#pigment nerd

[mxkitchimera]

WILD CLOUDS anime backgrounds

Inspired by the backgrounds of FEELING AN INTENSE EMOTION shots in some of the VINTAGE ANIME I've been revisiting. A lot of them are just some weird contrasting pigments doing what wet pigments do on a page. pigments I'm having a moment with right now: PY184 PG7 PG50 PB60 PR122 PW6. 4k 600dpi scans available here: https://ko-fi.com/s/cca53f1be2

[kitchimera]

watercolor base postcard progress — vrc loading screen

[moonsglare]

currently making rabid animal noises cuz of the new avatar movie

but like whats ur opinion on like

feixiao x na'vi reader🥰🥰

like this albino, gojo satoru ahh fox randomly meets this TALL (navi's are usually 7 ft btw) blue person with the most "🥺" eyes ever

-🇮🇩anon if u remember me🤗

HI 🇮🇩 ANON nice to see u again !! i will confess i have actually watched neither avatar movie, so i have very little idea what goes on in it. as for the na’vi, i’ve seen them, and they’re cool, but personally i have no carnal desires for them. that being said, i think fei would find meeting a na’vi/na’vi-adjacent reader quite interesting! she’d find your height and stature impressive, though she definitely wouldn’t be intimidated. she would be very flattered if you could pick her up, however, maybe in a princess carry. she’s a big strong general who’s mostly made of pure muscle and it isn’t often she gets carried around so easily so i think she’d end up getting a little flustered. blushy fei…………. alshsjsjsjjs I NEED HER CARNALLY…….

anyway, in a relationship i don’t think there’s any significant difference in the way fei would treat you. human, na’vi, foxian, or something else, if she loves you she loves you, you know? her life’s too short to be caught up about worrying about how physically different you two are. she’d much rather spend that time as earnestly as she can.

[citrine-elephant]

drawing krauser's nose and i've entered a temporary state of insanity and euphoria at the sight of a sexy and powerful beast of a man with a nose that society deems "needing of change"

nah strong badasses have the sexiest sniffers. which is to say, all sniffers, really. but a honker chiseled by the gods, i'm a little biased about.

[braisedhoney]

do you have a watercolor brand rec? 👀

i'm actually a really big proponent of using whatever's convenient for you, fr. brands vary in price depending on where you're buying them/where you live, what's available, etc. sure there are definitely differences between them, but especially when you're using professional materials it's actually more rare to pick something bad than to stumble on something serviceable.

(whoops this one got long too. under the cut it goes.)

some brands do, admittedly, do certain things better than others. sennelier (a french brand) is known to go down kind of pale/less saturated on the first wash, but they build really really well in glazes and have a luminosity to them that gives paintings a really interesting depth.

daniel smith (an american brand) has one of the largest collections of colors available i've ever seen and their earth tones are gorgeous and really unique.

QOR (not sure where they're based?) has WILDLY saturated colors that bloom so much it kind of looks like fireworks, same with roman szmal.

holbein (a japanese brand) doesn't move much in water at all and thus offers a lot of control to the user instead at the cost of more abstract or dynamic movement in water.

schmincke horadam (a german brand) was hailed as the holy grail of watercolors for a while for their fine pigments and wild dispersal, but that's kind of chilled out these days since so many new players became beloved staples, and some people aren't fans of wild blooming to begin with. in a similar vein, winsor and newton (english brand) has a very extensive history and honestly works as a super "traditional" pick with few surprises but a solid foundation—and none of that is considering the wild variations in properties between student grade paints or the many types of handmade ones that hit the market lol. some brands make great pro but weak student lines, and vice versa.

buuuuuut.

all of that is pedantic when you're starting out, and honestly if you're asking this you're probably looking to get into watercolor. at beginning or intermediate stages where you haven't gone down the fixation rabbithole, all of tha information is more likely to confuse you than help, especially if you don't know what you like or dislike about watercolor yet.

at beginning stages whatever established pro or student brand is available to you is probably good enough to build fundamental knowledge on.

my actual, legit advice is to pick a few colors you like, then if another brand has what you want get it from them. get a small set if that helps and just build with whatever you find lacking, whatever you aren't using can be replaced with something that appeals to you more. there's no need to stick to one specific brand name just because. just don't pick the super chalky ones that come in those huge art packs with the round pans, and you should be fine (and even then, i've seen some people do great art with those! i just don't like when it comes off like dust on my fingers lol.) general rule of thumb i follow is that if they have accurate pigment and lightfastness information, you're going to be fine.

art isn't really all that exclusionary when you do it for fun, it's just an environment where people started making stuff for smaller and more specific audiences to cater to preferences lol. hell, paint with coffee if you want to. life's short and painting is fun, might as well enjoy it for a while.

oh, but do use good paper. blah blah, you've probably heard it before, and trust me we're all just as horrified as you that watercolor paper is so goddamn expensive. but you could literally have The Nicest Paints In The World and they'd look terrible on bad paper that won't let you use the techniques people try to teach you. if you have to pick between good paper and mediocre paints vs bad paper and excellent paints, pick the paper. trust me.

