#couldn't decide how to color it so I made multiple versions...

[tenebrisvoid]

Entry for @fyeahghosttrick's Ghost Swap! Prompts: Block A - 20. - @frogpotat - Ghost Trick + Pokémon crossover & Block A - 50. - @youghostandyoutrick - Fandom fusion! Put anyone from the Ghost Trick cast into another fictional universe, as though they originated from that universe. Ghost Trick elements (like Temsik and how ghosts work) can be adapted for the new universe however you see fit.

The Main Character as Rotom Lynne as Combusken Kamila as Kirlia (shiny) Missile as Lillipup

Jowd as Dusknoir Cabanela as Sirfetch'd Commander Sith as Slugma (shiny) Sith's Assistant as Golurk Beauty as Tsareena Dandy as Drizzile The Chef as Corsola Alma as Gardevoir (shiny) Prisoner C38 as Croconaw The Unnamed Police Officer as Bellsprut Prisoner C74 as Lickilicky The Chief as Shiftry Memry as Liligant Detective Rindge as Watchog (shiny) The Doctor as Pupitar The Justice Minister as Granbull Bailey's Co-worker as Slakoth Bailey as Breloom The Park Guardian as Tarountula (shiny) The Lady in Purple as Florges (shiny) Amelie as Flabébé Tengo as Electabuzz Jeego as Magmar The Blue and Green Police Officers as Gulpin (shiny blue and reg. green respectively) The Superintendent as Skeledirge (And Lovy-Dove as the little fire bird Skeledirge has)

[mitsuko-saito]

Tutorial: How do I design my MK Characters?

(big tutorial btw, but it's worth it)

Have you ever tried to make an OC to fit in Mortal Kombat universe, but you couldn't find any ideas for what your OC needs to wear and they end up with the most generic outfit? I've had lol.

So, I decided to "study" the Mortal Kombat games, by its lore, characters designs and some real life references they get to create their own characters.

And oh boy, the creators had LOADS of inspirations!

As the slide below shows, Raiden's hat design was inspired by a movie "Big trouble in little China".

Even tho Raiden's hat is similar to the movie's hat, the creators made their own version and adapted to create Raiden's character design.

Same thing for Liu Kang. In the first games, it was quite clear that his design and moves were inspired by Bruce Lee. But as the game's evolution with other Mortal Kombats, Liu Kang's design started to become more original. In MK11, his design got a good upgrade!

As the slide above shows, when creating your character, consider blending various elements that resonate with you-such as color palettes, clothing styles, or personality traits-from multiple sources.

But what does it mean?

It means when you’re designing a character — whether for a story, a game, or a piece of art — you can get ideas from things you already like, like your favorite books, movies, games, or comic books.

Instead of copying directly, you take elements you find cool (like a color scheme, a style of clothing, a bit of their backstory, or a particular trait) and mix them together in your own way.

Then you add your own twist — something unique or different — to make sure your character feels original and not just a replica of someone else’s.

In the end, it’s about using what inspires you as a starting point and turning it into something that’s entirely yours.

So remember:

Inspirations ≠ Copying

Now let's talk about the most notable elements in every Mortal Kombat character!

Distinct Color Palettes:

Every character typically has their own color scheme that makes them immediately recognizable — like Scorpion’s yellow, Sub-Zero’s blue, Kitana’s blue, Mileena’s pink, or Raiden’s white and blue. This color-coding started in the earliest games to help players tell ninja-like characters apart, and it’s remained a tradition in their designs.

Cultural Influences:

The designers draw a lot from martial arts, East Asian culture, and cinema. Ninja masks, samurai armor, Shaolin monk outfits, and mythical creatures all appear in character designs, reflecting a rich blend of traditions.

Unique Silhouettes:

Every character has a silhouette that makes them instantly recognizable, thanks to their headgear, shoulder armor, masks, or physical traits. For example: Goro’s four arms or Baraka’s bladed arms set them apart immediately.

Over-the-Top Styles:

The Mortal Kombat universe is fantastical and dramatic — character outfits often combine practicality with fantasy elements.

Designs frequently feature exaggerated shoulder pads, elaborate masks, dramatic belts, and other details that underscore their power or role in the story.

Thematic Consistency:

The designs reflect their backstory, powers, and personalities. For example, icy motifs for Sub-Zero, a thunder deity's attire for Raiden, a warlord's armor for Shao Kahn, or the grotesque, monster-like traits of Baraka.

Evolution Over Time:

As technology improved and games transitioned from 2D sprites to 3D models, character designs became more sophisticated and realistic — adding texture, finer details, and more cinematic movement — while staying true to their roots.

OKAY! Now let's put this on practice. I'm going to show you how I did Mitsuko's design (on the first photo). You can do your own character in a different way and that's okay :)

My first step is gathering references. I usually do this on Pinterest, but I do a deep search too! When I create a character from another country, I always do a research about the culture, lifestyle, etc.

To organize the references, I create a foulder called: MK OC inspirations. And I LOVE to organize my character's info by writing on topics. Here are the list of apps that I used:

1st step: Gather references - you can use Pinterest and PureRef for it!

2nd step: Make a 3d pose - Daz 3D is your best friend in this step

3rd step: Photobashing - Photopea is very useful and very easy to use

(save the file after you finish this step. Save the file on PSD format.)

WARNING: You need to be very careful when you're about to use this method cause every image you might take has their copyright. So search the images carefully.

Here is a Youtube tutorial, with a lot of details of how to use the Photobashing technique:

Credits to: Imad Awan for the amazing tutorial

4th step: Create details based on your references + Draw your character - Paint Tool Sai

(You can paint/draw. You are free to do whatever you want)

And there you have it! This is how I created this design for Mitsuko (it's an alternative design of her canonic outfit)

I hope you liked my tutorial, and share this to some friends who also wants to create a Mortal Kombat OC. It'd would be very nice!

Please, don't let this post flop! It took me so much to finish! Anyways, I hope you'll have a wonderful day. Bye bye :3

[zeldabecameaqueen]

i made a qsmp eggs little village!

🥔•🌺 🎩•🍎 🐮•🦜 🎀•👓 💐•🧢 🍿•🥞 💎•⚙️

because i love these eggs very much, and because i enjoyed these long months spent with them and their admins, i decided to build a little village, based on the idea of the egg museum (where each egg has a small room of a limited size they have to decorate to show their personalities)

so it's not meant to resemble something they could build for themselves, but more a building representing their vibe, essence, what we recognize them for

unfortunately i couldn't include Chunsik due to the fact that i don't know him at all

i'll put a preview here of the buildings that are the most memorable to me, the rest will follow in two other posts

1/3

uninteresting design explanation ↓

the village is designed as follows: each egg is paired with one of their siblings, and their huts are adjoined. 6 eggs on one side of the alley, 6 eggs on the other, and one at the end. The placement of the eggs is chosen according to their affinities (family ties, dear friendships). Of course, their affinities being multiple and changing over time, this is mostly my vision of how each egg can find a pair that fits the best among the others

the most difficult to realize :

it looks simple but i kept changing my mind last minute about how to configure things and how to represent this egg that we don't know very much

the most realistic :

it wasn't the goal but this one is the only one that I think could have been built by the egg, it's pretty much their style

my least favorite :

i love this egg but couldn't represent them at all so it's most of all me being disappointed in how it doesn't seem harmonious

the most fun to do :

for some reason it was this one, that's like my third version of it but i really enjoyed thinking about the harmony between the colors, shape, space, and light in it, it was like a puzzle

[koalaphoenix]

I was going through my art folder on my phone and realized how far I've come with how I draw Shay (and her different forms).

Way back in 2021 I drew her for the first time. She effectively came from a dream I had, where I lived her life in one night. But the struggle was I never actually really saw what Shay/I looked like in the dream. I knew what I was, who I was, but not what I looked like, beyond my hands. One of the most spectacular dreams I've ever had, by the way.

So early on when I was streaming, I decided to take a crack at drawing the dragon woman I'd been in the dream. I couldn't even really remember my/her name, although with help from my friends it came to me.

The first sketch was... Rough, at best. I had no clue how to draw an anthro creature, which Shay effectively was. I used multiple references to even sorta rough out what I wanted, and the result was not spectacular. But it was a start.

Then I was memeing with my friends about our D&D characters. I fully intended to RP as Shay when we began a campaign. It led to the version above - the first proper drawing where I was mostly happy with her overall design.

Late 2021 and I tried to push myself a little further, although I still didn't know what I was doing.

Art block hit me like a truck for a few months. When I finally managed to get drawing again, the results were initially really, really bad. But it wasn't too long and I drew what would end up being a far more finalized version of her design, the template for many future works. She was a more agile figure than her design sketch. I adjusted her horns to make more sense anatomically, and to fit better with her hair.

And also I drew abs on her.

Then there were several more drawings. I touched on alternate versions, put her in some fun situations as self indulgence, tried to experiment with difficult poses. There was a lot of struggle, as I still couldn't quite get her head shape consistent.

Then I found some new resources, and on a whim I drew what's becoming my favorite alternate version of her: Shayaa.

(Flat color iteration shown)

Shayaa was born out of two thoughts. I wanted a version of Shay that was a little thicc, and I wanted a version where she hadn't been abandoned. This ended up with her in armor, and was a leap forward in terms of quality and some design cues. The softer snout, more defined mouth, and thicker horns ended up really helping me draw her more consistently.

I was worried that it was one of those cases where I went beyond my actual ability and wouldn't be able to replicate it, but I was mostly wrong.

I decided I wanted to adjust "prime" Shay's design a bit, to improve her visibly aging and to widen the gap between her and Shayaa to emphasize their differences. I thinned her up a bit, made her muscles more lean, and rounded her features to make her appear more youthful - she's in her early 20s at the start of Godbreaker, but I saw her design as more in her late 20s or early 30s. She was always intended to be more lean than I'd drawn her, but skill issue. I also kinda hated parts of her default outfit, they seemed off and weren't the easiest to draw.

And now? I'm pretty satisfied with her design. She looks younger and more lean, and ideally a little less "civilized." Her hair got spikier to make it easier for me to draw - I suck at floofy hair. She's still pretty big, at 6'7" tall, but she doesn't look like a brick house anymore (nothing wrong with that, I love brick houses, she was just not intended to be that).

But yeah. Going through the old art, a lot of which I can't add to this post, it really hit home to me how much in such a relatively short time she's changed since the first real sketch, how much I've changed...

...And how much has stayed the same.

Aaaand to not end on any sort of deep moment, holy shit her old feet were HUGE.

