#they'll probably mostly be looking for tips

[archerdepartures116]

I feel like all the peak lords go to one peak to get their makeup done—they alternate between Xian su and bai zhan. Xian su because qqq was a beauty influencer and bai zhan because lqg had practiced with lmy

I feel like lqg would rather put clown make up on his fellow transmigrators then take it seriously (he'd probably jab someone's eye with a makeup brush)

might as well have all of them go to xian shu peak to take lessons from Qi Qingqi

[witch-of-snow-and-stars]

Some Advice for Beginner Witches/Advice I Wish I Got

I'm by no means an expert in anything magical or an expert witch, this is mostly just advice/tips that I wish I had had when I was first starting my practice OR advice that I think a lot of beginners could benefit from. Resources will also be linked at the end.

This is a rather long post so everything else is under the cut, but I've divided everything into general advice, spiritual practice advice, and community-oriented advice. Links to applicable sources are under Miscellanea.

General Advice/Things to Keep in Mind

Consider the mundane stuff first! Use naturally-sourced/biodegradable and ecologically safe offerings/magic components when working outside or if you're going to return something to the earth (ex. salt will kill plants/damage soil so don't do a salt circle- use crushed eggshells instead and don't bury anything non-biodegradable/naturally sourced), practice good fire safety (ffs every witchy person I've run across has at least 1 'fire incident'), make sure not to expose crystals to things they'll react negatively to (ex. pyrite in water will form sulfuric acid), etcetera etcetera.

You don't need to get all new specialty equipment or a ton of things to start your spiritual practice. You may want to but you by no means do you have to. A lot of everyday items that you may already have can perform magical uses, so just use the things you have until you run into specific items you may want to add to your practice (ie you might make an alter out of things you already have and then switch out elements with new preferred items as you get them). Honestly things might work better if you use older/mundane items you have a close connection to.

Similarly, you don't need to go and get the most expensive things for your craft either. If you're wanting to splurge on anything, splurge on safety supplies (fire safety supplies or anything that will make your practice more safe practically are good places to start) and workhorse items that you will be able to use frequently long-term. This doesn't have to be a major strain on your budget and shouldn't be a financial burden to you.

Magical/Spiritual practitioners DO NOT all believe the same things. Spiritual practices/Spirituality is more of an umbrella category that encompasses many different practices (or practitioner communities) rather than a specific belief system/community and most practitioners ascribe to schools of practice or systems of belief and combine those systems with their own unverified personal gnosis (typically called UPG). Overlaps in beliefs or practices happen fairly regularly, but will be different for different practices.

You can learn something from most practitioners, even if they come from a different belief system or practice (disclaimer: do not take from/try to practice closed practices/religions, I am not telling you to do that). By this I mean that other practitioners will probably have different bases of knowledge and perspectives that may be of help to you even if they come from a different type of practice. Personally, if I'm struggling with understanding a specific concept or I'm having issues linking something up within the rest of my practice, hearing someone else's viewpoint or seeing how they link/incorporate different aspects of their practice can be a catalyst for working through those issues

Take care of yourself. Look into spiritual psychosis and what to look out for, and and try to not fall down the rabbit hole of convert fervor. Most people are not expecting you to have your entire practice nailed down within the first week (tbh your practice will probably change and evolve throughout your life), so take your time and go at a pace that's sustainable for you. You'll probably even have rest/break periods of low/zero engagement in your practice, and if that happens that's fine too!

Magic Advice & Spiritual Practice Tips

I would recommend starting where you are most interested or start working with what you're most inclined towards. For example, don't start with candle magic if you're more interested in plant magic just because it's more recommended for beginners. You're more likely to be able to genuinely engage with and enjoy your practice if you have a connection with what you're doing. Personally I started with astrology and crystals, and then got into divination work with pendulums and tarot before expanding into everything else I do because that was the path my interests aligned with. Your path is probably going to be different, and that's great!

However, if you're looking for easy places to start, I do have recommendations based on how easy they are to access and incorporate into your everyday life. Kitchen witchcraft is pretty easy to start with assuming you already cook (or would like to learn how) and can become very intuitive once you have a good grasp on cooking and magic. Small bits of glamour magic or sigil work can also be easy to do since you're already bathing/clothing yourself (charming clothing and toiletries is fairly easy and beginner friendly). Cartomancy can also be a solid way to go, since a cheap or DIY'd tarot deck or a playing card deck can be fairly accessible for most people. Pendulums, runes, and bone throwing kits/magpie oracles can also be DIY'd easily or bought depending on your preferences.

Incorporate the knowledge and skills you already have! A lot of practical skills you may already have can be of practical application to your practice. I've also found that my magical understanding of concepts is deepened when I understand how things work on a mundane level.

Going along with that last point, I think skill building/skill use can have devotional applications (if devotional actions are part of your practice). Ex. if you worship a deity that is associated with craft or a particular skill, you can absolutely dedicate your pursuit of knowledge in that skill or dedicate a project to a deity/spirit of your choice. Alternatively, dedicate that skill building to yourself or your practice (for example, dedicate the creation of a homemade alter cloth to an alter or towards the growth of your craft/practice)

I have found that there's a lot of advice regarding cursing and doing magic when your experiencing heightened emotions. Personally, I'm curse neutral I don't really do them (I've just never felt the drive to) but I have no issue with them. Do as you will, but be prepared to deal with whatever consequences may arise (tbh this is good general advice for your practice). Regarding doing a working when you're in a heightened emotional state, I would just say in my experience that doing magic in that state can lead to impulsive actions or not thinking something through. Do whatever you're going to do, but maybe calm down or proceed with caution for best results is all I'm saying.

Sometimes the best thing to happen with a working is for it to fail. Maybe you were working with something you shouldn't (like a closed practice that wouldn't pertain to you), or it's something you wouldn't be able to handle, or maybe it's something that would end up being regrettable if it actually worked. There are a lot of reasons why something not working can be for the best, but that is sometimes the best outcome for a working (even if you don't realize it in the moment).

