remove the rest of the background from the arms and then mess with the placement. As for Sephiroth's hand, I intend to thread it in Cloud's hair, so Cloud will need to be duplicated in order to create that layering effect, as mentioned previously. Which should end up looking similar to this one:

(I had to draw in most of Cloud's hand because I didn't have the camera mod back then, and the Sephiroth shot was provided to me by Coeurlwhiskers.) After that, it's a matter of shadows and highlights, remaining details, and finishing up the colors, etc. It's a long and difficult process, and can take many hours to complete, depending on how ambitious I get with it. Most of that stuff would be a much longer tutorial, and I did used to do some actual artwork a long time ago, so I...kind of know what I'm doing?? I probably do a lot of stuff the hard way(like not using layer masks) because I just don't have the time to teach myself more than the basics. 😅I know it may seem daunting, but it's really fun! I hope I managed to answer your question properly. Feel free to ask follow ups~

[mikelogan]

hey, can i please ask what dimensions you use to make your header gif? (I THINK you used to have that thing where you have a little circle gif inside the header as well. If you don't mind sharing how to do that I would appreciate it! If you didn't, please disregard haha)

hiiii!! sorry this took me so long lmao but yes! this was my header for a while and i basically had the circle gif act as my icon (so i just hid my icon under edit appearance) so i'll walk you through how to make it!

ultimately, the header contains 3 separate gifs: liv on the left, liv on the right, and hugh and liv in the circle. i find it easiest to make the gifs all separately first and then bring them all together on what will become the header's canvas,.

i crop, sharpen, color, and then convert each of the 3 gifs into a smart object and plop them onto the header canvas. the dimensions of this one are 640x360 but i believe the header dimensions have changed and are now 580x326 (that's what my current one is) but idk i never had an issue using the larger dimensions so you can try both out and see what you like best!

the original dimensions for the 3 gifs themselves were: 640x360 for the two large gifs and 368x184 for the circle. the circle gif doesn't matter quite as much, just make sure it's at least a few pixels larger than the circle you create when you get to that step!

so once all 3 gifs are turned into smart objects (if you don't know how to do this, when you're in timeline, highlight all your layers and right-click -> convert to smart object. this just makes the whole gif into one layer and they're easier to work with and adjust as necessary.

when i'm blending gifs together, i like to set the background/first layer of the gif to black. it helps when you're blending and your layer masks get really close together and instead of going to a transparent background, it goes to black and i think it gives it a cleaner look. this really is just personal preference and completely optional though!!

anyway, i brought over the two main liv gifs first and played around with where i wanted each one. this is what i have once i figure out the positioning and set both layers to screen.

then you want to add a layer mask to each gif. select each layer separately and press this lil guy at the bottom off your layers panel:

when i'm blending, i pretty much exclusively use a soft round brush. size depends on what i'm blending and the dimensions, but hardness is always set to 0%. on a layer mask, you're going to use either black or white. black removes parts of the gif, white will bring them back. it's a very low-stakes way of getting rid of areas you don't want while not having to worry about deleting too much.

once i'm happy with the blending, this is what my layers ended up looking like (with the black layer beneath), but this will vary depending on your gifs and positioning!

the next step is the ripped paper effect at the bottom (if that's the vibe you're going for). you could theoretically do this with any kind of brush. i just like the look of it so it's not such a harsh transition on my mobile theme from the header to the background color.

these are the brushes i use but i'm sure you can google something to the effect of "ripped/torn paper brush photoshop" and find plenty others.

go ahead and group both of your gifs, your base layer, and any other coloring layers if you didn't color them before transferring them to this canvas. to do this, select all applicable layers and press ctrl+g or right-click -> group from layers.

now select the group and add a layer mask the same way we did with the gifs using the little icon at the bottom of your layers panel. your layers should look like this now:

once your brushes are loaded into photoshop, open up the brush tool by pressing 'b' and select the brush you want to use. i usually try a few different ones out just to see the different edges. you may have to adjust the brush size and make sure the hardness is set to 100% if applicable. before using the brush, make sure the layer mask itself is selected like in the above screenshot and your color is set to black.

when you hover over the canvas with your selected brush, you'll be able to see where the top edge will rest. i keep mine pretty close to the bottom -- i think the highest up this particular one goes is about 50px from the bottom. you should end up with this:

onto the circle/icon!! i truly just ended up eyeballing this size-wise. go ahead and call up the ellipse shape tool. to do this, right click on the shape tool and select ellipse like so:

colors are totally up to you, but i like my shit color-coordinated so i believe i color picked the bottom circle (the outline) from liv's purple dress in the right gif. once you have the ellipse shape tool equipped, click anywhere on your canvas. the dimensions i used were 150x150 but of course feel free to experiment. for a perfect circle, both numbers do need to be the same.

using ctrl+t (the transform tool) drag the circle to the vertical center of your gif and right to the very bottom so it's hanging over into the transparent part. this is what will make it look like your actual icon on your mobile theme.

next, create another circle. i'd recommend using black for this one, but it really doesn't matter. the dimensions for this one are 140x140 (10px less than your outline circle), but again, this will vary depending on the outline dimensions. i liked the thickness of a 10px difference, but you can always increase or decrease that depending on your preference. this circle is going to be the base for your icon gif.