[ficyorick]

"the original ending to the ch3 looked like this. before the very painstaking edit process the whole HL-on-Butchers-lap scene was WAY more... you know. more handsy. i decided to downplay it considerably bc I felt i was jumping the gun too early and im glad i did, i prefer butcher more tortured about the whole thing"

Would you ever consider posting this version on your tumblr? It seems interesting though i agree it would probably be too early

hi anon! i wish i could but unfortunately this wasn't the case of me just cutting out a bit and moving it to "deleted scenes" folder, this was a thorough re-edit, meaning i had to change multiple parts, multiple sentences or just a few words there and there... basically a lot of small changes that aren't as easy to save as a whole scene getting cut . the best i can do is post some excerpts that are from the pre-final edit version of the chapter which is after some editing already :( sorry if there's errors or even editing comments from me to me HEHE i tried to remove all of them

Butcher put out another cigarette in his old drink and patted Homelander’s knee then his own. 

"C’mere." 

"No." A whine. 

"Come sit on my lap." 

"Sssicko." 

Butcher grabbed his arm and pulled him with force. Another hand on his hip, the cheap costume rustled underneath his grip. Homelander made another undignified noise but he was so pliable, it felt like moving a big pillow on top of him. He was straddling his thighs, hands hanging loose from his sides, far away from Butcher. His eyes were closed as if he couldn’t stand to look at what was happening now.

"You’re ssso sick." Homelander protested but he could only sway back and forth.

"What did you say to her?" Butcher asked, looking up into his face. His heart was beating fast now. The main event. 

"Who…" 

"Becca."

"Oh Jesus…" Not this again, said Homelander’s tone. He took a deep breath. "Just do it…" 

"Do what." 

"I dunno, whatever it is you’re going to…." The colorful mess in his lap was slightly swaying back and forth, unable to find balance. Then all of a sudden, he tried to get away but Butcher grabbed him by his hip again, forcing him down. A little gasp: "You’re sick. Sssick." 

"Are you scared?" Butcher asked through his clenched teeth. 

Homelander shook his head but something wet clung to his lashes anyway. 

"I’m not gonna hurt ya." Butcher’s hands moved from the hips to his thighs. A strangled keen from Homelander. "I just want you to feel what she felt." 

He shifted his palms further in, moving to the inner side of the splayed, costumed thighs. Homelander tensed up, as much as he could while pumped full of booze. Only one of his eyes was open, peeking at him underneath clumped lashes. He was breathing fast. Butcher huffed out a hot breath of his own that couldn't stay in his lungs anymore. Homelander flinched as if the sound itself was enough to send him into a panic. The palms on his thighs moved up and down, going deeper, further up, with each shifting movement. Butcher absent-mindedly noted that the hands pressing into the cheap fabric didn't even feel like his anymore. The swaying man on his lap was still now, leaning back unnaturally. He was still watching him with just one eye, the other one blind to everything that was happening.

"What are you thinking about?" Butcher asked, no tone, no inclination to his voice. Just a neutral command. 

"Wish I could… choke the life out of you." Homelander confessed.

Butcher kept his hands where they were, his fingertips pressed into the spot where the thighs met the pelvis. He wasn’t sure if Homelander could even feel his touch through the foamy muscle padding, but judging by how frozen he still was, he could feel it. Every second of it. 

"Okay." Butcher canted his head. "Go ahead. Give it a try."

Homelander didn’t move but Butcher heard him inhale. 

"I mean it. Do it."

Suddenly, a pair of clammy hands was closing on his throat. A familiar Homelander snarl rang out above his head. The grasp on his neck didn’t obstruct his breathing in any way, it was struggling to even fully squeeze at him. All it did was make him laugh in a slightly strained way. HLs hands cant even fully close around his throat

"C’mon, put your back into it." He groaned out.

Homelander sunk his fingertips as deep as he could, putting on claw-like pressure. That, he could almost feel. 

"There we go, good lad." Butcher grunted and smiled at him.

"Want to kill you so bad." Homelander whined out, his breathing devolving into an open-mouthed panting. "So, so, so bad." 

"You can’t. Not anymore." Billy laughed. His hands moved from Homelander’s thighs to the wrists. He could feel zip-tie scars underneath his palms and he swiped over them with pride. 

"So bad…" Homelander’s grip was waning, there was no strength left in his drunk arms. He kept slurring words out, just one eye open, his pupil completely blown out: "Kill you so fuckin’ bad… rip your head off… then crush… it."

Butcher grinned, wild-eyed. He was untouchable and the scared little cunt in his lap couldn’t even do anything to fight back.

A hiccup interrupted them and just like that Homelander's entire body wobbled and he collapsed to the side like a felled tree, letting go of Butcher’s throat. 

"Fuck…" He complained. 

Butcher shoved the limp legs off his lap and got up from the couch. Homelander’s knees were on the floor now and he stepped away from him like he was on fire. Homelander was face down on the green fabric, looking like a doll abandoned mid-play, its limbs bent at weird angles.

"You can’t do anything anymore, cunt." Butcher fumbled for his cigarettes, basically smashing one of them into his mouth and lighting it up. He had to do something with his hands, his limbs were like a live wire now. One puff, two puffs. Fuck. 

_____

there was more stuff that i removed... there was actual groping i cut out, i think the choking scene had HL moving closer to Butcher, huffing and puffing at each other and then during the bathroom moment Butcher had more sexually charged revelations about how vulnerable and utterly his HL is and how THAT was making him even more into everything that was happening but i chose to replace all of that with Guilt.

[marxm-03]

Hey Yall-

I have been thinking about my asexual identity recently. I've never really identified with the word, or even any microlabels within it. I've always just said ace due to the complexity of my emotions. I've always just said,

"I'm ace until I'm not (but only for my bf, otherwise I'm just ace)".

I have not found a single term completely describing how I feel. I've found multiple different ones that describe bits and pieces, but never the whole story. I recently found 2 to add on to my 3rd label to completely describe how I feel, and they are the terms Cupiosexual and Reciprosexual- along with the term Demisexual that I've already sort of identified with.

Since I couldn't find a label, I've decided to make one for myself.

If anyone relates or likes the label/ flag, please let me know. I'd love to share. Also let me know if you come up with any ideas for it, like a better name or flag addition. But I made this for my own peace. Anyways, I introduce a new ace umbrella microlabel-

ROMISEXUAL

([row- mee- sexual] prefix- romi; mix of romance, reciprocate, demi)

-When one only feels sexual attraction when it is reciprocated or initiated by someone they have a deep connection with. A sexual relationship may occur as a result, but is not required.

Color meanings:

Black- Asexuality

Royal Blue- Deep connection or relations

Lavender- reciprocated affection or attraction

White- Sexuality

There's also a version with the cupiosexual symbol, indicating want for a sexual relationship with asexuality or no sexual attraction otherwise:

I am very proud of the colors and meanings and I'm so happy to have something to finally describe me. I hope this can make some others happy too!

🌕

-Michael

[tokiro07]

Was talking to a customer today about media consumption, specifically about the benefits and risks of binging

I've talked about this concept a number of times lately it feels like, but this particular conversation helped me realize a nice framework to look at it with: while binging is quick and to an extent feels good (i.e. "I finished this series in X amount of time!"), it greatly reduces the amount of anchor points that one can form to become attached to the media in question

For example, when I was reading Dungeon Meshi, I ended up reading all 90+ chapters in the span of three days; Dungeon Meshi is made up of a lot of small arcs, each lasting only a few chapters, and I ended up reading all of them in the same context (sitting on my couch at around the same time of day) with minimal exposure to outside factors (other readers, sharing what I was doing with my family or friends, etc.)

Aside from key moments, like those that were particularly funny ("an exact duplicate...?") or particularly emotionally impactful (the ancient magic, Senshi's youth, post-Dungeon Rabbits, etc.), I feel like I couldn't really relay the events of the story to someone else without missing a lot of the best bits because, again, by binging them I ended up mashing all of the events together in my mind. I didn't even end up reading it at a particularly noteworthy time in my own life, so reading it so quickly meant that it didn't end up connecting to my personal life either

Compare to say, One Piece, which I hadn't actually read in its entirety until Gear 4th was revealed; I realized that the significance of this moment may have been lost on me, so I decided that this would be a good time for me to fill in any of the gaps in my knowledge (i.e. Davy Back, Skypiea, Water 7, etc.) and read the full-color version

At just shy of 800 chapters at the time, this process took me approximately three weeks; some chapters I read lying on my bed, some I read sitting in a chair, some I read during breaks in college. Some I read while listening to Three Days Grace, some while listening to 10 Years, some while listening to Rise Against

Even though I was binging One Piece, the sheer amount of time it took me to actually do so ended up giving me a ton of opportunities to create anchors; I remember different contexts, outside conversations, and most importantly, the impacts that they had on me

Rereading Punk Hazard at the time was definitely the highlight, as it altered not only my reading experience but my involvement in the fandom and just generally how I lived my life. Because I was reminded of Monet, I started looking into the theories surrounding her, which led to me looking into other theories and finding forums like Oro Jackson. Monet herself became the ultimate anchor point for me, as she retroactively became the frame of reference that I have for my entire One Piece experience

Reading One Piece took so long that it ended up being a defining segment of my life in and of itself, whereas the time spent reading Dungeon Meshi was so small that it barely registers as a single event, despite the fact that I think it's extremely high quality and a story I highly recommend

It's like when you're studying for an exam - you can't just cram the night before, you'll wear your brain out and only really remember the first and last things you read particularly clearly; but if you space it out and give yourself time to rest, you'll have multiple beginnings and endings that you'll remember a lot better than you would have otherwise, both because they're each their own isolated incident that you can think back to while also giving yourself enough time to recover

So when you're consuming a new piece of media that you've really wanted to get into but you were too late for the live updates, please consider regulating your experience. Limit yourself to 10 chapters a day, or one arc per day, or whatever's the most conducive to that particular medium. Just resist the temptation of "just one more, it's so good and I've got time for it"

You may have the time for it, but like eating a bag of candy, you're going to end up overdoing it and regretting it because A) you don't feel as good as you would have otherwise and B) now you don't have it when you want it later

[my-chemical-wheaties]

Albums That I Listened to in January 2024

Last month, I made the first of what I plan to be a series of twelve posts where I share what albums I listened to in the month before then and what I thought about them.