Look for ways to evolve your practice and think outside of the box! Experiment with new applications of different working (like glamour magic to be forgettable/unnoticeable instead of noteworthy), involve new components if they make sense (ex: enchant some ink if the working has a written component), or make your own correspondences based on how things work for you

I have found that location can effect a working quite a bit (and effect you if it backfires). One of the more helpful pieces of advice I've gotten is if you're planning on doing a bainful working/cursework/negative working, don't do that where you live/exist regularly (like your job). Like, if you're wishing bad luck towards someone you don't want to have it backside on you where you sleep and live (working off property at least or at a crossroads world be ideal in this case). Similarly if one was to do a beneficial spell regarding sleep, do that at your home in your bedroom.

This also applies to community advice but: if you come across someone else's working, I would advise that you not tamper with it unless you have to. Beyond not knowing what it's for/affecting, the working may have hazardous components you aren't aware of (sharp bits, mold, toxic/allergic reaction causing substances, etc)

Community Advice & Relationship Building

Like any group of people, magic/spiritual communities can have bad/malicious actors within them, typically in the form of grifters, different types of alt-righters, and cults. I would recommend learning to spot and avoid alt-righters and nazis quickly as the alt-right loves magic & occult spaces and they will try to recruit or radicalize you if they get the opportunity. Familiarizing yourself with ways to spot grifters, red flags for cults, and common symbols/red flags of by the alt-right in magic/ occult spaces is important (learn quick and early and then stay up-to-date on that information for the safety of yourself/others).

You can make your practice as private or collaborative as you'd like, but having friends or community connections is nice! Being friendly and polite will generally go a long way to meet people and see if you would want to try to form connections within different practitioner communities online and offline.

In person locations/events might be a good but unreliable venues for meeting local practitioners, getting supplies, and learning new skills for your practice. Your local shops (depending on availability in your area) will probably have a mix of customers, but there's a decent chance there are regulars that you can meet and maybe form relationships with as well. Metaphysical shops, independent groups, and even areas/towns will also sometimes put on events/meet-and-greets/workshops that can be a fun way to connect with practitioners in your area.

Being friendly and respectful will get you pretty far with creating relationships in different magical spaces/communities. Reaching out to other people (online or irl) can be a good way to network and learn new things

Miscellanea

The Witch of Wonderlust's offering cardigan video here. She also has a plethora of educational videos on her youtube channel

Frankie/ChaoticWitchAunt on youtube also has done good educational content. They primarily do Italian-American folk magic and tarot and I've learned quite a bit from them

@breelandwalker and her show Hex Positive are also wonderful resources.

@friend-crow and @windvexer are also two great witchcraft bloggers

thetarotguide.com has some great guides for the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot cards, the card guides are quite detailed and well written. There is also a small but not insubstantial community of tarot/oracle reviewers on YT that is a nice resource if you are wanting to get a new deck

I've also found the work of Jason Miller to be quite informative. Miller had published multiple books and what I've read of his work had been quite enlightening.

Not to plug my own stuff, but my #tarot musings tag, my witchy recipes, a workshopping correspondences post, charm necklace post, and star jar workings might be some fun and easy places to experiment. I also quite liked my

For more experienced people, please add any advice you'd want beginners to know! For beginners, I hope this helps a bit! Thanks for reading💜

[sims3fiend]

Some dumb sims 3 updates/stuf

Or, how to develop severe brain damage in 10 easy steps.

Sooo… This is going to be more of a blog post than anything of any real substance, more of a whinge with maybe a few teasers for some stuff I may or may not release (probably not). Feel free to skip if you're after hot tips or coherent writing.

Stutter "fixer"

Sooooo…. The sims 3 has some stutter issueeesss… Incredible discovery, I know! I started looking at remedying them with settings, found some hidden settings that help reduce some of the issues but that can only do so much when the game was made in 2009 for 2009 computers.

So I had a looky at some things I thought could be causing it, mainly WinAPI functions because that's the easier route (h-haha…), and started to try to "optimize" some of the more common ones:

ReadFile: Was the first, and looking at the sheer volume of like 12783972198 calls a milisecond every time you move the camera, I thought surely I can speed it up a little r-right. Not really. I tried all sorts of… interesting things, file caching in memory, implementing the overlapped flag (took ages), etc. Oh and the performance increase? Literally nothing. It's called weirdly from wherever it's called and so we must suffer.

Threads: So, I had a look at other areas that were potential targets for speedup, ran an actual profile and it showed a problem areas namely threads and some other stuff I don't remember. ZwWaitForMultipleObjects and WaitForSingleObject take up a lot of time, so I very poorly attempted to optimize them, adding some timeout optimizations (and a bunch of other failed attempts). Despite being the most insane, this actually worked, and I got like a 40% speed increase in a very very niche metric that did not noticeably effect the game one single bit. I plan to combine all my failures into a single script eventually, maybe once combined they'll do something…

Actual insanity - Memory IPC: Then I had an idea, everyone hates e12, why don't we shove the games memory into another process and that'll fix it. No brain moment. No clue what past me was thinking, for some reason I thought you could like, access another processes memory if it was spawned from it, but uhh.. no, that's not how things work… I tried a few other things in a similar vein but it just crashed and crashed, so for now I'm just gunna work on:

Alloc/free mee - Current insanity: Currently, I'm still working on VirtualAlloc and VirtualFree (which is what I was redirecting to another process), but more from an optimizing memory usage standpoint than a… whatever the IPC thing was. There's a lot of things to try, and I've had some luck in some areas and some abysmal failures in others. There's a few promising functions calling VirtualAlloc/Free that seem to be potentially pointing towards memory leaks (004e54d0), but I'm too dumb to investigate that. At the moment, I'm going mostly just gathering more logs which takes forever and hurts my brain real bad.. On testing there's like 180 allocs that we could probably yeet no problem, which is like 750mb saved… Maybe idk.

I have plenty of ideas for deduplication, memory pool implementations to reduce churn/fragmentation, shoving things aggressively into pagefiles if they're not being used, etc. etc. Basically, there's a lot of avenues to explore, and I feel like there's potential… though I've definitely said that before and been dead wrong so…

Anyway, rambling over. I plan to release a dumb little renderer settings mod maybe-soon-ish that'll let you do dumb stuff that might be useful for reshade like turn shadows/drop shadows off and post processing off and on. I guess I could add max lots and other settings eventually too since they're static values.... Might also do a mythbusting post for some performance "tweak" stuff I see thrown around that isn't super accurate but I also don't want people to be angry at me so maybe not.