[telecommunikate]

top 5 horse coats (:

okay this sent me down a rabbit hole because horse colouration genetics are fascinating (and my knowledge barely scratches the surface). however! my list is fairly boring (and not particularly in order tbh)

steel grey

buckskin (bonus points if it's sooty)

black (mainly because friesians are one of the most glorious looking creatures in the world)

piebald

bay

[snoopychris]

nerd!matt loves your lipstick stains

there was something so relaxing about being with matt. it was so comforting. you smile to yourself as you’re scrolling through your phone, watching matt every so often as he rubs your leg gently. a certain video that shows up on your feed takes you by surprise, turning your phone off quickly. your curiosity gets the better of you, looking over at the boy beside you, his glasses discarded on your bedside table as he flipped through the pages of his calculus textbook.

“you ever watch porn?” it’s a blunt question, but one you were kind of curious to know the answer to. matt lets out a quiet chuckle as he closes the book, shaking his head as if you had asked him if 2+2 equaled 4.

“sweetie… be serious for a moment. you were like actually my first kiss obviously i’ve watched porn before… why do you ask? little freak.” matt jokes, grabbing his glasses and placing them on his nose. you chuckle as move the textbook away, allowing you to sit up on his lap as you push hair away from his forehead.

“i think you’re freakier than i’ll ever be and so your words have no effect on me.” you whisper, gently pressing a kiss to his lips. he smiles as he wraps his arms around your waist, pulling away for a moment to bury his face in the crook of your neck. the place the felt the most like home to him.

“my words have an extreme effect on you.” he mumbles, sighing contently as you press a long kiss on his cheek. he frowns when he feels one of your thumbs replace your lips, furrowing his brows. “hey no what are y’doin? keep kissing me don’t stop!” he whines quietly, blue eyes staring into yours. a quiet oh leaves his mouth when he sees the lipstick stain on your thumb and around your mouth, all signs pointing to it being on his cheek too.

“that’s um... pigmented.” he jokes, cheeks growing more and more red with each passing moment, more vibrant than the lipstick stain that was so visibly present. “can i get back to my homework now? those triple integrals were getting so interesting and i really should st-“

“you’re hard as a rock and you want… to study?” matt shrugs at your words, halting any movement as you gently kiss your way down his body. you make sure that each lipstick mark you leave on his skin is prominent enough to see, going as far to even reapply your lipstick when you get to the area surrounding his thighs. you kiss the tip of his bulge gently, the red tint being barely visible on the white cotton of his boxers. a breath that was stuck in the depths of matt’s throat finds its way out, one of his hands flying to your hair while the other grips his bedsheets.

it doesn’t take long for matt to crumble. within a few minutes, his glasses are covered in the fog that came from his own sweat and his hair is sticking to all parts of his face. he looks like he’s straight out of the video that had popped up on your phone. the same video that started this whole thing. your noises are only becoming louder and more audible as time goes on, the silent gagging and moans being a music to matt’s ears. his textbook was long discarded by now, matt having knocked it onto the floor earlier. matt smiles when you pull off of him to get some air, smirking when he sees the lipstick stains that cover the lower half of your face. he wants to call you pretty, but he’s unable to with how fast you put your mouth back on him.

“please… mph fuck fuck! fuck please please oh my-“ as matt’s breaths started getting louder and louder, your movements continued to grow faster. your lipstick was smudged all over his length from tip to base, the bright red a nice contrast to the pink in his cheeks. the self-restraint that he was trying so hard to keep flies out the window when you hollow your lips, causing a loud groan to leave his lips as he thrusts further up into your mouth, spurts of his release hitting the back of your throat. youre doing your best to assist him in riding out the orgasm when a few droplets of his cum join the lipstick in decorating the bottom half of your face, making matt chuckle slightly. he throws his head back in ecstasy, eyelashes batting up at the ceiling as he reaches for your hand as a form of support.

you grab onto him gently, positioning yourself next to him once more after wiping your lips clean on an old tshirt of matt’s that was on the edge of his bed. he smiles widely as he pulls you close, tracing circles on the small of your back before beginning to speak. “i think that was better than any porn i’ve watched.”

a/n: nerd!matt in april of 2025 this is insane.

tags: @ifwdominicfike @frankoceanfanpage @mattssslutbby @sophand4n4 @matthewsturnsgf @izzylovesmatt @m11rx @chris-hallelujah @sturniolotoast @chrisbratt333 @wastelandzella @le4hsblog @mattsd0llfac3 @st7rnioioss @isabellewhatt @sturnslutz @princessesgarden @ikyoudreamofme @allylovescody @ivysturnss @slutformatt17 @user1smvtysturniolo @chrislova @emely9274 @sturns-mermaid @throatgoat4u @13hoax @camzeecorner @darksturnz @oopsiedaisydeer @jetaimevous @muwapsturniolo

@chrattho1 @cvnntagious @sosasturns @whore4mattsturniolo @mattscoquette @submattenthusiast

[ktownshizzle]

k's MYG masterlist

for the yoongi lovers, the yoongi missers... stories about our honey boy.