Here are the twelve albums that I listened to this month:

Titanic Rising - Weyes Blood (2019)

When We Were That What Wept for the Sea - Colin Stetson (2023)

3D Country - Geese (2023)

Middle Cyclone - Neko Case (2009)

In Colour - Jamie xx (2015)

Atlanta Millionaires Club - Faye Webster (2019)

Color Me Country - Linda Martell (1970)

Madison - Sloppy Jane (2021)

Marquee Moon - Television (1977)

Heaven or Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins (1990)

Fantasies - Metric (2009)

In My Own Time - Karen Dalton (1971)

Here's how I'd rank these albums:

Madison - I decided to give this album a listen purely out of curiosity because of how fascinated I was by the story behind how it got made. For those of you who are unaware, songwriter Haley Dahl and her band Sloppy Jane recorded this album in the Lost World Caverns in West Virginia over the course of two weeks, and for an album that was recorded in a literal cave, it's excellent. The orchestral, art pop compositions are absolutely beautiful, and Haley is a great lyricist whose ability to convey certain emotions and experiences with such visceral imagery and usage of symbolism throughout multiple tracks is something I admire and respect. Going into this album knowing that it was recorded in a cave adds to the atmosphere of the album, too. While listening, I couldn't help but imagine Haley and company playing these songs in a dark cavern in the middle of the night. I could go on about this album and how much I love it for pages, but I these posts are already kind of long as it stands, and I don't want it to be any longer. Definitely give it a listen, especially if you're as big of a Kate Bush fan as I am, because this has her influence all over it. 10/10

2. Middle Cyclone - Ever since I discovered her music last year before I started this personal challenge, Neko Case has quickly become one of my favorite artists and this album only further demonstrates to me why I've come to love her work so much. The way she blends together indie rock and country scratches an itch for me; and much like in her album preceding this one, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Middle Cyclone demonstrates Neko's incredible lyricism, particularly her ability to convey emotional rawness and human vulnerability in such a straightforward, yet eloquently profound way. Given that this is also what I would consider Neko Case's most accessible album, I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't already listened to her work to check this album out - especially if you're a fan of artists like Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, or Adrienne Lenker who I think all owe a part of their sound and success to her. 8/10

3. In My Own Time - Karen Dalton is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated artists of the 60s and 70s and deserves more recognition than what she gets. Only the second album she ever released in her lifetime, there's something especially pleasant about her different covers of these songs (Yes, this is a covers album - Karen didn't really write or record original material). It makes me feel like I am sitting in a living room in a house on the countryside watching the snow fall in the winter or the leave rustling in the breeze in the summer. Not to mention that Karen has a beautiful alto voice. I actually like some of these covers better than their original versions. If you're looking for late sixties/early seventies folk music to listen to, I would recommend checking this album out. 9/10

4. Fantasies - Metric is a band that has been on my radar for a while now, but for some reason, I haven't gone out of my way to listen to any of their albums in full until now. All of the tracks go pretty hard, and I really like Emily Haines' voice. My favorite band Paramore cited Metric as an influence for their most recent album This Is Why, and I can definitely see where they were inspired. If any of you like Paramore or Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I would definitely give this album a listen. 7/10

5. Titanic Rising - This album sounds like walking through an antique store that is faintly playing old obscure 80s music on its loudspeakers as you gaze over the various items decorating each "room" in the store, the scent of vintage goods and old wood wafting through the air. Weyes Blood's voice reminds me of a cross between Eurhythmics' Annie Lennox and Enya, and the instrumentation and production on this album are stunningly beautiful. I was worried going into this album that I wouldn't be able to get into it because the tracks are all on the slower side in terms of tempo, but I actually found myself liking this one a lot. 9/10

6. Color Me Country - Linda Martell is an important figure in country music history who, despite her significance and the barriers she helped break down for black artists in the genre, has been oft forgotten. The first black artist in history to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, she only ever released one studio album - Color Me Country, in 1970. The album consists of pretty standard country music that was common at the time, with lyrical subject matter typical of the genre - but just because an album isn't sonically pushing the envelope, doesn't mean that it can't be good. I don't know what it was, but something lit up in me listening to this album and I really enjoyed what I heard. It makes me wonder what else she would have done had she continued her music career and released more material. Either way, this is a wonderful album from an incredible woman who deserves a lot more attention to her work. 7/10

7. 3D Country - This album sounds like a fusion between The Rolling Stones and Queen and I'm kind of living for it. It's genuinely good, fun, classic-styled rock music that doesn't take itself too seriously and has some really unique qualities to it. St. Elmo has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it, and little embellishments like the harp on the title track really give this album its own personality. If you're somebody who primarily listens to older music who wants to try something newer or are just looking for more rock bands to get into, I recommend giving this album a try. 8/10

8. Atlanta Millionaires Club - Did you know that Faye Webster and I are the same age? I'm so used to artists either being older or younger than me that seeing someone around my age making music is both surprising and refreshing to me at the same time. This might be part of the reason why I clicked with this album a bit better than some of the other ones that I listened to this last month - Faye and I are in kind of the same place in life and due to us being the same age, and we probably share a similar perspective and experiences. It also helps that Faye is an adroit lyricist, and the chill indie rock instrumentation suits her voice well. The only issue that I have with this album is that the track Flowers near the end sounds jarring given how different it is from the rest of the album. 8/10

9. When We Were That What Wept for the Sea - This album gaslit me into thinking I have synesthesia. No really, I'm serious - I listened to this album while driving at night and I remember during the beginning of either Infliction or Passage I started smelling freshly brewed coffee. I didn't have any coffee in the car with me and I was not in an area where there would be any coffee brewing nearby. It was wild. And then after that it started smelling like the produce section of a grocery store in the beginning of the second half of the album. Anyways, this experimental ambient album by saxophonist Colin Stetson was really interesting to listen to and there are a lot of cool details scattered throughout each song. It wasn't what I was expecting at all, but it was a pleasant surprise. It would probably pair well with the flute album Andre 3000 put out last year. 8/10

10. Marquee Moon - This is a classic album that I see getting a ton of praise, so I figured I would give it a listen. It's a pretty good album, although the tracks sound a little bit samey at times. The two songs that stand out to me are Venus and the title track. 7/10

11. In Colour - The only solo album (As of right now) from The xx member Jamie xx makes for a fairly pleasant listening experience. Jamie seems to be veering slightly away from the indie rock elements of The xx's work and more into electronic and pop, incorporating some hip-hop influences along the way. The featured appearances all fit in nicely, and the album overall sounds like the chill cousin of Daft Punk's Homework. 8/10

12. Heaven or Las Vegas - Please don't take me ranking this album last as some indication that I don't like it. I actually enjoyed it - albeit think that it's overrated. The number of people that I have seen praising this album and talking about how great it is made me think that it was going to be some amazing, mind-altering experience to listen to, but it was really a series of (Super short) shoegaze-y pop tracks that are just good. I don't really get why people hype up Cocteau Twins so much. You would think that they invented sliced bread with the way some people talk about them. 7/10

So far, I've really been enjoying most of the albums that I listen to. I have a few albums in mind that I plan to listen to in full in February, but again, if anyone wants to recommend me anything, you are always welcome to leave a comment. :)

[20dollarlolita]

An absurdly and unnecessarily over-the-top and thorough breakdown of using my embroidery machine for a cosplay piece.

Part 1) The piece:

Many iterations of Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series has this tapestry front piece. I've looked for a technical name for this piece as well as extant examples of it from our history, and my research is indicating that it's just a fantasy piece and doesn't have a name.

So we're calling it an apron. IDK. "Heraldic apron," sounds fancy enough.

One of the things that's been a bitch through all cosplay of all time is custom textiles. Since the early days of cosplay, we've been looking for ways to handle this at home. Back when I got into cosplay and took it really seriously, Worbla hadn't been invented, there was no Friendly Plastic, Wonderflex had to be purchased in 15-yard lots, the Glowforge and home 3D printing was just a fantasy, and Cricut machines ran off cartridges and couldn't design from your computer. Also, when I was cosplaying seriously, I was a college student with no job and a $100/month allowance for food (which I spent on cosplay, mostly). We didn't do fancy shit. You know what we did?

We had fuckin' hand-traced and hand-cut stencils. Mother fuckin' freezer. Paper. Stencils. Now, this version of Zelda that 2009 Me is cosplaying up there does have a much simpler heraldic apron than Ocarina of Time Zelda does. However, since I've gotten access to embroidery machines, I've had this great need to remake this sort of concept with adult me's current budget and skill set.

Now, there's a few issues from the start about making this. The notable one is that the in-game textures for the apron do not completely line up with the official artwork. When you start looking at the 3DS remakes, they re-textured the apron, giving us yet a third canonical way that this thing might be laid out.

Obviously, the easiest thing to do is to get several references, and then to slap them next to each other and compare. I've got GIMP pulled up here, and have several versions here. I adjusted color levels until the pattern in the garment was as clear as I could make it. There's horizontal guide lines going across to divide the apron into sections. We'll call those sections thusly, top to bottom: Triforce, Eyeball, Bird, 8 Rectangles, and V.

***

This is going to be long and boring. I have my reasons for writing a long and boring post, but sadly, I'm not able to share them without becoming un-boring, thus defeating the purpose of this work.

***

I forgot to label them, so that reference image is, from left to right: N64 screenshot, 3DS screenshot, N64 character model, small inset at the bottom is 3DS, official artwork that was released alongside the N64 game, a heraldic tabard, some official rendering of the Hylian crest, and another 3DS screenshot.

Some are pretty self-explanatory, and some are more open to interpretation. Notably, let's take a look at the Bird section. The official artwork and the 3DS remake both distinctly have the Hylian Family Crest there. The N64 version has a very distinctly different bird thing.

So, I had to decide, which one do I put on my apron? I had to consider several things, but one of them was the process of how game textures from the N64 era were made. Textures for this game were very small image files, smaller than your 2009 cosplay.com forum avatar. The reference art would be made and then other people would be in charge of turning that art into a usable texture file, so there was artistic license involved in adapting that. This game was released before the Hylian crest had been used in multiple places across several games. Therefore, we can justify making the assumption that the texture artists didn't have an understanding of how important it was to keep this part the exact shape it was, and turned "stylized bird" into "stylized bird" in a way that would read clearly on screen at 45x100 pixels. We can assume this to be the case, because, when Grezzo did the 3DS remake, their texture artist used the Hylian crest instead of the OoT bird thing.

***

Sorry for all the embroidery stuff in the past few days. I've attracted the attention of a couple people online and embroidery seems to bore them, so we're doing that for a little bit until I stop being interesting.

,***

Cosplay has a spectrum of screen-accuracy to full-nonsense. In some things, you can do screen accuracy very well. Screen-Accurate Princess Leia from EpIV is pretty easy to make look good. Sometimes, you can do full nonsense pretty well, too. Princess Leia, but in if Star Wars was steampunk, also pretty easy to make look good.

Some things aren't as easy to make look good when you're doing screen-accurate. Sephiroth's hair in most of the Final Fantasy games stands up off his head by like 30% the height of his face. If you math that out, you have a wig with 5" antennas swooping up in the front. When you put that on a head, it looks silly. Do you want your Sephiroth to look silly? No? Then you need to do something about that hair.

My cosplay rule that I try to stick with is this: If you need to make a decision between what is "accurate" and what looks good, you pick what looks good. As long as the character reads as the character when you're done, it's better to look good than to be accurate.

And this is why, instead of just tracing any of these aprons in my embroidery software, I broke out a pen and drew the whole thing out.