Sorry to whoever read all this, but also thanks :)

[amalgamationillustration]

Alright Ghost Fan Artists, this is for you. Seeing as we have a papa with a real human face and not a silicone one I have to talk about this, if you're trying to capture his likeness and finding something isn't looking right like I was, here's a psychotically detailed tour of his face and the parts I think are worth noting when it comes to drawing his beautiful visage.

Tobias Forge has a really interesting nose, he has what's known as a bifid nasal tip, or a cleft nose tip, it's a rare thing that occurs early in fetal development where the tip of the nose segments into two, it's similar to a cleft chin, but for the nose. A butt nose, if you will, and I mean that affectionately.

Here's some examples of a few different noses with a bifid nasal tip

You'll notice them by the distinctive line or cleft down the center.

Sometimes they'll be more of a pronounced ala (the edges of the nose where it meets the cheek).

In some pictures of Tobias it's more subtle

But in others it's more obvious, it seems to change depending on the lighting and probably some other unknown factors

But importantly for all you fan artists out there, the Papa V paint seems to really highlight this center line

This kind of nose is really interesting and kind of rare so I wanna see that shit represented! Draw me that little cleft line, show me that little cute butt nose!!

So, connecting from the bifid nasal tip to the mouth is his philtrum, which is noteworthy because it's fairly broad, giving him a wide Cupid's bow

But his makeup is painted in a way that exaggerates the points upward and inward, this isn't vital when drawing him as Perpetua but can help if you draw the face and then the paint!

Now he has a specific set of things going on with his teeth, and I'm going to address the 'imperfections' with them, but please don't mistake that for me saying they're bad or need fixing. As long as they aren't causing him any trouble, there's nothing wrong with them. However as someone who's had orthodontic work done as an adult, I am really interested in the myriad of ways our teeth can come through and the causes for that. I'm not suggesting he needs to change them and in fact I think they have a lot of character and are also very fun to draw, and though no one is under any requirement to, I urge you to practice imperfect teeth, they're very common and add a lot to a portrait and character design and generally are fun and pleasant and full of personality.

So onto the teeth, the most notable ones right away are his bottom incisors, as he has some notable crowding

You'll notice his central indoors are mostly central/straight but his lateral incisors either side are sat further back, this creates what I've decided to call a bunny teeth look. As at a glance it can appear as though only the front incisors are there like a rabbit. This happens when theres not enough space for the teeth coming through, this can happen when either the jawbone is not wide or long enough or the teeth themselves are too wide to sit side by side, or a combo of all three. I also had some crowding on the bottom row as this is where it's most common, the teeth don't have the room required and they either crowd like this where they move to accommodate (sometimes it's symmetrical like in tf case where the same teeth on each side move the same way) or they can flare outward (more common with the top, I had this pretty badly, called an overjet, which is different to an overbite) or they sometimes teeth need to be extracted or occasionally theres orthodontic or surgical intervention to widen or lengthen the jaw or sometimes the sides of the teeth are sanded down to allow them to fit more flush with each other (it sounds shit, I've had it done, it's actually fine, just feels weird).

Another thing to note is that because the lateral incisors have moved behind the central ones, the canines on the bottom have slightly rotated outward and his bottom left incisor (out right in this case) is tilting inward. This is most obvious in the Lachryma music video where he seems to have some sort of wash over them to make them stand out.

You can basically only see his central incisors and his tilted canines here.

Now his top teeth are less distinctive but do have something everyone has noticed: vampire fangs

He does have a similar crowding with his incisors as on the bottom but much more subtle, very similar to what I had actually.

However, his canines are what steal the show here. They've got a two fold thing happening, so one is that they're slightly rotated, so they're sticking out more rather than laying flush with the others, and it's making the point seem more curved and pronounced as it's creating a visible gap between its inner edge and the lateral incisors. Here's an example of something similar pre and post orthadontic work, to show you how they move

Additional, his canines also appear to have erupted a little higher than the rest, so they'd normally share the same gumline as the rest of the teeth, but in some of us they erupt a bit higher up, which can often also push them out. So we have rotated, high and projected canines which gives him a really distinctive fang that means he's never gonna beat the V in Papa V stands for Vampire allegations and I love that for him.

This kind of formation also happens due to crowding, where his lateral incisors on the bottom sunk in behind his central incisors, his upper canines protruded out. This is again due to a slightly narrow palate, which is also seen in the fact that he has a very slightly recessed jaw, though he also has a prominent chin so it balances out and makes it hard to notice unless you're a little tooth freak like me. I also have a narrow palate and a more recessed jaw and chin than he does so I'm primed to see one of my own. You'll notice when he smiles with teeth but without opening his mouth, you'll rarely if ever see much of his bottom teeth, and it is normal for the bottom teeth to not be perfectly in line with the top, as they always sit behind the top unless you have an underbite, the layout of his teeth make it so that you only really see his bottom teeth when he's opening his mouth more fully, which is why they're seen more often in Copia due to the extent of motion required to open the latex mask mouth.

Now, I'm not gonna gate keep art, you can draw TF or Perpetua however you'd like in whatever style you'd like, but if like me, you're interested in likenesses and capturing them and like me, have found it really hard to capture his likeness and weren't sure what was missing, maybe this unnecessarily detailed guided tour of his face will help you, and even if it doesn't, you might have just learnt some fun facts about noses and mouths and orthodontics!

[mcalhenwrites]

Cal: my books, my art, relevant links

Firstly, you can find me as MCalhen just about anywhere! bsky Patreon KoFi Goodreads My books are also written under MCalhen. The age appropriate one can be found here. It's available both as a paperback and on kindle as an ebook.