Legend: [ 𐙚 ] fluff [ ♡ ] smut [ ☁ ] angst [ ✿ ] suggestive [ シ ] comedy [ 🜲 ] personal favorite [ ☆ ] reader favorite

IDOL AUs

Wild & Free 🜲 - [completed two-shot] BF2L, coworkers. permission to dance era. revolves around the infamous "Yoongi Marry Me" catchphrase. Jimin thinks he is cupid. 𐙚♡☁

Terms & Conditions 🜲 - [ongoing series] office romance set during yoongi’s alternative military service. slowburn and suddenly they fuck a lot. glimpse into what it could be like as an idol's gf. Jungkook is into MC's army bestie. 𐙚♡☁

Love & Lullabies ☆ - [ongoing series] DILF Yoongi. MC is Namjoon's BFF who enlists her help to be the nanny of yoongi's son with lee sung kyung. mental health themes. yoongi is down baddd and attempts to rizz up MC many times before she gives in. 𐙚♡☁

Honey & Citrus - [ongoing series] strangers to lovers. coffee shop meet-cute. for all my corporate girlies. basically revolves around a caffeine-induced war of who pays first. valentine's day first date. 𐙚

Watermelon & Suga ☆ - [completed one-shot] Boat Sex! Inspired by the d-day tour in phuket vlog, yoongi meets, you the island girl of his dreams. Did I mention Boat sex? Filthiest thing on this masterlist, but also surprisingly sweet. 𐙚♡

Pigments & Playlists - [completed two-shot] strangers to coworkers to lovers. MC is their new makeup noona. 𐙚♡

NON-IDOL AUs

Friends & Fools ☆ - [completed one-shot] BFF idiots to lovers. set all in the night of their HS reunion. everyone knows they're perfect for each other, except them apparently. 𐙚✿

A Christmas Encore - [completed two-shot] estranged friends almost lovers to lovers. hobi as MC's fuck buddy. super hallmark movie inspired. small snow covered town + a concert to save the cultural center! 𐙚♡☁

That Trickey Hickey - [completed one-shot] F2L. yoongi gets drunk and gives MC a hickey. honestly that's it. oh yeah, cameo from the maknaes who are literal clowns. 𐙚✿シ

CROSSOVER

Nerd & Nerdier 🜲 - [completed series] love triangle situation with MC + jeon wonwoo of SVT. roommates who both decide they want you. there's a rap battle. plus lots of cute dates. self-indulgent to the max. if you love both these dudes, you just found your fic and you're welcome. 𐙚♡シ☁

[moonchild-in-blue]

Show Me How To Dance Forever info dump

Alright, I'm joining the research team side of tumblr and going through every element of the website / new information. A lot of what's here has been posted by others, so this is more of a compilation of things and me thinking out loud.

The Code - D O U O S V A V V M

The Shugborough Inscription is a sequence of letters – O U O S V A V V, between the letters D M on a lower plane – carved on the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, below a mirror image of Nicolas Poussin's painting the Shepherds of Arcadia (...) [about the relief] On the tomb is carved the Latin text Et in arcadia ego ("I am also in Arcadia" or "I am, even in Arcadia") The letters on the second line, D M, were commonly used on Roman tombs to stand for Dis Manibus, meaning "dedicated to the shades". (from wikipedia page)

I'm not gonna go into much detail about the whole Holy Grail thing, bevause you've all probably read this article by now. I do wanna point point out the obvious Arcadia = Eden connection:

Arcadia (Greek: Αρκαδία) refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness. Arcadia is a poetic term associated with bountiful natural splendor and harmony. The 'Garden' is often inhabited by shepherds. The concept also figures in Renaissance mythology. Although commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable. Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, contrasting to the progressive nature of Utopian desires. Greek mythology and the poetry of Theocritus inspired the Roman poet Virgil to write his Eclogues, a series of poems with references to Arcadia as the home of Pan, pipes and singing. (from wikipedia page)

And to point put what the shades in "dis manibus" mean:

In ancient Roman religion, the Manes (/ˈmeɪniːz/, Latin: mānēs, Classical Latin: [ˈmaː.neːs̠]) or Di Manes are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the Lares, Lemures, Genii, and Di Penates as deities (di) that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category of di inferi, "those who dwell below", the undifferentiated collective of divine dead. (from wikipedia page)

POINTING OUT that the Lares are viewed as guardians (sacred guardians if you will -> see Chokehold (I come as a blade, a sacred guardian) and the TOG poem (I am the teeth of God).