Actually, I drew half of it out. The left half to be specific. I know that I'm going to mess with this later on my computer, and I know that I want the thing to be symmetrical, so let's save everyone (mostly me) some trouble and just do half of it.

Why was it important to me to draw it full size? Remember, that texture we're referencing is less than 100 pixel wide. The final piece is going to be full size, so there's a lot of things that just don't scale up easily. We're basically going from a texture the size of my thumb nail to something that has to be more high-def than 8K. This basically meant that I needed to redraw it from scratch to get that resolution. Lots of little details are going to have to be added, and I'm much better at adding them with a pen than I am just guessing while I'm digitizing the file to embroider.

So, I took it, pulled it into GIMP, and made some adjusting. I mirrored it so that I have both a left and a right side to work with. I changed the contrast so that I could see the lines better. I didn't like the Hylian crest that I drew so I just plopped the official SVG onto it and dragged it around until it fit.

And then, and this is kind of important, I cropped the image so that it's the exact proportions that I want the final thing to be. My whole design is in this file, and there's no outside image. This is important, because I'm going to use this as a template to trace in MySewnet, and the easiest way to get the background to behave properly is to pre-set it to the exact size you need in another program. Good thing this software isn't stupid absurdly expensive, or else the fact that you needed to do that would be really annoying.

The digitizing process:

Okay, so the first thing that I do is to make a custom hoop the size of the finished project. There's no way that I can actually stitch this out this big, because a 25" long hoop doesn't exist anywhere, but it's way easier to design all of it and then split it up than it is to design in pieces and then fit them together. I open the hoop in the digitizing software and load my template as the background.

Digitizing from a technical viewpoint is really simple: you click points all around the area you want to make a shape, and then you hit "make this thing", and then it renders the thing. You can then give that thing a different kind of fill or line. Easy.

So instead, I'm going to go into the art part. Because yes, I've already drawn this whole template, but I haven't figured out how to fill each of those shapes. This isn't like a coloring book where I can just fill a shape with color. Embroidery means that I have to pick how exactly I fill all those areas.

First up, I have the legendary Golden Triumph Forks. The Magical Eating Utensils. I wasn't super sold on how this was rendered in the official art. We can vaguely see how, in the game art, it looks a little more like a red outline with corner flourishes, rather than what we got in the artwork. I probably should have looked up some historical flourishes from time periods in world history where technology matched the apparent technology of the world of the Legend of Zelda, but I just kind of picked a random frilly shape.

The Triforce is one of the most important symbols in Zelda, so I knew that I wanted it to be a bright shape. This meant that I wanted to fill the shape with stitches in such a way that none of the purple backing is showing through. In embroidery terms, this usually means either a full pattern fill, or an applique. I picked applique, because this is an easy shape to applique. I knew from the start that I was going to use metallic tissue lamé. Lamé's great for a lot of things, but it's weak and shows creases. To avoid that, I wanted to put in a fill stitch to support the fabric and prevent damage, as well as hiding any big creases. I picked a big and open motif fill that will still show a lot of the applique fabric.

Eyeball:

So this is, specifically, the Sheikah Eye. It's an important symbol in the series. The Sheikah stick this eye on pretty much everything. However, it's not a fancy, gaudy, ostentatious symbol.

I grabbed a motif line at random from the list of motif lines, and happened to like it. It's a very heavy stem stitch that goes over each stitch 4-6 times, making a big, raised area. To make sure the eye was visible, I filled in the iris, teardrop, and eyelashes. I picked an opaque spiral fill, because it's a circle and these general shapes are circles. A while back, I bought some metallic white "iris" thread, and thought that a subtly-iridescent white would fit nicely.

Those little eyelashes at the bottom that aren't there in the art? Well, there's there in the game render juuuuust a little bit, and also they fall into "if it looks better that way, it's the correct way" mentality.

The Hylian Crest.

Fuck this thing.

All you need to know about this is two things: 1) I just traced the SVG that I found on the Zelda wiki, and 2) I didn't plan on stitching it out with black outlining. That black outline is just there to confuse my software into doing what I want.

Since this is as important as the triforce, I knew I wanted to do it in silver lamé. That means all of this is an applique. Quick tip: if you're going to be breaking a design into smaller segments, don't do any applique so big that it has to be spread over two segments.

Ask me how I know.

I originally had this filled with the same chain stitch that I used on the Triforce, but it made things look very samey and very mushy. I later switched it to a triangle-shaped spaced fill. I selected the triangle as the correct shape by clicking every shape one at a time and seeing what they looked like. Since this was going to be a running stitch on a shiny applique background, the fine details don't really matter. You actually can't see them normally, which is why I had to change the color here.

The outline there is the same stem motif that I used in the Sheikah eye. I found that it's wide enough to cover an applique edge without having to look like a satin stitch.

Squares, Triangles, and the Face Thing.

I have no idea what that face thing is supposed to be and apparently neither did anyone else on the internet. Since it just kind of looked like a scribble, I just rendered it as a scribble. I used a satin column so that it could have line weight similar to a drawing with a paint brush, and the shiny satin line would look like wet ink. Also known as phoning it in.

The triangles are filled with a contour fill that just traces the edges of the shape. I left some space between the lines so that the purple background can show through. This gives is sort of an optical illusion of movement. The outside of this was originally that same stem motif line from before, but after I stitched it out, I realized ti was too heavy. The final version had the same motif, but smaller, and with fewer repeats of the stitch.

I'm so damn proud of those fucking gold boxes. Okay, so, let's look at the design. Why are there gold boxes? What do they do? What do they mean? Do they represent the eight dungenons in the original game? Nope, because there were nine dungeons in the original game. Are they the eight sages? No, because there's seven sages. Is it what happens when you average the number of dungeons and sages out? I don't know. Anyway, they looked stupid just being little gold boxes, so I gave them blunted corners. I did another contour fill because I wanted them to lie flat on the finished apron and not draw any attention to themselves. As for the little tail, folks, I discovered a technique and I'm FULLY READY to abuse the heck out of it. So, I traced the lines with a satin column, ready to try to mess with the spacing to see if it'd lie flat with enough work. I hit "convert to tapered motif" by complete accident, and it was kind of cool. So, then, I went through the various motif options, found some cool looking scrolls, hit "fit to line" and slapped those in there. And I think that the little tails being written in some weird language I can't understand is SO COOL. I love how this part looks and I will not be taking other opinions on it at this time.

The V.

I didn't like how either of them looked in the original, so I just kind of winged it. I was getting bored at this point so I took a pattern fill that was supposed to be linked chains, and then I twisted it around until I was the least bored I could be with it. Again, I went with the smaller stem stitching on the outside.

Those little tails on the circles there are also filled with the scroll as tapered motif thing. If you go for this, don't forget to run the "delete short stitches" filter or else there'll be like 1100 unnecessary tiny stitches in your motifs. Ask me how I know.

Now, we learn by making mistakes, and the best way to make mistakes is to just jump in and wing it. On the left, we have the first version of this that I tried. On the right, we have the second version, which is the one I'm going to use. I've made a couple of adjustments to the file since that final version, so if I make it again, that'll be just a hair better.

So, for starters: backing fabric. I liked the movement and texture on this subtle dot tonal better than a solid purple, so i used that for both my test and my final project. The main drawback with using a printed tonal instead of a dyed solid is that the back of the printed fabric is still white. On some things, specifically the area around the satin stitching on the ink face thing, you can see subtle white haloing where the stitching's displaced the background. I don't like it. No one else seemed to notice or care.

I knew that I'd be doing this in my endless repositionable hoop, but I hadn't taken into account that I'd be doing it in the endless hoop sideways. The endless hoop expects you to go from top to bottom, and my design goes left to right. This means that I have to fight the fabric around the clamp of the hoop. The endless hoop also doesn't hold things as tightly as a regular hoop does. Because of the way the fabric is moved through the hoop, a fusible or sticky stabilizer has to be applied to the fabric before, instead of being hooped with the fabric. All of this meant that I just didn't get the support that I needed on the first go around. You can see this in the way that the fabric has bunched up around the 8 boxes. For the first round, I used some fusible no-show mesh stabilizer. It wasn't wide enough, so I had to cut it in chunks and apply it sideways. For the second round, I used two layers of Power Mesh (same stuff but different brand) as well as a layer of light+tacky paperless sticky tear-away. I really hate that light+tacky stuff so ti's exciting to finally use it up.

My first trial was mostly to see if I could make the endless hoop work like I wanted it to. In this trial, I learned a lot of things. I kept the computer nearby to make changes as I noticed them. When I was done, I looked at what I'd made. I didn't like all the proportions in all of the design, so I dragged some stuff around in the file. This was when I realized that the heavy stem stitch motif everywhere was looking clunky, and reduced or removed it from several places. I changed the fill of the Hylian crest to the triangular fill. shout out to anyone from That One Anonymous Message Board who made it this far in this post to try to prove how deranged I am. You've got a lot of time on your hands, don't you? I completely changed all of the instructions to tell the computer how to do the applique on the Hylian crest (which I STILL got wrong), and added some aligment stitches to help with the applique process. This was when I changed the color of the outline in the software. Ideally, you should now be able to lay the applique down as one fabric, let the machine sew the whole thing, and then trim it. This is important, because that applique spreads out over two hoopings, so it's kind of a mess. The secret to making this work is for hooping #2 (eye and top half of crest) to stitch out the eye BEFORE the applique, so that the whole fabric can be placed over the completed eye. We learn.

Once it was all combined and digitized, it's important to render all the digitized elements as stitches, and then do a bit of cleaning up.

Notably, I really needed to take those tapered motifs and run the stitch optimizer program. The stitch optimizer's job is to remove stitches that are too short to stitch out nicely. When looking at the 3d views in the software, I can't tell which of the samples is the before and which is the after. If I zoom up really close in illustration mode, I can see it, but remember that this is like a 1" wide strip of stitching. The basic rule is that any time the software wants to remove 3300 stitches and you can't see the difference in the stitch-out, you REALLY WANTED to remove those 3300 stitches. That's not 3100 stitches from all over the design, BTW. That's just 3100 stitches from that one section.

I go over my test swatch, section by section, and make sure there's nothing that I forgot to put into the software. I also just delete every jump cut and then make the software add them all back in. The program that adds cuts automatically tends to be more judicious wit them than the digitizing program is when you make the design, so it's a way to make a design stitch out a lot smoother with just two clicks.

So, once all of that is done, we can just run the design splitter program. The design splitter says it has "intelligent splitting" settings, which is an absolute joke, but I use inteligent setting anyway. It's not necessarily any better at picking where to split than a straight line is, but our eyes are trained to see straight lines. The allegedly-intelligent splitting does at least split at random points, making it harder for your eyes to pick out what's a splice and what's a continuous line.

So, in addition to "intelligently" splitting the design apart, the program adds two color blocks to each split piece. One is before the stitches, and it's four stitches long. This just does one stitch at each corner of the design area.