I take sketch commissions. I work on paper with pencil, so be aware of the literal "sketch" part here. I mostly focus on characters and love OCs. Prices are around $15-20 for first character (hips/mid leg or full body) and secondary character is $10-15. Simple backgrounds can be added if you want, but they'll cost about $20 extra. I accept commissions for amigurumi/crochet too. I work at $20/hr not including S&H or material costs. At this time, I will not undertake any large projects, probably capping most of them at something that will cost around $60 at most. My tiers on Patreon have a wide range of different things I share, but crocheting WIPs and tips and such will cost much more. Most of the lower tiers feature exclusive practice art sketches and dragon art, as well as first-look WIP excerpts of my writing. I will share complete stories publicly later on when I publish those books. Some samples of my work:

I completely understand if your financial situation doesn't allow any way to buy a commission, a book, or donate/pledge. I know I like to help out artists but seldom can in many ways. One thing you can do is boost my work, though, and that'd be immensely appreciated. Thank you for checking out my work and helping. I know many people have already helped me, and I am so grateful. I know I can do this! I believe in me! (Believe in yourselves, it's healthy!)

[justkidneying]

Why the Spleen Sucks

The spleen is a really shittily placed organ, making it prone to injury. This injury is usually severe and can lead to death if not properly managed. We're going to look at the function of the spleen, what happens when it is damaged, and how to write about.

Where is the spleen? It's in the upper left quadrant of the abdominal cavity, nestled right against the ribs (typically 9-11) at the midaxillary line. It's behind the stomach and is considered intraperitoneal. The main thing is that the spleen is very vulnerable. It is literally right up against the ribs without much protecting it. It's shaped like a little bean and is purple in humans. It is fed by the splenic artery, which comes off of the celiac trunk (which sticks off of the abdominal aorta).

What does the spleen do? Its main job is to filter out old and malformed red blood cells. It also holds immune cells. Certain diseases can cause the spleen to enlarge, including cirrhosis of the liver (it's connected to the hepatic portal system), sickle cell anemia (RBCs are stuck in it), and autoimmune disorders. The spleen also holds about 250 mL of RBCs in reserve in case you need them.

What happens when it is injured? The spleen can be ruptured and lacerated kinda easily. Blunt trauma to the ribs can cause it to rupture, and this is seen in contact sports and car accidents mostly. Because of those giant gaps between the ribs, it's also prone to injury from knife attacks. Gunshot wounds are another common cause, as well as broken ribs penetrating it (broken ribs are very sharp, like way sharper than you imagine). Rupture is more likely when someone has splenomegaly.

When the spleen is damaged, you're going to get a lot of intraperitoneal hemorrhaging. The spleen filters a lot of blood and has blood in it, so there's going to be a lot of blood in the abdomen (obviously). This will lead to distention, guarding (abs are tense), and hypovolemia. The left upper quadrant will be painful, and there can also be referred pain to the left shoulder (Kehr's sign).

If the patient has a small laceration, the symptoms aren't always as dramatic. Sometimes they'll just have low hemoglobin (which is on RBCs), maybe some thrombocytopenia (lots of platelets in the blood).

How do you fix this? If the injury is small and the patient is hemodynamically stable, they can usually be given a blood transfusion and the spleen can heal itself. Sometimes surgery is also performed to clamp a vessel or repair the outer layer of the spleen.

If the injury is major, then surgery will be performed. If the patient is less critical, they may go in and try to fix the problem. If it can't be fixed, they may do a splenectomy (remove the spleen). In a critical patient, they might forgo the nice pretty incision on the left side, and instead just split the patient down the middle. In these situations (in my experience), there isn't a lot of time to waste. One thing that we aren't going to waste time on is anesthesia, for example. This is with a lot of very critical surgeries, at least from what I have seen. Like the surgeon will start cutting as they are working on knocking out the patient, but usually they are in so much pain that they don't even register it.

If you remove the spleen, the patient is more at risk for infections, but with modern medicine and vaccinations, it's not as much of a big deal as it used to be. The patient will probably be fine.

Writing tips: (new section idea, hope you guys like it, lol) As with any injury, you have to make sure that you are giving them an acceptable mechanism of injury. With the spleen, this is either blunt trauma or penetration/laceration. Getting tackled, getting stabbed, getting shot, all great MOIs.

Second thing, present the appropriate signs and symptoms. A sign would be like bruising, hypotension, tachycardia, etc. A symptom would be LUQ pain, Kehr's sign, etc.

Next, figure out what you're going to do and where you're going to do it. In the field, there probably isn't much you can do. The most would probably be a laparotomy and clamping the splenic artery, but I mean, when I was an EMT, we were not doing this. There's a lot of stuff you can theoretically do, but never gets done. But I mean you can write it. If the patient makes it to the hospital, I think it would be more fun to do emergency surgery and just split them right down the middle. There's going to be a lot of blood in the greater omentum, very high stakes and exciting.

Anyways, hope you guys liked this, please let me know if I got anything wrong. I wrote this off of my personal experience and a few good textbooks, but there can always been mistakes in things.

[sillygoofyqueer]

More Heavenly Crowyuan thoughts for both you and @someonewhoreadswaaytoomuchfanfic.

As I was thinking up Heavenly Crow Demon ideas, it occurred to me that regeneration and fire are both things associated with Greek phoenixes. Considering PIDW's insane length, surely at least some of the adventures must have monsters cribbed from other mythologies, right?

With this is mind, there is a good chance Shen Yuan looks at his abilities and thinks something like, "Oh, I must have a grandparent who is a many-lived-regenerating-firebird. There sure were a lot of them in that volcanic demon realm mountain range where Binghe met wife 67." and just never question things further. Since Airplane opted not to include heavenly demon crows in his story, Shen Yuan has no idea they're even a possibility!

As sillygoofyqueer noted before, only heavenly demons naturally have Zuiyin marks, but it's really popular for artists to draw such markings on other sorts of demons too. Because of this, I'm fond of the headcanon that all sorts of demons mark their own foreheads either to denote their status or just for the sake of fashion.

I'm sure crow demons, with their love of shiny things, are happy to paint glittery markings on their foreheads, so they might not find Shen Yuan's natural mark all that odd (beyond perhaps the fact he never changes it). For Shen Yuan himself, since he transmigrated in with clothes and stuff, he probably figures the demon he transmigrated into painted it there before Shen Yuan replaced him.