The Divide / The Choices

SPEAKING OF the TOG poem, the first email that prompts the choice of house reads "Behold, a Divide", which is very similar to " I am the line between" verse of the poem.

We are presented with two images (which I will get into it later) - House Veridian (crossed swords) and Feathered Host (a feather)

House Veridian: The House Must Endure Feathered Host: The Cycle Must Be Broken

House Veridian

Veridian is probably a reference to the colour viridian, given the symbol is green. Interestingly enough, this pigment is a "hydrated chromium(III) oxide", os an HEXAGONAL SHAPE (the same shape of the images we see on the email. ALSO. OMG YOU GUYSSSS LOOK:

It is antiferromagnetic up to 307 K, the Néel temperature

What's that you ask? WELL:

In materials that exhibit antiferromagnetism, the magnetic moments of atoms or molecules, usually related to the spins of electrons, align in a regular pattern with neighboring spins (on different sublattices) pointing in opposite directions.

THIS IS BLOODSPORT AND ALKALINE ALL OVER AGAIN, I'M GONNA THROW UP. VESSEL YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD NERD. MORE:

Chromium(III) oxide is amphoteric AKA In chemistry, an amphoteric compound (from Greek amphoteros 'both') is a molecule or ion that can react both as an acid and as a base

BITCH.

It is also used to polish BLADES! SWORDS! HMMMM!!!!!

If we think of The House as A Vessel for a god (which is basically what they are, mortal houses of worship), we can definitely see it as "I, the guardian, the fighter, the blade, must endure" . See Chokehold and Higher especially for this.

Feathered Host

I think the connection with thw TNDNBTG/ Euclid is pretty obvious. The constant imagery of angels and heaven in his lyrics, the "cycle" that is completed and repeated with those two songs. The cycle is broken, but it loops again.

You live with angels vs your wings won't find you heaven. You are the garden vs I will go back to Eden. You are far away where I can't reach you vs I will bring down heaven myself for you. Gods vs mortals vs angels. Beginning and End. Like F. Ocean said, "it's a loop. the other side of a loop it's a loop".

I think both of these choices are a very clear representation of the story that has been presented in the trilogy, but even more so in TMBTE. The dichotomy between continuing to fight, to spill blood, to be a hones and well polished tool, and the realisation of the enormity of the violence that persists. The desire for peace, the longing for simpler, more innocent times, for Eden, for Arcadia. A utopia that may only exist in dreams, long forgotten. The fields of elation now barren and sealed off.

Euclid marks the moment of breach, where there's finally a clear thread of hope. The break of the bough, the killing of the self, of the ego. But even then, there is still some attachment for the past weaved between the frayed ends. It's still the autumns leaves, do you remember me? And the final callback to TNDNBTG, the loop. An everlasting ouroboros, the venomous serpent biting its own tail, Even and The Tempter one and the same.

I find it interesting how the double-swords can mean so much. In tarot, it represents an impasse, a stalemate (the card is a blindfolded woman - see the Rain guardian - under the moon holding the two swords). It's used as a battlefield marker. In chemistry, double daggers are used to indicate the Transition State of a chemical reaction. Much to think about.

Show Me How To Dance Forever

Right so, I already made a half-assed post about the Nothing Lasts Forever to Show Me How To Dance Forever pipeline, but I'm keeping it here anyways. They have mentioned dance many times before, in the WH cover, in Aqua Regia and Ascensionism, in the interludes (where they say something about dancing with life and death both if I'm not mistaken).

Now, Aqua Regia makes a reference to Dark Signs . I'm done dancing to alarm bells // (...) I could see dark signs, alarm bells in your eyes. AND, Dark Signs has one of my most favourite lyrics, which goes: I might bend and break to my basic needs to be loved and close to somebody. WHICH WE CAN CONNECT to I Wanna Dance With Somebody (who loves me).

Which poses the question: WHAT are we dancing to? Are we giving in yet again to the need for love, and reveling in what it is a flawed and broken cadence of pleasure and pain alike? Or are we asking to be shown how to dance instead of fight, how to turn despair into tenderness. How to live this new life, a new beginning? Are we forever doomed to waltz with Death, to balance fire in the earth, or are sailing away to new ports, leaving funeral pyres behind towards a new shore, to Arcadia? MANY SUCH QUESTIONS!

The Black Flamingo

I don't know dawg. Is he Vessel? Black and tall and elegant and kinda weird?? Ridiculous wingspan??? Jk. I know some people have already talked about it, and it's potentially connected to the TOG novel (which I haven't read yet), so I'll leave that to you.

I might be missing some things but this is what I have for now. My brain hurts lmao.