The second block it adds is at the end. This block stitches a corner marker at each corner in the design. In this picture, the before line is green and the after line is red. I offset them by a little bit so that you can see what's going on, but they do happen directly on top of each other.

This is important, because you're trying to lay your design out so that every section of the split design lies perfectly next to the other ones. When you re-hoop your fabric, you can step through the first four stitches. If you've placed your fabric correctly, then those stitches should perfectly touch the markers that were sewn in the previous blocks. If they don't line up, you can just re-hoop over and over and over and over until it lines up.

In theory, you can line up an entire design just using these markers and the alignment stitches. You can just keep rehooping forever until it lines up. It's great. On the other hand, if your embroidery machine has literally ANY KIND of design placement setting onboard, that can help a whole lot. The astute observer will note that, on that picture way up at the top, that machine isn't my Topaz 50. That's because the T50 has some nice basic design positioning that will let you place within a certain range, but it won't let you tilt the design if you hooped it crooked. I did the first attempt at this on my Topaz, and it was fine, but there was a lot of re-hooping. So I might have taken this to work, to do this on the machine that's a step up from mine. (While I was there, I used a sit-down Bernina longarm to "hand"-baste the stabilizer on. That's not the intended use of the machine, but if you set stitch regulation to like 1 stitch per inch, and then you just pull the fabric straight through from the side, you get perfectly straight basting lines. If you're not feeling like dedicating an entire room in your house to having a free-motion machine just to baste straight lines, most mid-tier sewing machines have a fake hand-basting setting in them somewhere). Anyway, if you don't already have a bunch of hoops from HV, you can get that kind of positioning setup on Brother and Baby Lock for much less than the cost of the machine I was working on. If doing big multi-hoop projects like this is a priority for you, ask your salespeople about machines that make this really easy.

You now also have the great trade-off: the smaller the hoop, the tighter the design will hoop, and the less stabilizer you'll need. However, the bigger the hoop, the more you can shift the design around in the machine without hitting the edge. The tighter the hoop grabs, the less stabilizer you need, but the harder it is to shift the fabric that's already being held in the hoop to get it where you need it to go.

I handled this by just fucking throwing a shit ton of fucking stabilizer at it like there was no tomorrow. There's three layers on this bad boy.

You might be saying "Why didn't you just use a heavier cut-away?" and you'd be right, except for two things. 1) if I use two lighter layers, then I can trim the stabilizer away in layers, avoiding the stabilizer showing through and 2) my store didn't have any wide fusible cut-away in stock so

Anyway, here it is, time to make it into the actual apron. I'm very excited for this project. I'll probably break out the repositionable hoop again to do a border on the outside of the completed project, but I don't know for sure exactly what that'll look like.

[azureaqua]

Has anyone done this for ikepri? — Artbreeder series — (Pt. 1)

Okay, so I was bored and instead of finishing the new chapter, I decided to go to artbreeder and expirement... All day. So after some struggles, I made all 8 princes + Sariel and Rio.

In the future should I make Silvio, Keith and Gilbert too? And Emma? I had fun and I'd do it again. Maybe even for other Ikemen games lol.

But nvm, now I present you 10 ikepri characters by artbreeder + my after touch in Autodesk. (I had to do it, usually for their eye colors.)

(This is "Part 1" Because Tumblr doesn't like me, and only allows 10 pictures in one post, so Rio and Sariel will be separated.)

↓

Part 2 here! → Part 3 here!

_____________________________________________

• Leon Dompteur

(His hair is kinda weird, I had to touch that up, since it didn't quite reach his neck. Also, in general I struggled to make his features look right, I'm still not 100% into it, but I had to stop somewhere eventually haha.)

• Chevalier Michel

(Again, the hair. I swear I had to mix almost all of them with females to achieve some longer locks, since a lot of them have that going on. Also, his hair doesn't really reach his eye, and it's curly, but it is what it is...)

• Yves Kloss

(Okay, he was the first that I did, and I still love it! He's one of my favorites, I love how he turned out. Btw, I had to draw his earring, because it was impossible to edit that. So that's why it looks out of place. He looks so sassy tho.)

• Nokto Klein

(He kinda looks like a woman, to me? I had to mix him with multiple females to make his longer hair possible. But I don't hate it. And again; I edited his eyes myself. He kinda has that resting bitch face here, and I'm living for it lol.)

• Licht Klein

(I struggled with him too, to make his features look right and somewhat similar? I had like 3 tries, where I mixed everything into it, but I actually created this on accident, kind of half-hearted. But in the end I liked this the best because he resembles Nokto and they actually look like twins. Plus I had to edit his eyes, beauty marks and hair a bit. He looks soft uwu.)

• Jin Grandet

(Would it be a surprise if I'd say that I struggled with him too? I had to search for really manly prototypes and match them together, but in the end I don't hate how he turned out either. His hair is more brown than it should be, his eyes too, but I don't think it's that bothersome. Ultimate manly dude. Kinda looks like a Daddy material xd.)

• Luke Randolph

(Okay, OKAY. I'm in LOVE! He's my favorite, hands down! I actually made two versions for him; one with a smile and the other as a neutral expression but his smile is everything! I love it, he looks so precious! I might change to his route after this oof.)

• Clavis Lelouch

(I couldn't quite catch his features, his aura/vibe - if you will - well at first, but after some tries it came out good. I think. I also had to mix him with women, mainly because of his purple hair. I edited his eyes and beauty mark, but I was lazy to do his hair properly. He also has two expressions; Neutral and a mischievous one. ;))

[trothplighted-archived]

You bring up a fascinating point. There's scant canon detail about Ariana's personality. We know she had outbursts, had to be coaxed to eat, etc, and that made fandom assume she was childlike and not mentally competent (in the legal sense) due to intense trauma. But it could could also have been severe depression? If she knew she had an incurable condition that kept her from school, helped put her father in prison, made outcasts of her family, and caused her mother's death? That's a heavy load

it is!! and I have a lot to say about that! but before we dig into it, I do want to talk about why I never assumed she was childlike or mentally incompetent, which means (sigh) I have to talk about Aberforth again

there's a conception I've seen floating around that criticism of Aberforth (people assuming he's a homophobe, mostly) is due to shipping, and wanting him to be the bad guy in the Grindeldore story, and I've never felt that way at all, so I want to set that out from the start. Aberforth has always made me profoundly uncomfortable basically since 2007 when I read the book, and it's always been because of how he treated Ariana.

see, I view him as a somewhat unreliable narrator. I think that he accurately recounts the facts of what happened, but his emotional state colors his opinions, and the conclusions he draws don't textually add up. I think that's true of his account of Albus and Gellert's relationship, and I think it's true of his version of events surrounding Ariana.

why?

because JKR plays with unreliable narration in exactly this kind of way, multiple times per book. It's one of the core elements of the series. Harry will always witness something, or overhear a conversation, or come across evidence, and he draws incorrect conclusions from it. the facts get conveyed accurately to the audience, but the assumptions and feelings of the person witnessing those facts are almost always incorrect and stay that way until the end of the story when they're all explained correctly and the truth is revealed. it's not just Harry, either - the whole of wizarding society does this with regard to Sirius Black. this is something she does many times on purpose. I don't think it's unfair to say that Aberforth's version of the story is factually accurate but missing or omitting several important contextual pieces.

okay, so why do I feel he's that way about Ariana? well, the short answer is "because I'm disabled, and the way he talks about her skeeves me out majorly and has for years."

we the readers see absolutely no external proof that she was feeble-minded, or childlike, or that she couldn't take care of herself on a very basic level. Albus never says it in the King's Cross conversation, Bathilda and Muriel and Elphias never mention it, Rita's book never mentions it. the only person who insists this is true is Aberforth. we're supposed to take his word as gospel here... except for the fact that Albus doesn't think she's too sick to travel? Albus never admits in the books that he pushed his sister too far, that he overtaxed her, that he ignored her. And he's very open about his flaws - if he'd failed in this way, he'd own up to it! Plus, disabled people can travel internationally! we can go on vacations! we can have exciting lives! why should Aberforth be the one deciding for his sister what she can or can't do when he's only a year older than her, and Albus is the adult in the house?

plus, if we're meant to assume she's an Obscurial, if we take into account the FB movies? Credence is walking around Europe, and talking to people, and can live safely in a house with strangers, and can go on missions! they can speak in full sentences and feed themself and survive on their own! why is Ariana doomed to be quiet and childlike forever while Credence puts the lie to that assumption?

and the FB movies paint Aberforth in a kinder light than the books do - he's much less resentful and much less bitter - and Albus talks about the duel again, but despite the good guys being more good and the bad guys being more bad? this time there's no mention of Ariana being too sick to be moved. the fight happens because Albus and Gellert want to go away, and Ariana dies because she tries to stop it from happening.

as a result, I have to say that I think the assumption that she was traumatized into helplessness is 100% fanon. yes, I'm aware I'm loud and angry about this, I'm really sorry lmao I get heated when there's ableism on the table.

basically, I'll trust what Aberforth says when I get objective proof that didn't come from his testimony that Ariana actually was as much of an invalid as he insists. and because of that, I think it is much more likely that she had chronic depression and a serious anxiety disorder and cognitive impairments more in line with traditional neurodivergence than anything else. before the attack she seems to be a bright, inquisitive, magically talented little girl - she's doing noticeable wandless magic at six years old! holy shit, that's genuinely prodigious! and unless Ariana had, like, severe lasting brain damage from the attack? that's not someone who was born with the kind of severe intellectual disabilities that a perpetually childlike demeanor and intelligence would suggest. she isn't developmentally delayed in terms of her brainpower, she's ahead of the curve.

but after the attack? everything changed for the worse. she had to fight to control herself at six years old, barely understanding what had happened to her. she had to live for eight years knowing that she was the reason her father went to jail, she was the reason they had to move to a new house, she was the reason her family was sad and broken and depressed, she was the reason her brothers didn't get along, and if she ever let herself feel anything about her attack, or her circumstances? she could kill someone! that's so much for a little girl to have to live with! she can't go to school, she can't make friends, she has to live her life like one of the secret children from Margaret Peterson Haddix's Shadow Children books, forever indoors and unable to show her face. and then she's the reason her mother dies, and she can't even cry at Kendra's funeral, because if she does she might blow the place up.

put simply, I would kill for Ariana Dumbledore. she deserved so much better.

[rp-commandersignas]

I made my Signas in The Sims 3!

His personality traits are: Genius, Good, Perceptive, Perfectionist, and Workaholic. His Lifetime Wish (which was chosen from the game's suggestions based on his traits) is to solve 35 cases as an investigator. His favorites are Pancakes, French Music (which was as close as I could get to his actual music taste), and the color black.