Supposing the other crows do realize Shen Yuan's heritage, one of my many inspirations for crowyuan are the crows in Tamora Pierce's trickster series. Let me tell you, those crows were not impressed by either royalty or gods. If you want their help with something, you need to bribe them with something shiny!

As such, when they look at heavenly demon crows they probably just think things like, "Man, I wish my feathers came with natural gold tips!" and "That guy sure is helpful when driving off invaders!" but otherwise do not care in the slightest... Unless the heavenly demon crow in question uses their abilities to bully and steal from other crows of course. Then they might agree to offer tribute and some token amount of reverence, but they'll mostly just think that crow is an asshole.

I think this is such a silly funny idea as well, and I love the thought of, instead of worshipping the ground that heavenly demons walk on like most other demons, the extent of crow demons' appreciation ends at "...I want those shiny feathers :(" (imagine a whiney sibling's voice as you read that) and other than that, they really do not care about anything like that.

Also, on the topic of Shen Yuan just brushing off everything weird that hints towards his heritage, I can't stop thinking about the idea of him trying to get used to his own body and figure out what perks it has. Every time he comes across something that isn't mentioned in PIDW, he brushes it off with an "it must have been a fluke" or "well, never doing THAT ever again". For instance, when his arm sets alight and it's healed from a fall or something, he kind of pauses before deciding "well, now I'm hallucinating from the hitting my head" and just goes about his day as if nothing happened. One time he accidentally sets something on fire when he's healing (still believing that he is just regularly hallucinating now) and he stares at the ashes of whatever he burned before just gaslighting himself into believing he had a source of fire that caused the flames rather than him doing it.

[headcannonsbutwrittenbyasnake]

Some of My Genshin Impact mains (current and past) but as cat personalities I've seen and lived with

Xiao

The "Unhand me Fool! I Will Paint the wa- Oh hey, This is nice."

Violence is his love language <3

Was probably found in a trash can alone and feral

SMALL, like mistaken as a kitten despite being full grown small, with sleek black fur and yellow eyes. If it wasn't for the small bits of green on the tips of his tail and ears he would blend in with the shadows

Again- feral, but a ride or die once you get his trust

You don't need a guard dog with him around

Actually you don't need anyone around!!!!(he's jealous)

God forbid you're talking on the phone around him

He won't do anything to you, he just stares

If he's asleep around you, and you leave while he's still asleep and he wakes up- he panics

Where are you?? Did you just up and leave? Did he do something bad in his sleep? He just panics until you come back

"Xiao what's the matter? Did something spook you?" "Meow meow!" (You came back! You do still love me!)

Seriously he kinda has attachment issues... if it's just the two of you living together. With the other cats. He's... fine with them, doesn't really trust them at first

Decides Razor and Albedo makes good company

Is on okay terms with Kokomi and Tighnari,

With Wanderer and Al-haitham, it's on sight

They'll play nice if you're around, but one you leave the house, it's go time

After the fight, it doesn't really matters who wins, they just need to make sure you don't find out.

Kokomi and Tighnari fix their fur and make sure the house is in order while the winner sits in the window, waiting for you to come home, and the loser sulks.

Razor

The "I'm Totally a Cat, Trust me!"

A scruffy, medium-sized, light grey cat, not a kitten but also not full grown. Kinda in that awkward cat phase

Probably found by someone's pet dog

Dog just took a look at scruffy little Razor and thought "Alright you're mine," but the dogs owner is, conventional, allergic to cats

So now he's yours :D

Can't really meow. Kinda just squeaks and/or howls

He just doesn't cat

Doesn't like tall places, takes bits of water instead of just dipping his tongue in, likes playing in water and mud, forgets to clean himself constantly, and just all-around is bad at being a cat

Is fine with being alone for a few hours, but he can't sleep alone. He needs so be with you or on you to sleep

Isn't violent or aggressive to humans or other animals in the slightest, but with bugs and mice. Well they don't last long in your house

Loves living with other cats

Even if Xiao at first hissed at him or Wanderer smacked him on the noggin, he just keeps trying to be their friend

It worked with Xiao, jury's still out on Wanderer

Tighnari's teaching him how to be a cat and Kokomi and Albedo are making sure his fur keeps clean and nice looking

Other than that he's just happy to have more friends in the house

Kokomi

The "Tiny and Cute, but Beats the Neighborhood Dogs Daily."

Menace to society

A medium-to-small sized cat with sleek light pink fur, fading into a light powdery blue at her paws, her ears, and the tip of her tail

Could be a show cat if she wasn't so much of a trickster

She isn't mean, just smart. Waaaay too smart

Likes going outside and luring dogs into her traps

Again nothing mean or life threatening, just kinda funny

Like luring them over puddles that are deeper then they look, or taunting them to lunge at her only to watch them face-plant into a glass door or scaring them with their reflection

Doesn't trick you, you're her favorite human!

Not really a snuggle cat, but likes laying on you and having the occasional head scratches

Over all, a pretty good, mostly normal cat

I say mostly because if she sees any water, she wants in it

Sink full of soapy water? She doesn't care, let her swim. A bathtub of warm water? Ah her favorite. A fish tank with no cover? Well the fish are luck she doesn't see them as prey! A whole swimming pool? Sign her up, she's swimming laps!

If you have a cup of water and aren't paying attention, she's going to stick her paws into it. Not to drink, just to swish around

Flat out leads the other cats like an army

Oh? The mice are trying to invade thier land? Alright, Razor go get Xiao and Wanderer

Outside of the mouse turf wars, or other threats to tge house, she doesn't really interact with them much

Wanderer

The "Appears out of Nowhere Just to Watch you Scream, (you Swear he's Laughing.)"

Roughly the same size as Xiao, but less malnourished

Literally just the cat in his story quest (or was it in the Archon quest, I can't remember.)

Was left at a cat shelter and considered un-adoptable, but you said fuck it and took him home

Has little dog syndrome despite being a cat

You swear he teleports

You turn around for one second, then turn back, and he's there

Snickers when you jump, and pouts when you catch him off guard

Be careful when you pet him, he tends to get overwhelmed easily.