[noturreigh]

The last post I reblogged sent me on a spiral so here's how all the LADS LIs are nerds.

Zayne: He's a surgeon, that went through med school. Next.

Jk. Definitely the kinda guy to tell you random facts about the body, forgetting how gross some of them are and getting really embarrassed when his medical nerd talk puts you off your dinner. Loves explaining things whether it's his job or weird things about the human body. Tbh if he wasn't a doctor he'd probs be a teacher. Also ik it's his job but the lab coat SCREAMS nerd.

Caleb: military pilot with gravity powers, NERD. His fave subjects in school were probably physics and maths. Can name pretty much any aircraft at a glance and will yap to you about physics theories and the inner working of his favourite planes if you let him.

Everybody except those closest to him thinks he's just smart and cool but MC, Zayne and Gideon know that he's a chronic nerd that shows his affection by yapping at you about how cool planes are.

Rafayel: Art nerd. Now I don't think he'd care much about human art history overall, although I do feel he'd have a soft spot for the likes of Impressionism. But he's a nerd about the craft, the materials. He canonically creates his own pigments from seashells and such (which as a fellow art nerd I find so cool) but I personally believe he's probably experimented with trying to get natural pigments from all sorts of things.

This man is a colour theory girlie and he will ramble on to anyone about specific pigments and how he's aiming to achieve them. Thomas can pretty much rattle off the way he works by memory and sometimes finds himself looking at different things and wondering if that will give Rafayel the shade he's looking for. He low-key hates it but he tells himself it's for the good of the exhibitions and the art scene at the end of the day.

Sylus: Now I know we all joke that he's an old man but personally I think he's both a music and tech nerd. Like every person who knows about technology only trusts it so much (Catch him hating how much AI junk is infecting our lives ATM) plus Mephisto exists, like I think his tech parts are Sylus' doing. He's also a nerd about weapons and mostly collects them for fun only having a few that he actually uses for combat while overall preferring to use his fists and his evol.

Now he can't play music to save his life but he has the best audio systems money can buy, he has several record players, some vintage, some modern and he collects all sorts of vintage music paraphernalia. (Catch him having one of Eddie Van Halen's guitars on display). He canonically likes the Beatles (there's a pile of records as a decoration for his room on one of them is labeled Beatles) so I think he'd be a classic rock fan (Fits his vibe) but he still enjoys classical and opera

Xavier: Now Xavier is the only one who I don't think is a nerd. He's worse. This man is a gamer. From old school Nintendo to the newest VR releases he's played a good mix of everything. Personally I feel like he leans towards cozy games, has the cutest animal crossing island and the most impressive farm on stardew valley. Has definitely made himself and MC in the Sims (and then made Charlie and removed the ladder while he was in the pool). But he's also a god at the likes of the Bloodborne series. If he's feeling particularly jealous or pent up a few rounds of bashing bosses on Elden Ring will make him feel better. Also don't try playing a fighting game with him, he'll wreck you at Street Fighter.

And there we are the nerd (and gamer) squad.

[elodieunderglass]

There’s this lovely duck couple that I’ve been trying to properly ID for weeks now - my current guess is one is leucistic and the other got some genes from a domestic species (lots of farms around here)

But yea they’re very pretty and I thought you might enjoy them :>

Yeah, those sure look like Manky Mallards! Thank you so much for thinking of me! the brown-bodied male is a classic, classic Manky Mallard with domestic ancestry. That pattern and body shape are very very common in drakes with hybrid ancestry.

This is COMPLETELY ANECDOTAL and not at all scientific, but in my experience, that specific type of drake (large, plump, heavy, coloured dark brown, with a green head and a broken white bib) is considered EXQUISITELY HANDSOME to wild Mallards of all sexes.

The presumed-female is a little trickier. Could even be a male (ducks can have same-sex couples and personal lives of extraordinary messiness and complexity.) As I said the other day, something we recognise in domestic animals is that pigmentation is a spectrum, but in wild animals we tend to just say "leucistic" to explain the range of pigment loss between wild type and albino. Domestic animals have fancy words the interactions of pigment and pattern along the spectrum (you'll hear of "smoky cream" horses and be shown a sparkling metallic gold horse and told that it's a type of black horse; cat people are mashing together words like "dilute lilac tortoiseshell"; etc etc.)

A leucistic female mallard can have varying levels of pigment loss, ranging from looking like a slightly paler wild duck, to being "blonde" with practically no pattern whatsoever. Here are two purportedly-leucistic female mallards from stock image banks on google showing this variety.

An important determiner is that leucism typically affects the brown pigment in ducks. it seems to operate less on the black pigment (so most leucistic mallards will still have some visible traces of their pattern). (you can have leucism in ducks that takes away the black lineart, of course, it's just that it's more common that it reduces the brown fill colour.)

and usually leucism should not be operating on the blue wing patch, which - as nerds will know - is a structural colour rather than a pigment, and less affected. Domestic duck breeds and colours often don't have the blue wing patch. Another determinant for domestic lineage is animal behaviour, but - ducks being so messy and weird at all times - this is really difficult to call.