More info under the cut:

I think that out of all the MMX sims I've made so far, Signas looks the most like how he does in canon. I was actually referencing his official art to try and match his facial proportions as closely as I could too. Honestly, I think he looks so much more handsome in-game. These screenshots really don't do him justice.

Usually when making these sims, I try to aim for more "realistic" outfits. Basically, I try to pick their clothing based more on what they would probably wear if they were humans, and only loosely follow their original design. Signas turned out a bit more semi-realistic though. His outfit isn't totally normal-looking, but I still feel like he kinda looks like a person you might see in real life. He does have a Captain's hat though (from the Island Paradise expansion), which I colored black. So... I guess that's the more 'unusual' part of him. That plumbob placement is perfect though.

As for his swimwear, I felt like he'd be the sort who would want to have a top of some sort, but when I was looking around at the selection, the only things similar to what I had in mind were wetsuits. So, I decided to give him a life jacket instead. I think it fits though, since my version of Signas doesn't actually know how to swim.

I also gave him a wedding ring, since I decided to have Alia be his wife in the Sims world. They're not married in my verse, but they might be thinking about it... I excluded the ring from his swimwear and sleep outfits because I thought that he'd want to take it off for a moment to avoid accidentally losing it.

I do feel a bit tempted to make Signas downloadable, but he uses multiple expansion packs, and he has modded skintone and hair. Plus, I have some (mildly inappropriate) unwanted CC in my game that got downloaded with a sim I got off of the exchange, and I haven't had the patience to try to get rid of it. I get the feeling that it'll probably latch onto Signas and get into your game too.

I might make a separate post for my Alia sim, but... I feel like she's not nearly as good as Signas. I couldn't find a single modded hairstyle on The Sims Resource that closely resembled her X8 hair. The bangs were never right. 😤

[hraishin]

Oh please tell us about Brazilian interactive self insert fics!

Bless you for indulging me in talking about this milestone of brazilian fanfiction that made me who I am today.

So, a few years back (like 2012-2013) I started getting more and more into fanfic, and of course there was the ship fics, which I didn't partake much in because I was, ahem, christian and very adamant of no gay thoughts even if I was gay myself, and the other type of fanfic that we all know which is a fic with one or multiple OCs. I was big into OC fics and started reading them around that time. Of course, in the middle of OC fics there are the self-insert fics, which are common till now with the y/n thing, etc etc, but BOY OH BOY us brazilians decided that y/n (or s/n here for "seu nome") wasn't enough, and it wasn't enough as well to keep the fanfic for one specific character/actor, so we learned coding.

Imagine this: you find a self-insert fic that seems really interesting, but oh no! it's a Harry Styles fic and you aren't into Harry Styles, but the plot of the fic is intriguing? :/ You wouldn't read it, right? What if you could change Harry Styles' name into someone else's? Say, Tom Hiddleston 🤔 These interactive fics said YES, YOU CAN!

Once you clicked on the fic, a question box would appear from the coding of the page, asking your name, and you'd put your name. Sometimes it asked for last name and nickname, hair color, eye color, etc. You were in the fic. Then, of course, they'd ask the name of the male love interest (keep it in mind that most of these fics were straight) and you could be like "Thomas" and then nickname would be "Tom" and last name "Hiddleston", and you'd put his hair color and eye color as well. Suddenly that Harry Styles fic about, idk, meeting on a ship, was about YOU and fucking TOM HIDDLESTON meeting on a ship and living an epic romance (sometimes with smut involved, I read a lot of +18 things at that time, and in a little tangent I remember thinking "lmao who's 18 and reading this?" and this version of me couldn't imagine I'd still be reading and writing fanfic at the age of 22). Sometimes the fic would even let you put a secondary male interest, and your best friend's name, and one I've read even allowed me to put the name of someone I hated to be my enemy.

We basically took y/n fics and made it really say your name, and they were the shit back then. Here's an example of how it worked with my name and James McAvoy's because I used it to explain to a friend just now what the fuck interactive self-insert fics were:

The names are literally just THERE IN THE TEXT and that was some immersive shit. So here you go, I'm sorry to everyone writing and reading y/n fics now but you'll never get to this level (which honestly, good)

[chim-chimchii]

Encaptured (Jungkook)

Genre: Fluff 

Note: A little fuckboy Jungkook for you all! I’m currently working on a social media au and I might just post the profiles so I can give you guys a sneak peek and to also motivate myself to work on it more! Let me know what you guys think! I also didn’t know how to end this so I apologize if it’s a crappy ending. 

. . . . . . . 

On Thursdays, the literary class met in the college library, and that was when Jungkook always had you look over his essays. Not only did he use that time to get his papers edited, but he also took this time to prod you about your weekend plans.

"So, are you going to accept my offer to take you to the movies this weekend?" Jungkook asked, resting his chin on his palm.

You glanced up from his essay. "Hm, not this week. I think I'm all booked." With a smirk directed towards him, you continued marking his paper.

"You said that last week." He mumbled with a playful pout.

"And last week, when I rejected you, you ended up taking that girl from your math class." You stated with a challenging stare.

Tongue in cheek, Jungkook chuckled, "Well, I couldn't let those tickets go to waste! I thought for sure you would have agreed." He continued trying to justify his playboy ways.

You scoffed and slid his paper over to him; red pen marks were scattered all over it. You thought that the edits you made to his essay would distract him from the current topic, but he pushed the assignment to the side.

"Y/n, when will you let me take you on a date?" Jungkook leaned in ever so slightly and smiled sweetly.

Your heart rate increased. His whole appearance changed with that one smile, and it was hard for you to hide the fact that it made you feel some way. Maybe it was time to give him a chance, and if it didn't work out, then he would finally stop bugging you.

"Okay." You finally answered after thinking it through. That one word took Jungkook by surprise.

"Okay? Are you saying, yes?"

Without making eye contact, you nodded and closed your notebook with a gentle smile.

"I'll pick you up at seven." Jungkook bit his lip to hide his smile and watched you leave the library.

. . . . 

The sun was setting, and seven o clock was right around the corner. You gave yourself one last look in the mirror that hung by the door and nodded in approval of your outfit. You tried to remember the last time you got all dressed up for a date, and as you tried to place a moment, there was a knock at the door. 

As you reached for the door, you hesitated. What if this was a one-time thing? What if he never spoke to you after tonight? Just because you turned his offers for a date down multiple times, it wasn't as if you didn't like Jungkook. You appreciated his presence in your boring literary class; you appreciated his jokes and stories. What if all he wanted was to add you to the list of girls he won over with his charms? 

Your thoughts were interrupted again by a knock, but this time it was a lot softer. You took a deep breath and twisted the doorknob. Whatever his intentions were, you decided to accept this date, so you had to deal with the consequences. 

Jungkook stood in the doorway with his hands buried in his pockets. His head was hung low as if he was half expecting you not to answer, but when you opened the door wider, he looked up. 

You forgot to breathe upon seeing him. Instead of the cliche leather jacket he always wore, he wore a grey flannel over a white shirt. It wasn't THAT different from what he always wore but seeing him wear light-colored clothing suits him well. His demeanor was different, as well. A timid smile replaced the cocky smirk he always had on his face. 

"Are you ready?" His voice came out lighter than usual; it took you a moment to remember this was Jungkook and not someone else. 

"Yeah, let me just grab my bad." You left him by the door as you dashed back to your room to grab your purse. 

. . . . 

It was the little things that Jungkook did that made you weak in the knees. As the two of you walked to the theater, Jungkook rested his hand on the small of your back. He maneuvered you to the other side of him; it wasn't until his warmth left that you realized he was making sure you were closest to the buildings and away from the busy street.

Your eyes fixated on him, and it felt like the world was in slow motion, and you saw Junkook in a new light. You wanted nothing more, but to have this moment last forever. Forever didn't come because he glanced at you with that beautiful smile of his.

"Would you be upset if I told you I don't want to go to the movies anymore?"

The world resumed at its original speed, and your excitement disappeared.

"Oh? Did you want to take a rain check or something?" You tried not to sound too disappointed.

"No, no. I just don't think I can handle sitting next to you for two and a half hours and not talk to you."

You sighed in relief, which made Jungkook chuckle.

"I don't know what you've been told or what you heard about me, but I'm not cruel.

You raised your eyebrow at him and smirked. "I don't know, I've heard some pretty interesting things about you, Jungkook."

You gave him one last teasing look before walking ahead of him. Jungkook tsked before jogging to catch up to you.

"So, are you going to tell me what you heard so I can prove those accusations wrong?"

Together you waded through the crowded street, careful not to lost one another. If he took your hand, would you pull away or let him have that small victory?

"You haven't said what we're going to do now that we're not going to the movies."

His hand grazed yours. "You're changing the topic."

Seconds later, his hand rested on your shoulder to guide you towards the entrance of an arcade. It was full of other couples, groups of friends, and people wanting to have fun. The atmosphere brought a smile to your face. You didn't even realize Jungkook had left until he returned with a bag full of tokens.

"I'll let you choose the first game."

Dramatically, you rested your hand on your heart. "What a gentleman."

Jungkook threw his head back in defeat. "Whoever told you that I wasn't a gentleman needs to stop feeding you lies."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you don't really have the best reputation." You explained as you made your way over to the basketball game.

You glanced back at him to make sure he was following and found him chewing on his lip. Your statement bothered him. The two of you exchanged no other words until he was standing next to you.

"Is that why you always rejected me?" His eyes locked with yours, and you didn't dare look away.

Rather than lying, you nodded. "Yeah."

Jungkook was the one to break eye contact; it was clear he was upset. He fished for a token and inserted it into the machine to start the game.

As you watched him, you inhaled deeply and thought about everything. You didn't want to be the reason the date ended in ruins. You were honest about why you declined his offers, but now that you were here with him, you kept thinking how different things could have been if you had just agreed to date him the first time he asked.

Without thinking further, when Jungkook reached for another ball, you took it from him and aimed for the moving hoop.

"You can't blame me for being scared."

Jungkook opened his mouth to say something but stopped as he watched you throw the ball straight into the hoop. Another ball rolled towards you, but Jungkook grabbed it before you could.

"I wasn't blaming you. I was blaming myself." He missed the hoop and ticked his head to the side, slightly annoyed that he didn't score, but as the game ended, he had one of the highest scores.

Together you moved in the direction of another game.

"Why are you blaming yourself?"

He didn't say anything, and you were afraid he didn't hear you due to the increasing volume of everyone around you.

"Because I got careless with relationships and dating, and now that I want something serious, my reputation is ruining my chances.

The corners of your mouth twitched into a tiny smile. "It's your turn to pick a game."

You weren't ignoring what he had said; you just wanted to think about it for a moment longer.

The two of you wandered around the arcade and tried not to lose each other with the growing amount of people entering the building. Jungkook stopped in front of a photo booth and let out a small laugh.