again, use ctrl+t to vertically center your circle and bring it all the way to the bottom just like you did with the outline circle. as long as they're placed/snapped to the exact same location, you'll have a perfectly consistent outline.

go ahead and bring over your icon gif, already sharpened, colored, and converted to a smart object. make sure this layer is directly above your black circle. on your gif layer, right-click -> create clipping mask. ctrl+t to move it to the same location as the circles and adjust it to your liking.

of course, it's completely up to you if you want to add text or overlays or not, but i figured i'd share what i did in case you're curious! (click to enlarge)

and for the overlay, i just grabbed a video off youtube of different light leaks. i only wanted it to be on the two main gifs and not the icon gif, so i plopped it into that group we made and put it at the top, over everything else, and set it to screen like so:

and that's pretty much it! if you have any questions about the tutorial (or anything else) just let me know!! i'm more than happy to help 🥰

[shiorihyugawrites]

Diamond Of The First Water

In the aftermath of war, Paradis finds itself in need of powerful alliances. When Emperor Armand of Valoria offers his military aid in exchange for the hand of his daughter, Princess Solina, in marriage, Captain Levi Ackerman is thrust into an engagement that begins as a political strategy but soon becomes something much deeper.

Princess Solina, sheltered from the world and unaware of the realities of love and war, finds herself drawn to Levi—the man known as Humanity’s Strongest Soldier. As they navigate royal customs, public expectations, and the growing threat of Marley, the bond between them deepens into a genuine connection.

But neither Solina nor Levi are prepared for the challenges of a political marriage, the weight of intimacy, and the secrets that lie beneath the surface. As Solina enters a new life with Levi, her naivety is tested, and Levi faces a battle unlike any he’s fought before—the fight to protect his heart.

Can their love flourish in the midst of war, duty, and danger? Or will the forces conspiring against them tear them apart before they can find peace? (Levi x OC)

Chapter Five

The Azumabito ship, a grand vessel representing the technological sophistication and wealth of Hizuru, glided slowly into the harbor of Valoria's capital. The city unfolded before the eyes of the Paradis delegation—Levi, Hange, Armin, and Jean—in breathtaking splendor. None of them had ever seen anything quite like it. The harbor itself was bustling with activity, with ships of various sizes and origins anchored, unloading their goods and passengers.

As the ship approached closer, the massive and stunning architecture of the city became evident. The capital was encircled by high stone walls, much like the ones back in Paradis, but these were adorned with ornate carvings depicting historical battles and the empire's victories. The cityscape was a vibrant tapestry of colorful buildings, ranging from humble clay-roofed homes to magnificent structures with gilded domes and towering spires. Waterways meandered through the city like veins, with numerous bridges arching over them, connecting the different districts together. The most striking feature was the Imperial Royal Palace, situated on a slightly elevated island at the center of the city, connected to the mainland by a series of bridges. Its towers soared into the sky, topped with golden roofs that caught the sunlight, making the palace shimmer against the backdrop of distant mountains.

On board, some of the Azumabito crew were giving the scouts last-minute instructions on how to act around the Valorian royal family, especially the Emperor. "Remember, always bow your head slightly when addressed by a member of the royal family, but do not avert your gaze completely," one of the crew members instructed, demonstrating the subtle yet respectful bow. "It's important to show respect without appearing submissive. The Emperor values strength."

Levi, Hange, Armin, and Jean were dressed in their formal military attire, the wings of freedom insignia prominently displayed, which added a layer of solemnity and purpose to their mission. Each of them absorbed the instructions with their usual seriousness, understanding the importance of diplomacy in this mission.

As the ship docked, they could see the Valorian soldiers lined up in formation, a small delegation waiting to receive them. The soldiers wore uniforms that were a stark contrast to those of the scouts, with deep blue coats and golden epaulets, their posture rigid and faces impassive. The delegation consisted of a few high-ranking officials, each adorned in lavish garments that spoke of wealth and power, their expressions politely neutral.

Stepping off the ship, Levi led the group, his eyes scanning the surroundings with the sharpness typical of a seasoned soldier. Hange's gaze was drawn to the architectural beauty around them, her mind already whirring with questions about Valoria's history and culture. Armin, ever the strategist, noted the layout of the city and its defenses, while Jean seemed slightly overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all.

The Valorian officials approached, one of them stepping forward with a courteous smile. "Welcome to Valoria, representatives of Paradis. I am Chancellor Benedict, advisor to His Majesty. We are honored to host you and look forward to fruitful discussions." His voice was smooth, his Common tongue accented but clear.

After the initial greetings and exchanges of pleasantries, Chancellor Benedict gestured towards a line of carriages waiting nearby. "Please, allow us to escort you to the Imperial Royal Palace. The Emperor and Princess Solina eagerly await your arrival."

As they followed Chancellor Benedict to the carriages, the scouts took one last look around. The harbor was alive with the sounds of commerce and chatter, the air filled with the scents of the sea and the city. Above them, the flags of Valoria fluttered in the breeze, a reminder of the power and pride of this vast empire they were about to engage with.