You'd need to collect some more sightings to be sure, but based on the lack of pattern and there not being a wing patch, I think there's domestic heritage in the paler one too.

At any rate it's a fabulous sighting of Manky Mallards, a birdwatching phenomenon I enjoy very much. thank you!

[mxkitchimera]

swamp monster - traditional x digital watercolor

I remembered art fight on time this year! I've been busy with avi building for events in VRC, so I decided that a balanced approach to art fight would be four works total. This is 2/4. For an artist I think is neat on tiktok. and then I went off the rails and painted washes of PG7, PY110, and PR122 and scanned them and erased all the lil dust specks in affinity photo because I thought I could use layer masks for blending for an -easier- workload. hahaha wow.

[olderthannetfic]

Ayyy, there seems to be a lot of older people among the regular commenters of this blog so I'm gonna shoot my shot and ask for advice.

Idk if it's just the clinical depression but I can't help but feel like I'm never gonna find love as a straight girl. I don't hate men at all -- I've been very lucky to be surrounded by decent dudes growing up but shit. Lookin at the state of the world rn... Gen Z dudes chugging misogynist bullshit at alarming rates, women like Gisele Pelicot going through unspeakable shit from their own husbands... it's hard not to feel cynical. On top of that the decent dudes I know irl are all taken, I don't wanna go on dating apps, and as much as I wanna fuck an older man no decent one is gonna settle for a depressed young woman who's a 4 at best...

It's not that i don't have fulfilling friendships or that I don't value them, I just want to love and care for (and get dicked down by) a decent guy who feels the same way. I've always wanted that and I don't think it's changing anytime soon. Feels impossible though. I'm not sure if I'm the problem (I'm plain faced at best, no fashion sense or charm to speak of, though I do my best to be polite and kind) or there's just shit going on I've no control over.

--

People will give you a lot of placating nonsense, but the reality is that the supply of reasonably okay straight women is much higher than the supply of reasonably okay straight men. Finding a fulfilling long-term relationship is always hard anyway, but man... straight guys really need to step it up.

That said, a lot of people in general and straight guys in particular learn a lot from the breakdown of their first marriage/long-term relationship. Just because a guy is listening to godawful manosphere podcasts today doesn't mean he's never going to be dateable later.

Research on dating apps suggests that your average guy responds to pics where women have a lot of makeup on by looking for a hookup, passes by the ones with no makeup, and finds the ones with a little lipstick or something but not heavy makeup the most dateable.

While it would be nice if appearance didn't matter, if you're really worried about this, there are some basic things you can do where you'll get a lot of bang for your buck: Find one lipstick you can stand and learn to apply it. I like Bésame Cosmetics because I am a nerd and they sponsored a local film noir festival. Peggy Carter's lipstick was from them. They have the advantage of being intensely pigmented, so a quick swipe gives full coverage. I hate having shit on my face in general, so that's helpful. If eye stuff is less bleurgghhhh than lip stuff, learn to apply eyeliner instead. There are some liquid ones I really like even if it takes some practice to get decent at painting them on. You don't need a full face of makeup or really much of anything to read as Hot Girl™ to people who don't know anything about makeup and aren't paying much attention. Yes, even if you're a 4 and it's not just the depression talking.

Charm is hard. Some things can be taught, but a lot of that's innate. Fashion, however, is not. You don't need to be a fashionista to look better than a lot of the people around you. Save your money for fewer, better outfits. Buy things that fit well and get things tailored. Don't settle for ill-fitting clothes that don't make you feel good. Look for natural fibers and clothing that will last a long time. (And if you think you have sensitive skin that cannot handle natural fibers, you need to go up several price points on your cotton. Just saying.)

You can also increase your chances by doing activities where you meet more people who might be a good match. This means finding hobbies that actually have straight guys in them and going to in-person things where you meet new people. (This sounds obvious and pedantic, but I cannot tell you how many women I know who want a boyfriend but only do social things that are 95% women and 5% gay men.)

But the biggest thing you can do to stand out is... well... work on that depression. Self confidence and obviously being in a good place in your life are very attractive. Also, the good catches who haven't been snapped up tend to be the quiet, shy people. If you have your own shit together enough to detect and pursue them, you have a better chance of finding someone great.

I get that ~fix your depression~ is not helpful advice, but working on yourself in both important and relatively superficial ways is something you can control. Meeting the right person is not.

It might help to look at this as a 5-10-year goal and/or a lifetime goal, not a "Oh my god, my life sucks this year" problem. Yes, there's shit going on that you have no control over, but if that's your career and mental health and so on, you can work on that and be in a different place in a few years.