And then he bites

Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to leave a mark

After a while though he gets more comfortable with it

The type of cat to sleep on your face

Also very picky about food and what water

Only drinks ice water (spoiled brat)

Has an ongoing rivalry with Xiao

They often see who can catch the most 'invaders' (i.e. the mice, bugs, and other pest)

While he might seem like he hates the other cats, he's the first one to jump into the fray for them

Did once absolutely decimate a dog because it was chasing Kokomi (he didn't know the chase was part of her plan)

Albedo

The "Hey I found this, I want to keep it." And also "What are you doing? Where are you going? What are you eating?"

A medium sized, kinda fluffy, blonde cat with bright blue eyes. Also has a strange marking on his neck, kinda like a scar

Just kinda walks in through a open window one day, and stayed

Nosy real fucking nosy.

A shopping bag- What's in it? Oh you bought a new backpack- let's see if he can fit in it! On the phone? With who?

A leash cat

Please let him explore around, he's so curious

Will bring you LIVE mice- just don't scream or else he will panic and drop it

Will also bring you other things too

Rocks, feathers, bottle caps, a kitten, twigs

Wait a kitten?

Yep, he brought home a little blonde kitten with red eyes. I think you can guess who it is...

He is now her parental unit.

He tries to keep her out of trouble, but it's kinda hard.

Him and Klee have accidentally broken something on multiple occasions

They both sit in the corner ashamed of themselves

Albedo is not really a 'cuddle' cat

Or a 'people' cat (atleast people who aren't you)

If you have guest over, he'll just watch

Not with a mean or angry look, just looking

Him and Tighnari are planing something, you don't know what it is, and it's suspicious

(The plan is just how to wrangle in Wanderer when you're gone)

Al-haitham

The "Please for the love of God don't ask me to do anything other than the bare minimum."

A large, fluffy, grey cat. Has a little spot of green on his chest

Such a pretty cat, but has such an awful attitude

Well that is to anyone but you

Doesn't catch mice or bugs, doesn't do much of anything

He just want to lay in the sun and nap

Gets grumpy if anyone wakes him

Doesn't like Xiao because he tried to get him to do things (Xiao thinks he's a freeloader)

Hides from Razor because he keeps trying to play with him

You know that video of the cat just letting the automatic toy hit them in the face- yeah that Al-haitham

Just wants to do nothing with you

He's laying on your lap whether you like it or not

Don't try to stand up, he'll just dig his nails in

Read to him, he might look like he's napping but he's listening to everything you say

The type of cat to meow if you talk to him

"What do you think? This or that?" "Mreow,"

Shockingly, will use cat beds

Also likes to sleep in clean laundry, that you just folded

The reason you need to now check the dryer before you put wet clothes in

You know those cat who like to lay in the most uncomfortable position? Yeah that's Al-haitham

Tighnari

The "I Have a Schedule and you Will Stick to it!"

A medium sized cat with fluffy dark, nearly black, green fur that has spots of light green around his ears and tail.

He has large ears and a bushy tail, honestly might just be a cat-like fox, but it's hard to tell

You will wake up at 6am on the dot or else

The 'else' is just him screaming at the top of his lungs

Can probably read the clock

He has a routine: Wake up, breakfast, pest hunting, lunch, nap #1, cuddle time, dinner, run around like the devil himself is coming to finally collect your soul, nap #2, stop Xiao and Wanderer from killing each other, more cuddling, make the human get ready for bed, make sure everyone is in bed, then go to bed.

The only reason there is some semblance of order in this house

Like seriously if it wasn't for him, the other would have found a way to burn the house down

Breaks up any fights, stops the others from getting into to much trouble, and making sure Razor keeps his fur clean

Strangly protective of any plants around the house

The only time he'll out right hiss and swip at the others

No Razor! You can't dig around the plant pots, you'll kill them! No, don't eat the leaves!

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

heyo! i was wondering, do you have any general guidelines or tips on how to make goatfolk/goat-like humanoids? like, things that based on your judgement should be essential to their physiology and/or society. your opinion is highly appreciated and valued! ^^

sure! I'm going with a really standard domestic goat as reference here, but there are many breeds of goat with their own distinct features, so don't take this as the only way to design goat people. some goat breeds don't really have horns or the little beard, or they have floppy ears instead of tall ones, etc. sheep and goats are also very closely related and have a lot of features in common! sometimes what you think is a photo of a goat is actually a breed of sheep! So you kind of have to decide which specific goats you want to use as a reference point.

image description: faded photos of a goat and some close ups on a goat's face and hoof, all outlined in red. notes on the photos point out specific features. horns, short body, horizontal pupils, cleft lip, and even toed hooves. end description.)

I think the facial features here are probably the most important to keep in mind, as they'll be the same for any goat breed. they all have eyes with horizontal pupils and they all have that upper lip with the cleft. I tried to look up another word for that, because cleft lip also refers to a congenital condition in humans and animals where there's a split in the upper lip and possible the palate of the mouth. a lot of animals like goats and rabbits and cats have this sort of line dividing their upper lip into two parts. it's also called a philitrum, but we use that word for the dip between a human lip and nose as well. unfortunately an internet search for "what do you call it when animals have that separated lip thing going on" mostly turned up information on the congenital condition and how to treat it in livestock and pets. so i don't know if there's a better term for it other than a cleft lip. either way, it is a very recognizable feature on goats and I think it helps make a goat humanoid look more goat-like.

(image description: sketches of an anthropomorphic goat, with a close up on their face. They are short and chubby. end description.)