"It isn't a game, but it seems like this is the only thing unoccupied." 

"I think it'll be fun!" You linked his arm with yours and entered the small booth. 

Jungkook sat silently next to you as you messed around with the photo settings. As you sat back, your shoulder brushed against his, and it made it obvious how close the two of you were. You couldn't help but think back to his previous comment about wanting to be in a serious relationship.  Did he mean that he wanted to try and be in a serious relationship with you? You'd be lying if you said you didn't have feelings for him. The truth was, you had liked him all along, but you let the rumors about him cloud your judgment of his character. 

The beeping of the timer caused you to snap out of your thoughts. 

"Are you ready?" You glanced over at Jungkook, and to your surprise, he was already staring at you. The flash went off, signaling that the first picture was taken. Then the timer reset. 

"Your chances aren't completely ruined, by the way." 

The two of you looked away and to the camera, where you opted for a funny face. The camera went off. 

"What do you mean?" Jungkook turned to you again. 

"If you were this version of yourself all the time, you wouldn't have any trouble getting into a serious relationship, and any girl would be happy to be with you."  

You stuck your tongue out at him as the camera snapped another picture. 

"I don't want just any girl though--" He faced forward and held up a peace sign. "--I want you." 

Your expression changed in an instant, and it was captured as the shutter sounded. "Jungkook." 

He hesitated but looked your way as the last seconds of the timer counted down. You took his face into your hands and pressed your lips to his. The moment captured forever as the final flash of the camera washed over the two of you. 

[insertmesoftly]

Equius x Same Blood Troll Oc

An Equius simp, Ysalia Noctil's of the same blood as him but with the sign of a Sagio. She holds pedigree and the caste system in high regards and is always looking for an excuse to either lord her status and power over the 'lesser beings' or to suck up and mingle with 'exceptional blood'. She lives alone in a huge ass hive in a snowy mountaintop, isolated. For all her showmanship and big talk, her power is very little, and her place is constantly falling apart and/or getting outages. Her lusus, a big and floating Jellyfish, is usually her light source.

She got lost in her hive a lot in her childhood but now she knows the layout by heart. She read every 'respectable' romance imaginable, and when she came across Equius in the chat rooms, decided that him being so close to her in color was D E S T I N Y. She's never seen the man but his eloquence and respect for the caste along with his sharp mind and love of the high-ranked bowmen make him perfect in her mind. She will begin to obsess and modify herself to fit him.

The Sagi trait of having many interests they're passionate about stuck to me when I read it and so now I'm attaching to her multiple interests and goals like an obsession with 'the perfect tea combination', making 'the coziest blanket', and plays embarrassing to look at, but soothing to listen to instruments. She plays a version of the theremin that’s a fleshy bug creature and the sounds are its screams as her hands get closer to touching it. She also has a giant handmade armonica she built with Equius’s guidance. She’s very proud of it. Most if not all of these started out of some want to help Equius when they'd finally meet and live together.

See, she would patiently listen to all he'd say when he'd infodump, and even try getting into robots and archery a bit to be able to talk about things, he'd somewhat try to do the same but it never really clicked with him what her intent in all these things were. And it's dumb because she'd literally be like 'What's your favorite tea? What are other flavors you enjoy? How do you take it? What textures give you the best feeling? What smells are the nicest?' And he'd just be annoyed at all the questions, always her having questions, thinking she was using him as an experiment for her interests, not considering that they were born out of wanting to help him. Before taking up these extra hobbies, her main interests were the romance novels she'd read, learning new etiquette and perfecting it, polishing her lovely little hidden daggers, learning new tricks with her whip (it has jellyfish poison in it and barbed wire), and decorating/fixing her hive after these sessions (lol). Once she gets really into Equius I think she stops fixing it because she thinks she'll just move in with him. She made it pretty too, all things considered. She made the hive so big and elaborate because she was too excited when she was younger, but nowadays, she only frequents the same few halls. These are very lived in with glow in the dark stick-on trinkets used like lamps, vases filled with (paper) flowers, and ornate furniture she steals relocates from trolls that have died.

So, she keeps clinging to him with very clear intent, and it gets to a point where she confesses in a VERY roundabout way like,

'Aven't vve so gveat togethev? As the only tvvo that veally undevstand ouv positions! Couldn't vve... oh so easily slip into a... possible matespvitship? VVouldn't that be something?'

And Equius, confused and sweating just goes 'Oh... yes I suppose that could be a thing that could happen...' And that solidified it (wrongly) to her.

The whole idea she was born from came from the realization that Equius's tag for self shipping things contain mostly the more interesting combinations of lower/higher blood, and humans. Because those dynamics are what's interesting with him. And I thought, if he met someone actually on his level it would BORE him. He’d always be like 'This is fine. This SHOULD be fine. We are compatible in every way. Why ISN’T this fine??'

I got really into the dramatic thoughts of, despite them not OFFICIALLY CONSENTUALLY being together, him never telling her off from the idea and letting her believe they are (partly because he's trying to convince himself to like her, also because he's come to like her as a friend and does NOT want to hurt her feelings), his interest slipping noticeably into other people and especially his rambles about his dumb kinky thoughts eventually leads to her assuming, and I am PUTTING THIS IN QUOTATION MARKS, "he’s cheating on her" and she goes BALLISTIC. Needless to say, he breaks it to her as she explodes that… he never said yes to their relationship. It’s always been a sham. This. Will break her. She knew of his peculiarities but she was so sure he’d logically pick her, the best option there was! And yet… His heart clenches as she cries in front of him for the first time.

‘I hate you. I hate you for making me wish I had lower blood.'

Once the 'break up' occurs, she wears a black dress and veil for a good chunk of time because, in her words, "Vou don't like my outfit? I just decided it would be apvopviate fov the occasion. Vou see, I'M GVIEVING." *pathetic loud sobbing into a handkerchief*

Making her a Sagio means her focus is on the heart, ergo, on herself and her identity. So something that made her mad about learning the truth of his feelings was, she was so sure about the idea she built up over who she was... and his rejection shattered it to a million pieces. She started realizing more and more she’s not the troll she thought she was. She's not irresistibly beautiful, he left her. She's not collected and smart, she flies into fits of rage that leave her looking dumb. She doesn't have a certainly bright future, it's. In. Shambles. And more than any of her concerns for status-

She hadn't realized how much she actually liked him/depended on his love until he left. Neither of them did. Part of Equius not really taking her love seriously and seeing her as just a friend was how she talked about him to his face and how she would only bring up the 'pros to their relationship' so logically like social status and how they could support one another. Nothing much on the way of emotions, just made it sound like a business proposal if anything, albeit friendly. Nepeta, knew better. As his moiral, she got to talk to Ysalia a lot and the way she could endlessly praise him, see the good in everything he did even when it was stupid, wave off his 'quirks' as making him special, and idk, always bringing him up like a proud wife showing off her prized husband, it was annoying to the other trolls. Nepeta shipped it but stayed quiet and hoped for the best...

There’s a moment I think where Equius has his moment of realization that 'Oh. Maybe she DID really like me?' when Ysalia had 'given up', started her grieving and just moping, and had to work with a person of interest of his (I hesitate putting Aradia in this position, I’m so sorry Aradia hrrrg but you’re my best bet). Aradia says something, assuming about Equius, like how maybe he'd like them bringing back something that smells nice that could help him with a headache, but it’s the wrong thing and Ysalia stops. Ysalia had assumed this person had 'beat' her, because of her smarts. But she knows nothing about him. 'Lavender.' She chokes out. 'Lavender is his favorite scent. It the best for soothing him.' She gets very defensive suddenly, standing up from where she slumped. 'He likes to crush metal in his fist when he feels anxious, he prefers his milk cold but warm in the night after a nightmare, he doesn't feel like he deserves to touch soft things but he adores them.' She glares at Aradia. 'And he has a thing for forbidden romances. Things that can make him feel ashamed. But it's ok.' She walks away from her. 'This fad of his. I'll make sure it passes.' And all this was in some sort of comms he had installed on Aradia that he used to spy on her.

I have no ideas for what happens in the future, just her getting more and more out of control in her 'attempts to win him back.' I don't know what exactly they'd be but consider her as violent and getting more and more hilariously and pitiably delirious.

I cannot state this enough how adorably sad I’m picturing their scuffles. Equius genuinely likes her as a friend, holds her so close, almost like Nepeta. She never shunned him once, always listened to his infodumps, even actually retained the information he’d share, and was so encouraging to him whenever he’d falter. She was his biggest supporter in making his dreams come true too as an archer. So, it hurts seeing her cry. And it hurts seeing her sanity dissolve. He tries so hard to control his strength to just stopping her when she starts punching or kicking at someone, tries so hard to avoid hurting her even as others demand him to make her stop.

He started with his pity for her, trying to ignore her. Over time, without signs of her stopping, he begins getting annoyed. Then she catches him at the WORST TIME, and he gets ANGRY. He becomes careless with his actions, almost hurting her badly but she gets away with bruises. The look on her face as he almost crushed her has him feeling like shit for a while. When he's calmed down and is back to feeling pity, she surprises him in a moment of being so mad and deranged, she manages to get the better of him in a physical sense, actually finding a way to leave him powerless. Bound in the ground and unable to move. He's on the ground, wide eyes as she holds her heel to his chest, insulting him and going on about how he wasn't worth his blood. Needless to say, this was the first time he felt a lil something for her and it scares the fuck out of him. She's stopped by the others before she can kill him ‘to be rid of him once and for all’ but she promises she will. She hates him… This… is interesting to him.

Equius always saw her as his equal, and yeah it’s what bored him, but when she starts going full-on venomous, seething hatred on him.... he’s ashamed with how much he's sweating. This isn’t the friend he knew. he shouldn’t be enjoying this. Fuck. He should be trying to reconcile things. He should be telling her sorry again. No, he's not thinking about the way she dug her heel into him. Or the threat she whispered into his ear. And he definitely didn’t daydream about how she knows him so well she’d probably know how best to monopolize and bully him too if he was stuck in a hive with her as her husba- fuck shit what happened, he needs to stop he's pathetic.

Stuff happens, yada yada, it's a constant push and pull with some moments in between of them reminiscing their lost friendship, and idk how but I fabricated this scene where it all ends with her almost killing someone innocent. And after so much of his being careful around her, making excuses as to why the ones that hate her couldn’t get rid of her, and his fighting off ever having to actually fight back. He does.

He kills her. And her last words to him were accompanied by a laugh and a sputter. No accent. Just heartbreak. "You did it... haha….” She choked on her blood, some went past her lips. Still, she smiled.

"You broke my body and heart."

Oh, to give this boy more pain. Only once she’s gone does he accept that they could have been matesprites.

Some miscellaneous stuff:

- Ysalia putting out an entire table full of wine glasses out of nowhere in the middle of a battle to make fucking battle music because she refuses to fight out of spite so she'll just 'set the mood.'