Frankly, I think a certain amount of cynicism is warranted, but that doesn't mean there are no decent guys or that you'll never find one.

[zraiusxo]

omg omgggg i always see your notes in a lot of Hange fics, and Im sososoo glad you're writing!! 💟

May I request a college au where reader is a reserved, quiet, and really kind freshman art student (kinda like fluttershy) and Hange is a charming chemical engineering student. Reader's friends warn her that Hange is in the cof of playboys and stuff who don't take things seriously. And Hange knows this but they fell in love with the reader and came to truly love her so they want to prove themself but they have this fear of commitment due to past unsuccessful relationships. Maybe a bit of angst plss 🙏🙏 tytyyyyy no pressure to write this, I'm just happy to see your fics here!! 💟

♡ no warnings. not proofread. fluff.

Hange Zoë Oneshot♡ Sketching Chemistry

The buzz of Paradis University’s courtyard was an ever-present hum — sneakers on concrete, chatter between classes, the clink of coffee cups at the nearby benches. Spring was barely clinging to the air, and early afternoon sunlight slanted across the fine arts building, where you often sat cross-legged in the grass with a sketchbook balanced delicately on your knees.

You were a vision of quiet, almost intimidating beauty: dark sweaters, pressed skirts, the sharp edges of your style softened only by the worn-in leather of your sketchbook. Most people in your university knew you in passing as a pretty freshman art student, always with a pencil tucked behind your ear, always lost in some far-off thought.

You weren’t naïve — just resolute. You knew your world, knew what you wanted, and didn’t offer your company lightly.

It was at one of Sasha’s notorious "pizza on the lawn" Fridays that you first really noticed Hange Zoë.

They were laughing hardly with Miche, who was half-laying on the grass in a dark green shirt with his drink spilled all over his jeans, cursing under his breath. Hange wore a white tank top that showed off their tan and toned arms dusted in a few tattoos, cargo pants tucked carelessly into scuffed boots. Their glasses caught the sun every time they tilted their head to speak, and it felt like Hange’s whole presence glowed with reckless, unfiltered charm.

It wasn’t the way they looked that caught you. It was the way they listened.

Eyes lit up with genuine attention, mouth half-quirked in some secret amusement even when they weren’t speaking. They made every person around them feel important, like the center of the universe for a moment.

You lowered your sharp eyes back to your sketchbook.

Dangerous, you thought.

And as if summoned by your glance, Sasha plopped down next to you with a fresh plate of pizza.

“Careful around Hange,” she said, voice muffled by a mouthful of cheese. “They’re part of Miche’s group. Y'know— full of heartbreakers. Ya know the drill.”

You raised an eyebrow, barely reacting, fingers holding the pencil that were still tracing gentle lines across the paper.

Connie, sprawling out on Sasha’s other side, chimed in with a snort, “Miche, Erwin, Levi — they’re all tight. Real smooth, real shiny, until you realize they’re allergic to, like, anything serious.”

You listened without looking up.

“Hange’s probably the most charming of all of them, though,” Sasha added thoughtfully. “Smart as hell. Chemical engineering, I think. Popular too. But commitment?” She let out a dramatic pfffft. “Forget it.”

A hum vibrated against your rosy lips noncommittally. You didn’t need a warning. You’d learned long ago that you didn’t offer your heart to anyone who hadn’t already bled for it.

It started slow.

A week later, you found Hange on the second floor of the library, tucked into the engineering section with a battered laptop open and papers strewn across two desks. They looked frustrated, brow furrowed, one hand raking through messy brown hair.

When they caught you glancing over (your studio class was doing a project involving chemical pigments, and you were half-lost yourself), Hange grinned.

“Hey! Art genius. Help a desperate nerd out?”

You blinked, long eyelashes fluttering, wary.

“I’m not a genius,” you said flatly, adjusting the strap of your leather bag. “And I’m not sure why you’d need help with art.”

Hange shrugged, unapologetic. “Genius recognizes genius, you know? Plus, you seem way more organized than me.”

You almost smiled— almost— before turning to the shelf, swiftly plucking out the textbook you needed.

Hange watched you like you were a riddle they wanted to spend the next ten years solving.

Hange started appearing everywhere after that.

At your favorite study spot near the quad, lounging nearby with a mechanical pencil tucked behind their ear.

At the campus café, scribbling equations into a grimy notebook while you nursed your favorite iced coffee.

At Mikasa’s casual hangouts, where they’d somehow maneuver to sit near you — not so close that it would be obvious, but enough that you’d feel the hum of their presence like a low electrical current.

They were patient with you, to a degree you didn’t expect.

No flirtatious touch. No crude jokes like Miche might've made. Just conversation, bright and winding, questions about your art, your inspirations, your favorite late-night snacks when deadlines loomed.

You wanted to resist.