Levi’s mind, however, was elsewhere, focused on the impending meeting with the Emperor and Princess Solina. This is more than just a diplomatic mission, he thought, it’s a chess game, and every move counts.

The carriage ride through the heart of Valoria was a spectacle in itself, with each turn and curve of the city roads offering a new vista of architectural marvels and bustling city life. The rhythmic clip-clop of the horses' hooves on cobblestones provided a steady backdrop to Hange's enthusiastic chatter. She leaned from one window to the other, her eyes wide with wonder, absorbing every detail she could.

"This is incredible, isn't it?" Hange exclaimed, turning to Jean and Armin with a grin. "The architecture, the culture—it's all so different from what we've seen on Paradis! Oh, I wish I had brought a notebook. There's so much to learn and document!"

Armin shared her excitement, his eyes taking in the elegant design of the buildings and the organization of the city. "The layout is strategic, likely designed with defense in mind but also for aesthetics. It’s fascinating to see how their priorities are reflected in the city's structure," he mused, peering out the window at the passing scenery.

Jean nodded, equally impressed. "Yeah, and everyone seems... calm here. It's so different from the constant threat of Titans we grew up with."

Meanwhile, Levi sat silently, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery but his mind elsewhere. He was dressed impeccably in his formal military attire, but the crisp uniform did nothing to ease his tension. Levi's thoughts were consumed with the upcoming meeting with the Emperor and Princess Solina, his "fiancée." Despite Hange's excitement and the others' fascination with the city, Levi felt a knot of apprehension.

Princess Solina... the name echoed in his head. All he knew of her was the brief description provided by Kiyomi Azumabito. A shy, musically talented redhead with green eyes, reputed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. But what lay beyond those superficial descriptions? What kind of person was she, really? How would she react to him—a battle-hardened soldier from a distant island?

Levi’s concerns weren’t just about their personal interaction; the political implications were significant. This marriage wasn't a simple union; it was a strategic alliance that could affect the future of Paradis. The weight of that responsibility was not lost on him, and it manifested as a relentless pressure that tightened around his chest.

Hange, oblivious to Levi's internal turmoil, continued to buzz with energy, her voice filling the carriage. "Imagine the technological advancements they must have here, Levi! The potential for exchange is immense! We could learn so much—"

Levi shifted slightly, his patience wearing thin not with the journey but with the uncertainty of his situation. "Hange," he interrupted, his voice low and steady, "focus. We’re not here on a field trip. Remember what’s at stake."

Hange paused, her expression sobering as she regarded Levi. She nodded, understanding the gravity of his tone. "Right, of course. I'm just... trying not to think about all the formalities."

Armin interjected, trying to lighten the mood, "It's good to see the possibilities, Hange. But Levi's right. We need to be prepared for the discussions ahead."

As the carriage approached the Imperial Royal Palace, the grandeur of Valoria's seat of power came into full view. The carriage’s arrival heralded by the sound of ceremonial trumpets. As the scouts stepped down onto the cobblestone pavement, their eyes were drawn upward in unison to the architectural marvel before them.

The palace, a symphony of ornate design and breathtaking elegance, rose majestically against the backdrop of clear skies. Towering spires, topped with gilded finials, pierced the heavens, each one intricately adorned with sculptures of angels and mythical creatures that seemed to guard the palace. The main structure spread out like a behemoth of culture and power, its numerous balconies and grand windows framed with golden trims that caught the light of the sun, scattering rays in every direction.

The façade was a masterful display of Baroque architecture, with countless columns and arches that created a rhythm of shadows and light across the marble exterior. Statues of previous emperors and revered figures in Valorian history lined the path leading to the main entrance, each one carved from white marble and set upon high pedestals, giving the impression of watching over the proceedings below.

The palace’s reflection shimmered on the surface of a vast, serene lake that bordered its front. Graceful bridges arched over the water, connecting the palace to the beautifully manicured gardens that surrounded it. In the center of the lake, a fountain soared, water cascading from it in a dazzling display, catching the sunlight and casting rainbows into the air.

As they approached the towering main doors with Chancellor Benedict, the scouts were met by a contingent of palace guards, their uniforms immaculate and their expressions stern. The guards bowed slightly, a gesture of respect but also a reminder of the strict protocols that governed the palace.

The group was quickly ushered inside, passing through the massive doors carved with scenes of Valoria’s founding. The interior was no less impressive than the exterior. The entrance hall was vast, with ceilings that soared high above, painted with frescoes that depicted the Valorian landscape and its myths. Chandeliers, massive and wrought from gold and crystal, hung from the ceiling, casting soft light throughout the hall.

Levi, despite his usual composure, could not help but feel a sense of awe at the opulence that surrounded him. Hange’s eyes darted everywhere, taking in every detail with an insatiable curiosity. Armin's interest was caught by the historical depictions in the artwork, while Jean seemed momentarily overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all.

Chancellor Benedict, led them through several ornate corridors, each one more lavish than the last. The sound of their footsteps echoed softly on the marble floors, and the air was filled with the subtle scent of exotic flowers, brought in from the private gardens to adorn the halls.