- Eridan hates Ysalia. He saw her for what she was, a kiss-ass to higher blood, and he has no problem talking shit about her to her face. Even through being insulted, Ysalia would just smile and accept his harsh words like the dumbass sucker she is like o/vv/o 'Theyre talking about me hehe. I can’t believe I’m going to be friends with a sea-dweller!' His distinct hatred for her is hilarious to be because they’re in the same fucking boat. They’re idiots that were broken up with and their love interests got into trolls of lesser blood. It was such an insulting and humiliating experience for both of them. Even with his disdain, imagine moments where he drops his guard to shit talk about the others with her. He’d never admit it, but their catty talks and her sudden clinging to him once they’re both ‘outcasted’ by the others (and because there’s no one else worthy to talk to surely), they are friends.

- In a future where they reconcile and do live together, Equius is her bitch and loving every second of the 'married' life. Goes to work and his coworkers who don’t know him too well keep seeing the bruises on him and ask how he lets his matesprite of all trolls treat him like that and he just has the biggest dopiest face and replies 'They were my kismesis too'and that just explains it. This dude got together with his black romance. He’s clearly a freak. He's always glad to come home and see what new things Ysalia has to complain about, to see how many ways she can build him up with genuine affection only to tear him down and use him for the night.

[headoverheelsforramsey]

Hello, hello! This week, we are going on a little:

Home Tour!

Notes: Answer the following with pictures (dialogue from your characters is optional!). Collages are highly encouraged if you want to answer a question with multiple pictures because tumblr mobile only allows 10 total pics. Otherwise, tumblr on a desktop lets you add multiple pictures (non-beta)!

For both:

What does the outside of the home look like? (Front/back yard, garden, pool, etc)

Living room and home office (if any)?

Kitchen and dining room?

Bedrooms? (Master, guest, others)

Other rooms?

Do you own your dream home? If not, what does that dream home look like?

What is your favorite room to spend time in with each other?

Super super late to this, because of my stupid exam but now we are here so let's go! 💃🏽🏠

A/N : I am placing this two years and seven months after the wedding, because I HC Ethan and Meera staying at Ethan's apartment for two years after the wedding and they only start house hunting when they have the baby talk and start trying for a baby. So technically not newlyweds anymore. Now let's get started! ✨

Meera opens the door and greets Bree.

Meera : Hii Bree, welcome to our humble abode.

Bree (chuckles) : This place is anything but humble. I hope I am not causing much trouble.

Meera : Absolutely not. Who else is going to make me feel like a youtuber?

Both laugh, Ethan joins and greets Bree.

Bree : Congratulations on the good news Dr. Ramsey. How far are y'all?

Ethan : Thank you Bree. It's been 3 months already.

Meera (cradling her small bump) : Yup one trimester down two more to go.

Ethan (kissing her forehead) : And then there will be a mini version of you running around these halls.

Meera : Nope it's gonna be a mini you.

The couple shares a look as if challenging each other.

Meera : Fine, Bree, whose team are you on? Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?

Bree : I am happy with either because at the end I'll be interviewing him or her too.

The three of them share a laugh.

Bree : Let's get started, shall we?

Ethan : Sure.

What does the outside of the home look like? (Front/back yard, garden, pool, etc)

Front :

Meera : We were looking for something modern yet chic, something that is totally us. I fell in love with the design whereas Ethan was in total awe of the open space and glass doors. Needless to say our heart was stuck on this no matter how many more houses we visited.

Backyard :

Ethan : The backyard also doubles up as the garden but it's not quite completed yet.

Meera : Yes it's been two months since we moved, and we haven't been able to work on the garden because of work and the pregnancy. Ethan : But we want to build a garden with a tree house and maybe some swings.

Meera (too excited) : Ohh swings! Yes please add it onto the list. Why didn't I think of it before?

Pool :

Meera : Definitely my favorite part!

Ethan : She is a water baby through and through so that's no surprise.

Meera : Don't act like you don't appreciate me in a swimsuit, Ramsey (winks)

Ethan : There is no denying that.

Living room and home office (if any)?

Living room :

Ethan : Meera was hell bent on having an L-shaped couch.

Meera : Those things are so bougie I had to have one because now I can finally afford one. But yeah the living room is so relaxing with a beautiful view of the outside.

Home office :

Meera : Honestly speaking, I do not understand the utility of a home office, I didn't understand back at his apartment neither do I understand now. If I am supposed to work from home I can do that on the couch or on my bed or even better on the daybeds by the pool.

Ethan (shaking his head) : You'll get it darling. When you start your maternity leave I'll see how you make zoom calls with the pool as your background.

Meera shrugs.

Kitchen and dining room?

Meera : This part was all Ethan so I'll let him do the talking.

Ethan (proudly) : A Poggenpohl kitchen with a granite-topped island adds an ultramodern touch. Glass shelves display colorful glassware convenient to the wet bar. A translucent sliding glass door below the shelves hides the more utilitarian gadgets. And finally playful mod pendant lights seem to levitate over the dining table, which is meant to resemble a river running through the woods.

Meera : You sure you didn't miss your true calling as an interior designer babe?

Ethan (smirks) : Nope, just the fact that I tend to excel at everything I do, Rookie.

Meera : And that makes you 10 times hotter!

Bedrooms? (Master, guest, others)

Master bedroom :

Meera : The bedroom has a different color scheme and tone from the rest of the house because I wanted it to stand out and break the monotone.

Ethan : Again the chandelier was Meera's opinion.

Meera : Finding common ground between his minimalistic taste and mine was difficult but we made it through.

Master Bathroom :

Ethan : Meera I don't think it was necessary to bring Bree in here.

Meera : It was absolutely necessary! Just look at this tub Bree! The bubbles and champagne dates we have here are a total hit.

Guest rooms :

Ethan : We have two guest rooms and both are styled the same way, but unfortunately we haven't had any guests yet. 

Meera : Is it unfortunate Dr. Ramsey? Bryce is just a call away from crashing here. 

Ethan (pinching the bridge of his nose) : Anyone but Lahela.

Meera : We haven't thought about the baby's room yet. But we have the nursery now. 

Ethan : Yes, maybe we'll turn the nursery into a bedroom or one of the guest rooms in a few years. Let's see.

Nursery : 

Meera : This was completed just yesterday hence the delay in the interview, Bree. 

Ethan : We decided to keep the gender of the baby a surprise so we went with a gender neutral nursery that matches the colour scheme of the house. 

Meera : Also because Ethan Ramsey would rather die than paint the walls of his house pink and blue. 

Ethan (rolls eyes) 

Other rooms?

Home library :

Meera (takes in the smell of books) : Better known as my safe haven. 

Ethan : This was absolutely non-negotiable for Meera. 

Meera : We both own a lot of books and the collection keeps on increasing now with the baby incoming. And look at this reading space. It's from my dreams. 

Ethan : This is tucked away in a far corner of the house and is the most serene place around here. Once, I returned home from the hospital and called out to Meera a hundred times, she didn't answer, I started panicking and then found her silently sitting here in her own world. 

Meera : If I ever go missing please check here before running to the police, because once I am in here I forget the existence of the world.

Bree picks up "Peppa pig's super noisy Sound Book" which was kept on a thick medical journal with a smile. 

Ethan feels embarrassed but Meera laughs. 

Meera : Yes these are the new ones in our collection. Ethan was reading it to the baby before you arrived. 

Home Bar : 

Ethan : The wine cellar grew into a home mini bar because we had this unused space left. 

Meera : He loves showing this and his collection off. 

Ethan : Excuse me! If I remember correctly your friends were very impressed as well. 

Meera : True that. Bryce went bat shit crazy during the housewarming party. He said he felt he got back his bartending days.

Ethan (proudly) : And Jackie's exact words for that evening's toast was "to hell with Donahue's" 

Meera : Yeah yeah, you did a great job honey. Also the more surfaces the better for us. 

Ethan : Keep it PG for the love of God. 

Meera (shrugs) : Pregnancy hormones. 

Bree (points) : And that? 

Ethan (facepalms) : The only thing that doesn't match with the vibe here.

Meera : Nonsense! It was a housewarming gift from my friends and I absolutely love it. Ethan just feels it is a cheaper and juvenile version of his favourite game, soccer. But don't worry Bree, I'll get him to play someday. 

Ethan (smirk) : I would very much like to see you try Dr. Ramsey-Bose.

Meera : And I'll see how you say no when your son asks. 

Ethan : It's gonna be a daughter. 

Meera : We'll see. 

Do you own your dream home? If not, what does that dream home look like?

Ethan : For the majority of my life home for me was a structure of bricks and cement with a ceiling but Meera was the one who brought all the love and light and showed me what a real home felt like. So for me, my home is where my heart is and for this lifetime it's kept safe with this gorgeous woman whom I fortunately call my wife. 

Silence lasts for a couple of minutes then Meera snorts. 

Meera (drying her eye) : Damn you pregnancy hormones, I am not even wearing waterproof mascara. It was super cheesy Ethan, a non pregnant me would have definitely called you out on your cheese but this pregnant Meera has to agree with you. Even a stable is my dream home if I have my dream husband with me. (she kisses Ethan) but I wouldn't mind a Jacuzzi, a home theatre, a game room (laughing)

Ethan (an easy smile on his face) : Always knew you were in it because of the money Bose. 

What is your favorite room to spend time in with each other?

Meera : The library. Just him reading to our unborn child like he isn't already the most perfect man in the world. 

Ethan (a very satisfied smile on his face) : First I am very surprised that you kept it PG. So the obvious answer is the bedroom but other than that, the patio, which is not a room though.

Ethan : Meera has a slight deficiency in vitamin D so to avoid complications, we spend a lot of time here in the sun. We play board games, read and even discuss work here sometimes.  

Meera : Ooh yes! This was another great investment and a great way to utilise the humongous outdoor space we have.  

Ethan : I hope you had fun Bree. Thank you so much for doing this. 

A quick shoutout to @a-crepusculo and @jamespotterthefirst who came to my rescue when  I couldn't add more than 10 pics. Also thank you Bree for doing this you are a star and an angel. 💜

Tagging my usual : @starrystarrytrouble @mm2305 @charisworld @choicesfanaf @potionsprefect @genevievemd  @shanzay44 @little-flowers-on-heaven @schnitzelbutterfingers  @coffeeheartaddict  @gryffindordaughterofathena @chemist-ana @adiehardfan @custaroonie @ireneadlerisseggsy @takemyopenheart @natureblooms24 @mainstreetreader @izzyourresidentlawyer @a-crepusculo @quixoticdreamer16 @starryeyedrookie @barbean

+ @openheartfanfics

Please let me know if you want to be added or removed. And if you want to sit out only the answers to the ask games hit me up too. There won't be any hard feelings. I promise. 💜