This is a design that leans heavier on the goat features, but you can go for something more humanoid, like a satyr. depends on what your end goal is for the design!

as for their social and cultural aspects, here's a couple of articles on goat behaviors:

article 1

article 2

important details to keep in mind:

goats are foragers, they wander around to find food and they're well known to have very broad diets, including the ability to eat some things other animals avoid, like tough thorny vines.

goats tend to have a lead female, also known as a doe, guiding the herd. a lead male, known as a buck, will usually bring up the rear. the lead female makes decisions about where the herd will go, the lead male guards the back and is very defensive.

a herd of goats usually has a hierarchy going on and they will defend their own places in that hierarchy. age, sex, and horn size are common determining factors.

goats are climbers, and they'll climb anything including each other. baby goats are especially active about this.

goats headbutt each other for various reasons. this includes establishment of hierarchy, defense, and play.

so goat people might have a matriarchal system, with males as guards while females are guides. they may have a culture centered on fighting as a form of social communication and entertainment. they could be nomadic as well. their dance style is probably very acrobatic, jumpy, and reflective of their fighting style.

those are just a handful of ideas off the top of my head! i hope it's helpful and i wish you luck and fun as you design your goat folk!

[yasministration]

hey, kinda odd ask. Can you look at my account and give me tips? You are a really good writer and are pretty famous and I just want some tips

FAMOUS!? HELLO?? why thank you

also it's not an odd ask at all lol don't worry! i've got some tips for you to kind of make your blog reach wider audiences because no matter what there will be someone who likes the style of your writing. like for example, in the posts i've scrolled through, you mostly bullet point each topic, and that's not my style of writing so i honestly don't really have tips for that. like with writing itself, you do you.

my first tip doesn't really have to do with the writing itself, but I suggest adding a header image and profile photo, because it lets people because familiar with your blog instead of it looking like a bot. that way when it comes up on someone's feed, they'll recognise the blog AND the content, and will be more inclined to follow you since they realise they've seen your ocntent and like it

TAGSS!!!! USE TAGS!!! none of your posts have tags, and that's probably why it's not reaching many people. i dont know how long you've been writing for, but especially with new blogs, you'd want to use tags for your posts to show up in tags that people follow or are interested in scrolling through. i would also suggest making a tag specifically for your writing. so i have one 'rainydayathogwarts' for all my posts, then 'rainydayathogwarts inbox' where i answer people's requests and messages, and 'rainydayathogwarts masterlist' so people can also find my masterlists aside from in my navigation. that way, people can specifically find your fics

this is specifically to broaden your following or even just meet people, but interact with other posts. if you like a fic or a certain blog, comment on it or even send an ask to the writer. leaving a trail will make more people check out your blog, and you can make friends (like personally my mutuals are everything, i love having muts) but it will also help actually grow your blog.

writing wise, this tip will always stay the same no matter what: keep writing as much as you can. the more you write, the more you improve and the more you figure out what your style of writing is. like off the top of my head @/aetherraeys has the most distinguishable writing style of anyone I follow on tumblr and I assume that's because she just writes and writes and writes. so keep writing!

[morriemonnie]

hihi asking on anonymous because I'm awkward and nervous and have a few questions or things 2 sayyy

1 : I LVOEBYOIR ART I rlly hope I dont come off as creepy 😭 I haven't gotten like, an "idol" or "fav artist" in like 2 years and your art is like one of the few reasons I still check tumblr!! The colours the lighting the anatomy its all really pretty and i eat it up like a starving Victorian boy,, keep doing what ur doing it's amazing!! Ik you get these messages a lot but your art really makes a positive impact on me when I see it and just genuinely keep doing what ur doing you brighten sm peoples day!!

2 : do you have any other platforms you post on aside from tumblr? Your stuffs rlly cool and id like to support you everywhere i can, dandys world or not!!!

3 : on the topic of "dandys world or not", what other fandoms do you like?? I'm REALLY curious to see what else you like or if you post stuff about them!! :3

4 : I know you take drawing requests, so im curious if you do other things similar like art trades, other fandom requests or any form of creative media swaps?

5 : do you have any specific colour pallets you use? Or do you just wing it? (plus!! Do you have any tips for using yellows and browns in lovecore outfits!! Ur amazing at it!!)

6 : speaking of lovecore outfits!! HOW do you get such good outfits!? Do you have any inspirations or idols yourself in fashion? Or does it just come to you as you draw?

7 : this is a RLLY weird question but do you animal code any of the toons? Like i know some people see astro as a moth and Shelly as a dinosaur or dandy as a bug, do you have any neat ones?

8 : how would someone go around commissioning you? I'm sadly not able to yet but I really Adore your artstyle and I'm hoping to do it as soon as I'm able to- I'm wondering what sorta stuff you look for or prefer in comms (like refs, details etc!!)

9 : are there any other ships or pairs (can be anything like platonic, romantic or rivals!!) you like that you don't talk about as much? If so, can we hear? :D

So sorry if this comes off as like, a lot- only answer if you're comfortable and I'm rlly sorry if i made you feel uneasy with any of these(/gen)!! Your art makes me inspired and passionate and i just rlly enjoy your stuff, thank you sm for reading have a great day !! ❤️❤️

WHOOF this is a super long ramble, will be putting this in a thread so only keep reading down if you wanna read 'em :9 !

AJHGFSDHE THANK YOUUU !! ☀️ thank you so much !! regardless of all the letters i've received; i'll NEVER ever get tired of receiving such lovely and adoring letters, they'll always make me so happy and giddy !! genuinely and i'll stop reminding that, thank you (again) so much for being so lovely ! 🌻

2. i do have other platforms! i have bluesky (though it's been a little inactive lately since i've been posting a lot more here!), tiktok (SOMETIMES post there, i'm not much too active and i rarely check in it ... also using it is scary ...), ao3 (does this count? it's mostly just my silly fanfics) and artfight ! (if you want to see my ocs >:9)

3. goodness gracious i have a lot of stuff i'm into LOL ... i'm a huge fan of RPGMaker games (OFF, IB, Yume Nikki, Hylics, Omori, Oneshot, etc... this also includes horror rpg games too >:9 Crooked Man, Your Turn To Die, Mad Father, etc...), object shows (BFDI/BFB, Love of S*n, One, etc...), pokemon (mainly gen 5, i really, REALLY love the subway twins from unova), vocaloid/utau (i should REALLY draw teto, i keep putting girlie back ...), sanrio + chiikawa (this one was so obvious i'mma be real LOL ... i love you usagi and pompompurin), musicals (WAITRESS AND LA LA LAND THEY'LL NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU.), uhm ... a lot of other fandoms that i can't remember at the top of my head but they'll probably pop up again at some point !