As they approached the doors to the imperial meeting room, Chancellor Benedict paused, turning to address them with a solemn tone. "Beyond these doors, you will be entering the presence of His Majesty the Emperor, his esteemed Rose consort Lady Solana, and Princess Solina. Please remember the protocols we discussed. The Emperor is keen to meet you and discuss the future of our nations."

Levi nodded, his expression turning serious as he adjusted his uniform. Hange straightened her glasses, her demeanor shifting to one of formal respect. Armin and Jean exchanged a brief, nervous glance, steadying themselves for the meeting.

The doors before them were carved from dark wood, inlaid with gold and jewels that depicted the Valorian emblem—a symbol of the empire’s enduring strength and unity. The guide reached out, his hands pausing momentarily on the ornate handles, preparing to open the doors.

As the doors began to swing open, the scouts braced themselves, ready to step into the heart of the Valorian empire and face whatever awaited them inside. The future of Paradis, their home, might well depend on the conversations that would take place beyond these gilded doors.

Levi, Hange, Armin, and Jean stepped into the imperial meeting room of the Valorian palace. The heavy doors of the grand room swung open, revealing an expansive chamber that was bathed in the warm glow of sunlight filtering through tall, arched windows. 

Levi’s eyes immediately went to the figure standing at the center of the room, radiating authority and composure—Emperor Armand Hein. He was a tall man, with a commanding presence that filled the room effortlessly. His hair, streaked with silver, was neatly combed back, and his sharp features bore the weight of experience and leadership. He wore a stoic expression, his lips set in a neutral line, but as Levi met his gaze, he saw something beneath the surface. The Emperor’s eyes were calculating—cold and discerning, as if he was evaluating every detail of the newcomers from Paradis. It was a gaze that could pierce through facades, and Levi could sense that the Emperor was a man who had seen much and trusted little.

Standing beside him was a beautiful woman, her presence softer yet no less dignified. Lady Solana, the Rose Consort, had an elegance that spoke of grace and strength. Her long, fire-red hair cascaded down her back in thick waves, the rich color shining in the light. Her eyes, a vibrant shade of green that seemed to hold both warmth and worry, contrasted with her composed expression. She wore a gown of deep green silk that draped elegantly over her slender figure, the fabric embroidered with golden vines that symbolized her connection to the Rose House. Despite her beauty, there was a visible tension in her eyes—an unease that seemed to weigh on her as she stood beside the Emperor, her posture betraying a protectiveness that only a mother could have.

The scouts’ eyes swept over the room, taking in the other figures present—members of the Valorian court and officials, each standing in their designated places, their robes adorned with emblems that marked their positions of power. The room seemed almost overwhelming in its opulence—every detail spoke of power, wealth, and tradition. Gold and silver accents lined the walls, and ornate tapestries depicted scenes from Valoria's storied history.

 A palpable air of formality hung over the chamber, as if every gesture, every word, was being weighed and judged. But as Levi scanned the room, his eyes narrowed slightly. There was no sign of Princess Solina, the woman he was meant to meet. He couldn’t spot anyone who matched Kiyomi’s description of her—no red-haired young woman with green eyes. Where was she?

Chancellor Benedict cleared his throat, stepping forward. "Your Majesty, allow me to formally introduce the delegation from Paradis." He gestured towards the scouts, his voice carrying through the room. "Captain Levi Ackerman, Commander Hange Zoe, Armin Arlert, and Jean Kirstein."

The scouts bowed deeply, their movements respectful, and Levi lifted his gaze to meet the Emperor's. The room fell silent, the weight of the moment pressing down on them as Emperor Armand regarded the newcomers. The silence was heavy, filled with expectation, and the scouts could feel the eyes of the court officials on them, each assessing, each measuring the worth of the guests from Paradis.

“Welcome to Valoria,” the Emperor said, his voice steady and commanding. His gaze moved between them, lingering briefly on each scout, before finally resting on Levi. “It is a pleasure to receive guests from Paradis. We understand that this is a significant step for both our nations.”

Levi nodded slightly, his expression unreadable. “We appreciate your hospitality, Your Majesty. We are honored to be here to discuss the future of our alliance.” 

Emperor’s eyes narrowed slightly, as if assessing Levi’s words for any hidden meaning. Then, with a small nod, he gestured towards the woman beside him. “This is Lady Solana, the Rose Consort and mother of Princess Solina.”

Lady Solana stepped forward, her eyes softening as she smiled at the scouts, though the worry behind her gaze remained. “Welcome,” she said, her voice melodic but with an underlying note of concern. “We hope your journey was not too arduous. It is a great honor to have you here.”

Hange, ever the diplomat, smiled warmly in return. “Thank you, Lady Solana. Your home is truly beautiful, and we are grateful for the opportunity to be here.”

As the pleasantries continued, Levi’s attention shifted back to the missing presence—Princess Solina. The tension that seemed to hang over Lady Solana, the way her gaze flickered anxiously towards the door, only made it more apparent that something was amiss. Before Levi could dwell on it, the Emperor spoke again.