You knew what your friends had said. You knew better.

But Hange made it hard to maintain your careful distance.

There was an earnestness to them— a way they leaned in when you spoke, like your words were the most important thing they'd hear that day.

And yet, you noticed the cracks.

You saw the way Hange would sometimes falter mid-laugh, a flash of something tight and scared in their eyes.

You heard the way Levi would caution them gently, "Don't screw this up," he'd mutter under his breath, more warning than joke— not that he was the type to joke around anyway, when Hange lingered too long around you.

You realized, slowly, that Hange wasn’t like the others because they didn’t want to be.

They had been before— careless, breezy, easily moving on from one shiny thing to the next. They had loved and been left. Left and been hated. Somewhere along the line, love had become synonymous with failure to them.

Commitment terrified Hange.

Not because they didn’t feel enough.

But because they felt too much.

One late night, under the soft pool of light from the streetlamps near the empty art building, Hange finally said it.

"I’m scared, you know." Their voice was low, almost hoarse, as they stuffed their hands into the pockets of their jacket. "Not of you. Just... of ruining things. Of wanting something too badly and then watching it die."

You closed your sketchbook slowly.

The night was cool against your skin. You could hear your own breathing.

“I don’t need a promise from you,” you said softly, the words steady despite the ache in your chest. "I just need honesty."

Hange looked at you like you were the first kindness they hadn’t had to earn.

A beat of silence stretched between you, golden and fragile.

"I’m trying," they said finally. "Really trying. I... don’t want to lose you before I even have you."

You reached out— slow, deliberate— and took their larger and much rougher hand in yours, your soft skin brushing against their callouses.

It wasn’t a declaration. It wasn’t forgiveness for things they hadn’t done yet.

It was an invitation.

And Hange, for once in their reckless life, stepped forward instead of running away.

You studied late into the nights at the café. Hange dragged you into impromptu ramen runs at 2 AM. Mikasa rolled her eyes but smiled whenever she caught you both tucked together on the quad, your sketchbook balanced on Hange’s knees while you argued about color theory versus chemical structure.

And little by little, against all odds, Hange Zoë— an infamous charmer, secret romantic, brilliant disaster— started building a home in your heart.

And for once, they stayed.

♡ a/n: i have sooo many hange college au reqs, send help.

[anxiousapplepie]

Hello it's the plant nerd again, this time I'm wondering how exactly rose hair dye works?

Like you can dye normal roses by cutting the stem and sticking it in dye (works on other flowers too), so do they dye it like humans or just... Drink it? Heck if they drink it, it would even change sap color.

Also a fun aside, real non-dyed 'blue' roses exist! They're made by a company called Suntory, from genetically engineering white roses with DNA from pansies and a little trickery. They're a bit purple, but still they produce a naturally blue pigment alongside the red! (I am so sorry to infodump but like when am I ever gonna have an excuse to tell someone about these cool things)

You will not believe the amount of thought I have put into the Roses and their hairdye! SO! Let me give you the run down:

Yes! Hairdye works by dumping a bunch of vegetable dyes or chemicals onto a Rose's head! However, because their hair is magic, whether the dye sticks to the Rose heavily depends on them. If a Rose is happy with the color of their hair and feels like it represents them perfectly, trying to change it won't work... for longer than a few minutes or hours, at least XD

A Rose trying to force their hair to accept a new color, however, is possible! But they have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to keep up the act and repress anything that makes their "original" color bleed through again. This can risk a Rose turning brown, but mostly it's like wearing a mask in public. However, any dyed hair will NOT reflect the Rose's true magic color. Which makes things a little awkward, but nothing a little more lying can't get around.

Multicolored Roses have a unique skill of being able to pretend to be one of their true colors! It does mean turning up one of their defining traits to Full Blast in an attempt to hide their second color, but they have the easiest time blending in like "why yes, this is my natural hair color! thank you for asking!"

There are some who can apply hairdye and it'll stick, though! Green and White Roses being some of those outliers. Also don't you dare apologize for nerding out about roses because it means I can get excited too! It's only thanks to you guys I can ramble about my lil guys <3 Also I did not know there was some dorks out there trying to make legit blue roses?? I already knew about the fake "turn white into blue" roses, but that is really cool! guess it's not 100% impossible after all XD Also thanks to you I was inspired to draw this, so that's a bonus!

[puddleorganism]

Day 5 of drawing my sona as one of my aliens - Slimarian edition

Nerd notes:

Slimarians get their pigments from the food they eat, like flamingoes, and they have very varied diets so they can be just about any color

These pigments tend to concentrate on the back, and sometimes extremities, but often form small concentrated pockets, which result in little freckles here and there

This particular individual has a diet that gives them two different pigments, hence their red/pink and purple coloration

Without these pigments Slimarians are translucent, and even with them often their bellies are somewhat see-through