“My daughter, Princess Solina, was to be here to greet you as well,” he said, his voice smooth and carefully measured. “However, she has stepped outside to get some air. It seems that the anticipation of today’s meeting has overwhelmed her somewhat.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed slightly, though his expression remained composed. The idea of a princess being overwhelmed by nerves was foreign to him, but then again, the lives they lived were worlds apart. The world of royalty and politics was not one Levi had ever imagined being a part of, and the thought of a sheltered princess meeting a hardened soldier like him seemed almost absurd.

Lady Solana turned to the Emperor, her expression softening as she gave him a slight nod. “If you will excuse me, Your Majesty, I will go check on Solina. She has been quite anxious about today.”

The Emperor inclined his head, his gaze following Lady Solana as she turned and made her way towards the door, her green gown flowing behind her like water. The worry in her eyes seemed to deepen as she left the room, her steps quick but graceful. The eyes of the court followed her, a collective sense of concern and curiosity hanging in the air as they waited for the princess to appear.

…

Lady Solana made her way through the palace halls, her mind focused on her daughter. She knew how much pressure this meeting was putting on Solina, and her heart ached to see her so anxious. The palace was quiet, the sound of her footsteps echoing softly against the marble floors. She passed by tall windows that overlooked the gardens, their vibrant colors a stark contrast to the tension that hung over her. After a short walk, she stepped outside into one of the palace gardens, her eyes scanning the area until she found Solina pacing back and forth near a fountain.

The garden was lush and meticulously maintained, with vibrant flowers in full bloom and the gentle sound of water trickling from the fountain in the center. Solina was dressed in one of her finest gowns for this momentous occasion—a pink ball gown that flowed elegantly around her, the soft fabric adorned with delicate floral embroidery. Her long red hair cascaded down her back in thick curls, resembling a fire dancing in the sunlight. A delicate tiara rested on her head, the silver gleaming in the light, adding an air of royalty to her already striking appearance. Despite her beauty, her face was etched with worry, her green eyes darting anxiously as she paced, her steps quick and restless. The gown hugged her figure, accentuating her curves, and the light fabric seemed to move with her, almost as if it were a part of her.

“Solina,” Lady Solana called softly, stepping closer. Solina turned, her eyes widening slightly as she saw her mother. Lady Solana approached her daughter, her heart aching at the sight of Solina's nervous expression. “My dear, you need to calm yourself. Everything will be alright.”

Solina let out a shaky breath, her hands wringing together. “Mother, I’m scared,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “What if he doesn’t like me? What if… what if I’m not what he expects?” Her voice was small, barely above a whisper, the weight of her fears evident in her tone.

Lady Solana reached out, taking her daughter’s hands in her own and giving them a reassuring squeeze. “You are more than enough, Solina. You are kind, intelligent, and talented. Anyone who cannot see that is blind to what truly matters. Captain Levi may be a soldier, but I believe he will see the wonderful person you are.” Her voice was filled with conviction, a steady anchor in the midst of Solina's uncertainty.

Solina looked down, her lashes casting shadows on her cheeks. “But I’ve never even met him. What if… what if he doesn’t want this?” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, her vulnerability clear.

Lady Solana smiled gently, brushing a stray curl away from Solina’s face. “You are not alone in feeling uncertain, my love. This is new for both of you. But give it time. You may find that there is more to him than his reputation. And remember, your father and I are always here for you, no matter what happens.”

Lady Solana sat down on a stone bench beside the fountain, gently tugging Solina to sit next to her. The garden was quiet, the sound of water trickling from the fountain the only noise breaking the silence. Lady Solana spoke softly, her voice filled with warmth as she continued to reassure her daughter. She spoke of the strength Solina had shown throughout her life, of the kindness and resilience that had always made her stand out. She reminded Solina of the challenges she had faced and overcome, each one a testament to her courage and spirit.

Solina listened, her breathing gradually slowing as her mother’s words wrapped around her like a comforting embrace. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the tension ease from her shoulders. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby trees, and the scent of the blooming flowers filled the air, creating a sense of calm that slowly began to seep into her. After a few minutes, she looked up at Lady Solana, her green eyes still holding a hint of uncertainty but now tempered with a newfound resolve.

“Thank you, Mother,” Solina said quietly. “I think… I think I’m ready now.”

Lady Solana smiled, her eyes filled with pride and affection. “Good. Let us go then. They are waiting for you.”

After a few more moments of sitting together, allowing Solina to fully collect herself, she finally felt ready to face what lay ahead. She stood, smoothing down her gown, and took a deep breath. With her mother by her side, they made their way back into the palace. The walk back seemed longer, the anticipation building with each step they took. The palace’s grandeur surrounded them—the tall columns, the intricate tapestries, and the soft light filtering through the windows all adding to the weight of the moment. Lady Solana spoke in soft tones as they walked, continuing to offer words of encouragement, reminding Solina of her strengths and the support she had behind her.

As they approached the meeting room, Lady Solana gave her daughter’s hand one last reassuring squeeze before leaning in to place a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Remember, you are stronger than you think,” Lady Solana whispered, her voice filled with unwavering belief.

The guards stationed at the door nodded to Lady Solana, then stepped forward to push open the heavy double doors. Lady Solana walked in first, her presence commanding the attention of everyone in the room. Her elegant stride and the way she held herself spoke volumes about her strength and poise, and the room seemed to hold its breath as she entered.

Solina took a deep breath, her heart pounding in her chest as she prepared to follow. She could feel her pulse quicken, the weight of the moment pressing down on her, but she straightened her posture, letting her mother’s words guide her. With the doors opened wide, and she stepped forward, ready to face the man who would be her future husband. Her steps were deliberate, each one a testament to her determination to embrace what lay ahead, despite her fears.

Levi’s eyes shifted towards the entrance, and for the first time, he saw her—Princess Solina, the woman whose name had been on everyone's lips, the woman who was now bound to him by duty and fate. Her pink gown flowed around her like a dream, her red hair shimmering like a flame, and her green eyes, filled with both uncertainty and quiet strength, met his. For a moment, Levi found himself momentarily taken aback by the sheer beauty of the woman before him—a beauty that seemed almost ethereal, capable of making even the most disciplined man falter. Her presence was captivating, and the room seemed to momentarily fade into the background as she approached.

Solina’s gaze moved across the room, her eyes darting between the strangers in front of her. She could see the scouts—three men and one woman—all dressed in their formal military attire. Her eyes flickered between Armin, Jean, and Levi, a hint of confusion in her gaze as she tried to discern which one of them was Captain Levi Ackerman. Her heart pounded, her anxiety rising as she took in their appearances. She noticed the shorter man with dark hair and an intense expression, and something in the way he held himself made her suspect that he was the one she was meant to meet.

Levi stepped forward, his eyes never leaving Solina’s as he spoke, his voice calm and steady. “Your Highness, I am Captain Levi Ackerman,” he said, bowing slightly in respect. “It is an honor to meet you.”

Solina’s breath caught in her throat as she took in the sight of him. He was not what she had imagined—his expression was stern, his eyes sharp and calculating, yet there was something about him that spoke of strength and resilience. His presence was commanding, and she could see the weight of experience in his gaze. She managed a small, polite smile, her voice barely above a whisper as she replied, “The honor is mine, Captain Levi.”

As protocol, she delicately executed a deep curtsy to him in response to his bow. For a moment, their eyes met, and the room seemed to fade away. It was an odd feeling—standing before the man who would soon be her husband, a stranger whose life was so different from her own. She could see the hardened soldier in him, the man who had fought countless battles, and she wondered if he could ever come to care for her, or if this would always be a marriage of duty.

Levi, for his part, found himself momentarily lost in thought. He had not expected her to be this beautiful, this poised. The way she carried herself, despite her obvious nerves, spoke of a quiet strength that he found surprising. She was different from what he had imagined—fragile-looking, yes, but there was a determination in her eyes that reminded him of those he had fought alongside. He straightened, pushing aside his thoughts as he reminded himself of why he was here. This was not about feelings or attraction—this was about securing an alliance, about duty and loyalty to his people.

The Emperor’s voice broke through the silence, his tone smooth as he addressed the room. “Captain Levi, Princess Solina, I am pleased that you have finally met. This is the beginning of a new chapter for both our nations.” He looked between them, his eyes lingering on his daughter, a hint of softness in his gaze that had not been there before. “I trust that you will both do your best to uphold the responsibilities that come with this union.”

Solina nodded, her gaze lowering as she curtsied once more. “Of course, Father.” Her voice was steady, though the weight of his words pressed heavily on her. She knew what was expected of her—duty above all else. She had been raised for this, prepared for the day she would be married off for the good of the empire. And now that day was here, and the reality of it was both terrifying and strangely surreal.

Levi inclined his head in agreement, his expression unreadable. “I will do my duty, Your Majesty.” His voice was firm, and there was a finality to his words that left no room for doubt.

The Emperor nodded, a satisfied expression crossing his face. “Very well. We have much to discuss regarding the terms of this alliance, but for now, let us move to more comfortable surroundings.” He gestured towards a set of double doors that led to a smaller, more intimate room where they could speak more freely.

As the group began to move, Solina found herself falling into step beside Levi, her heart still pounding as she tried to steady her nerves. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering what kind of man he truly was beneath the hardened exterior. Would he be kind to her? Would he care for her, even just a little? She could only hope that, in time, they might come to understand one another.

Levi, on the other hand, kept his focus straight ahead, his mind already turning to the negotiations that lay ahead. This was just the beginning—a necessary step in securing the future of Paradis. And though the woman beside him was beautiful, he reminded himself once more that this was not about emotions. It was about survival, about ensuring that his people had a future. He only hoped that Princess Solina understood that as well.

And so, with the weight of duty pressing down on both their shoulders, the two of them walked side by side, the path before them uncertain but irrevocably intertwined. It was the beginning of a new chapter—one that neither of them had chosen, but one that they would face together, for the sake of their people and the future of their nations.

~

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[msfcatlover]

Death Mask Steph

Oh boy. This is the big one. I've agonized over this, and getting the design right has been... ugh. Nevermind. Here we go.

Death Mask needs to draw on Red Hood and Steph designs. (I would draw from Black Mask designs, but frankly Roman's designs are all kinda boring? He's a skull-head in a suit, and basically always has been; it's simple & effective, but there's not a lot to iterate on there.) Steph's suits tend to be armored one-pieces, but layering is so crucial to most Red Hood designs, that balancing the two has been... tricky.

(I've already shared the Stephanie Brown Costume History page. Unfortunately, the n52 designs page seems to be just descriptions with no pictures, and the page for her n52 appearances doesn't give you many good angles. So here's Steph's "Future's End" & "Future State" designs, as the stand-out missing designs, in my opinion.)

The absolute vital part of any Red Hood inspired design is, of course, the helmet. It's also been the biggest pain. Jason's had some good helmet designs and a lot of bad ones over the years, and (as I've previously stated) finding a full reference page for them is basically impossible. So here's what I'm going with.

Steph starts with a sleek, sculpted black metal base. Say something like this model of Jason's Injustice helmet. The primary difference would be that Steph's helmet opens up at the front rather than the back; the faceplate would be hinged at the top of the head, and it would swing up & forwards to reveal her face.

(Using the Injustice helmet as a base because it more than most looks like it really should open from the front. I'd also say the sides would also be able to open wider, so that it can still fit snug without being a pain to get in & out of. Not that anyone would ever bother to draw that detail, but I think it would look neat opening up in 3 directions all at once.)

Next, most of the face plate is covered by a sculpted skull. This is how she invokes the whole "Death Mask" idea, as well as purposefully stealing Roman's gimmick. Below the teeth are a couple understated tubs & valves, evoking a gasmask---something like this.

(Kinda a Red X look, I'm realizing now that I'm digging through my reference folders all at once... Anyway, this piece seems to be by Laura Sheridan, but her website seems to be down, you can only buy her art seemingly 2nd hand, and I can't find this picture listed anywhere but pinterest.)

The edges, mechanical bits, and any detail work added should be done in copper.

Within the eye sockets are two recessed glowing lenses, like Jason often has, though Steph's glow a dark magenta, casting light that borders on red.

(Obviously, these lenses change size & shape to show emotion through the mask, like you do. They're not designed to---in fact, logically all the bat-masks are designed like this in order to help hide the wearer's emotions---but that's comic logic for you.)

Below the helmet, Steph's suit is mainly made up of reinforced black leather motorcycle pants, a black undersuit, and an armored vest like this.

(But black. Obviously.)

However, she accessorizes. Steph has added a decorative metal ribcage to her armor, as well was plates mimicking a spine. The ribs should be copper-colored, while the spine can be either metallic or black.

(Depending on who's drawing them, the ribs could range from purely decorative to practically another layer of armor. And following the links from pinterest, both of those artists have apparently taken their rib-art down, which is once again very disappointing.)

Steph wears a chunky utility belt which sits crooked on her hips. I personally think it should be black (maybe brown?) with either copper, ivory, or dark magenta snaps/clasps holding the pouches shut (pick one for all pouches, not a mixture). She has a gun holstered on each hip, one on each thigh, a set of throwing knives (3-5) on the front of the belt, and wears her sickle-swords strapped criss-cross on her back.

The swords themselves are made from a copper-alloy, retaining their coppery color, and easily double her reach (are about as long as one arm.) They have a hilt not dissimilar to an Egyptian khopesh, but a completely different blade; Steph's swords have a much more exaggerated curve, and crucially, they're sharpened on the inside of the crescent, where a khopesh is sharpened on the outside. They legitimately look like a crescent moon sickle, stretched out to sword size.

(Khopesh hilt, and genuinely the best crescent sickle sword I can find for what I'm picturing. Steph's would be in much better shape, obviously.)

Steph keeps it understated-but-still-stated with knee-high, buckle-up, black leather motorcycle boots.

(These are mid-calf, but it's the closest I can find that aren't completely over the top. Also, any artist who figured out how to make the laces work without losing the straps would win my unending love for the symbolism of Steph clearly still mimicking her big brother but trying so hard to hide it.)

Steph’s sleeves are armored in black metal plates, ending in sharpened black gauntlets. I don't care much about the specific structure, I just really want that clawed look.

(Shorter would be more practical for finesse work, while longer claws could be worked into her fighting style. I am going back & forth on whether this should be both arms or just one of them, because I’m a sucker for asymmetric designs, but I think it might be a bit too much with all the other details.)

Finally, over top of it all, Steph wears an uneven ivory-colored hooded shawl made of layers of thin, wispy fabric. It hangs down her back to her waist, but bunches up in the front over her collarbones. It's purposefully designed to look tangled & messy, hiding her body shape with all its bulk & fly-aways, and is flimsy enough that grabbing hold of basically any part of it will just leave you with a fist full of torn fabric.

This is the hardest to find examples for, but... okay, so it's shaped roughly like this:

(If anyone can find the non-pinterest source for this one, I'd hugely appreciate it; all I'm getting is a dead twitter link.)

It's layered like these:

And it's made from material like this:

(This definitely gets swapped out for either a white scarf or a brown trench coat pretty regularly, just because those are easier to wrap your head around/draw. I think both could work & be cool, but Steph is trying to give off “undead vibes” with this original costume, and this gives her a more ghostly look which… okay, is heavily inspired by this Jason design.)

Also, Steph's hair is still long, but she ties it up in either a french or dutch braid before going out most of the time. Dutch is for going out in public or to the gym, where she'll lift it off her neck in a ponytail, french then gets coiled into a bun inside of her helmet.

(I am undecided on whether or not she also has an undercut.)

[tsandoll]

any tips for writing smut??? i love your work sm

hello!! first, thank you soo much for enjoying my work! it means a lot and i hope you continue to enjoy what i put out!! second, i wanna say that there's no like correct way to write smut, do what makes you comfortable, write what you find the most enjoyment in, and don't change for anyone as far as writing certain things or trying to do certain things to please an audience, it sucks the life out of writing!! but of course there are some tips that i have!

1) try to characterize the idols and stick to that characterization. of course depending on the fic or ask you may switch things up or write them as a completely different character but i have a basic characterization of each bnd member that i sort of build off of in each scenario. for example! riwoo is very sweet and docile in my characterizations, always the type to be very softspoken so if i were to write him as a character that maybe didn't match him, maybe he's at parties a lot in a fic or maybe he hangs out with loud/mean people. i would still utilize my same basic characterization, he wouldn't speak much or he would stick out from the rest of them. maybe he's always at parties but he always has had a different vibe about him. or taesan for example, he's very romantic but very guarded in my mind, i always like to write him as someone with layers. i hope this makes sense, just find what way you most enjoy writing each member!!

2) don't get too caught up on wording. let's be honest, the wording of fics (ESPECIALLY smut) can be very cringe when you're writing it. there are certain words that i put in my own fics that i absolutely can't stand but it's the only word that best fits the sentence. don't get too stressed on wording because you can always go back and edit and replace and honestly the more you flesh out the fics, the less the words will stick out. write straight off your dome, even if all the nasty words come out first, just roll with it!

3) build atmosphere!! this is something ive been really really working on. i find that some fics really are missing the atmosphere or it's missing dynamics in general. i like to understand where the characters are, what it's like in the room at the moment, how the characters interact with one another. instead of just "taesan grabs your hand." say "taesan's hand is cold against yours, the size of his palm engulfs yours." something like that. give the reader a bit to go off of, even if it's a small drabble or something like that. this could just be me but i need A LOT to be focused and locked in on something im reading and i find it's much easier when the atmosphere is built. play with sounds, textures, scents, colors, and not just things on the physical person but like is there sounds of cars nearby, is the bed creaky, things like that. even something minimal like the smell of chapstick or a hair product or maybe a candle in the room.

4) don't lock yourself in a box, find your footing as far as your writing. switch things up! keep things fun for yourself. it's very easy to get used to writing a certain thing but you'll very quickly wear yourself out on that one thing if you don't keep things fresh for yourself. i personally write the things that i really love to write so i haven't gotten tired of my own things. like i love and enjoy writing sub bnd so that's what i write a majority of the time but i also dip my toes in switch bnd or dom bnd, even if i don't enjoy it as much but i won't know what i like unless i try it!

5) be okay with being bad. smut is hard to write, period point blank. like i know i have a smut blog but trust me sometimes i hate writing smut like there are times where i just HATEE writing it cuz it's just so hard to write and sometimes it's just Bad. like even i write bad smut sometimes 😭 but like i said before, you can always go back and edit it and the more you write, the better you'll get the hang of it. it takes time but you'll find your way!

6) plan plan plan! have an idea of what you want to do before you start. this could be knowing what kink you wanna write or knowing what dynamic you want to write and then you build off of that. i could say "hm i wanna write sub taesan + his childhood best friend" then you start to wonder, how do they begin a sexual relationship? was there a gap between them being childhood friends and them knowing each other now? have they ever been more than friends? how has each character changed over time? things like that. or if you want to keep it very short then that's okay too!

7) opposite of before but be okay with unexpected changes. sometimes something i have planned and was super excited for in a fic doesn't quite fit in the way i wanted to and sometimes doesn't fit in at all. there may be a certain kink or a certain scene you wanted to include but the more you write you may find that the fic doesn't need that/will suffer from you including a certain thing. it's okay to change your mind and change things.

8) do not compare yourself. this is the fastest way to give up. don't go reading other fics and saying "they're so much better i should just quit", instead you should read other peoples fics, find what u like about them, take inspo (DO NOT COPY!!) and apply it to your own writing! i started improving most and writing more and at my best when i was reading a lot. i find my own weaknesses through other people's writing. like i may like how someone incorporates dialogue (this is actually something im bad at and an working on) so i may try it out for myself and see how it works and then make it my own. find writers that match your style, but again, keep it original, find what you're good at and what you're bad at and then work on it!

9) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HAVE FUN!!! it doesn't have to be so serious. a lot, if not all writers go through times where they feel so worthless and like their writing is trash. trust me, i go through it often this is why i don't post a lot (not the full reason but part of it) don't let the joy be taken from you!! learning is a process, try to enjoy every step. take it slow, allow yourself time, and ask for help!! i personally am willing to help people improve their writing! of course im not the greatest or most perfect writer but i can still help!! talking to others and getting help is very beneficial! i ask for help with writing a lot actually so there's no shame in it!