4. at the moment, i would be up to do art trades ! but i'm currently only reserving it for mutuals and friends only, i don't think i can juggle with multiple requests and art trades at the same time ... !

5. I MAKE A LOT OF MY OWN COLOR PALETTES !! but if it's for full rendered pieces + other colored doodles, i usually just wing it >:9 prominent examples of specific color palettes are my star cast and cupid design !

(and here's a tip for you, use the yellows and browns as secondary! make pinks/reds the main color, using yellows and brows for accessories will REALLY make them pop out a lot more ... and if you aren't so sure about that; put your art in monochromatic and adjust the colors!)

(here's an example of what i meant ! they REALLY help a ton, so always check your art in monochromes to adjust the color values !)

6. it honestly comes to me as i design them ! i've always really enjoyed designing clothes, what helps me with getting some outfit ideas across is sticking to a specific theme; and then i'd account for the character's personality and background, like ... i'd think this character would wear sleeveless tops because they're sporty ! etc etc, if that makes sense :9

7. SORTA ... ? it doesn't show much, but i've always thought that tisha would be a dove and glisten a poodle ... but i haven't sketched/doodled out how they would look with those traits, i just think giving everyone tails is fun LOL

8. i always, ALWAYS ask for references, references are always so helpful to me ! while i can work with descriptions, i do have a bit of a hard time with it if i don't have any references ... so that's the only main thing that i'm looking for! poses, color palettes, etc. are a bonus to me >:9

9. god please. more flutter and cosmo interactions. i see these two as really good close friends, seeing their dialogues and everything; i love the image of cosmo and flutter conversing with each other with cosmo doing ASL ... like ohh my goodness ?? i'm endeared ?? these two are so LOVELY, i'm pretty much just projecting because i'm mildly deaf and use ASL a ton when i'm in loud crowds; so seeing these two just relying and 'talking' on each other when it's too loud is so, so sweet.

again, thank you so much for such a lovely letter !! this made me giddy and i'm always happy to answer a bunch of questions ! 🌻☀️

[bloocanary]

Lightning in a Birdcage

Part 1

Author's note: This is literally the first fic I'm posting- ever. I'm so nervous I could eat a brick. I really hope y'all like it! I plan on continuing it so stay tuned.

I probably should've proofread this more. Good luck 💙

Summary: This rough and tumble slow burn for how Bandit and Canary fall for one another. Bandit is dealing with a wicked hangover when a tip from Blitz spurs his curiosity. He has no idea what he's in for.

CW: Smoking, mentions of alcohol

Taglist: @voidselfshipp, @tex-treasures

The cafeteria was mostly empty by the time Dominic arrived, occupied only by a few straggling operators sipping on coffee and chatting over empty plates. Their sparse conversations were hushed, scattered across the large room, but even the clatter of their mugs echoing off the high ceiling was enough to send lightning through his skull. He groaned as he sat, wincing at the scrape of the metal chair legs on the tile floor, and threw down his plate. A sneer curled across his tired face, directed at the plate like he resented the sausages and eggs for being there. His stomach flipped at the thought of food. The smell alone made bile rise in his throat, but he forced himself to take a bite anyway. The moment he did, his fork hit the table, and Dominic cursed aloud as he pressed his fingers to his eyes to block the fluorescent lights that threatened to make his head split wide open.

"You look like scheiße," came a familiar voice behind him. A voice that was far too loud and far too cheerful.

"Fahr zur Hölle, Kötz," Dominic growled.

Metal scraped against the tile once more as Elias lowered himself into the chair beside him. Reluctantly, Dominic brought his hands from his face and opened his eyes. His head spun from the brightness of the bulbs high above their heads, forcing him to squint like a man in desperate need of reading glasses. Elias pushed a mug of black coffee towards him, a grin plastered across his freshly shaven face. "How’s the headache?" He teased.

"How the hell are you not hugging the toilet right now? You drank twice as much as I did."

Elias threw his head back and laughed, the sound sending splinters through Dom's skull. "You just can't keep up anymore. You're an old man."

"Watch it," Dom retorted. He picked up the mug and took a small sip, praying that the caffeine would work some kind of miracle. It had been a very long time since he'd been hungover like this, and it had taken a lot of beer and liquor to get to this point.

"It was your idea to have a drinking contest," Elias reminded him, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his broad chest.

He snorted in response, setting his mug down as his stomach twisted in protest of his coffee. "So you've come to gloat?"

"When have I ever gloated about winning?"

Dom glared at him from the corner of his eye.

Elias laughed again, nudging him with his shoulder. "Come on, don't be so sour. I came to cheer you up."

"And how do you expect to do that?" He asked pointedly, raising his coffee mug to his lips again.

The other man leaned forward, his large brown eyes lighting up with excitement as a fringe of his flaxen brown hair brushed across his brow. "The new litter was dumped off yesterday. They look promising."

Dominic rolled his eyes and took a large swig of coffee, grimacing at the bitterness as it mixed with the saccharine taste of his saliva. He'd heard about the newest crop of recruits, but that didn't interest him any more than the cafeteria's soup of the day. New recruits rolled in every so often, and rarely did they make the cut. Elias was cursed to be a perpetual optimist; every one of them looked promising in his eyes. Dom was a hell of a lot more skeptical. "Sure," he muttered. "And they'll be here tomorrow. Or they won't. Either way, I don't care." Elias snickered, prompting Dominic to glance at him again. The younger man had a terrible poker face, and right now he had a smile like a fox in a henhouse. And if anyone knew anything about mischief, it was Dominic. "What's with your face?" He asked, trying to discern if he should be concerned or annoyed.

Elias chuckled as he pushed away from the table and stood, reaching into the pocket of his jacket to produce a box of cigarettes. He unceremoniously tossed the package down onto the laminate table in front of his friend. "I think this group will grow on you," he mused as he turned away, his words wrapped in humor.

Dom's brow furrowed as he watched the German walk away. His head pounded once more, the pain exacerbated by his confusion, and as he looked at the plate in front of him again, he was rocked by a wave of nausea. "Scheiß drauf," he mumbled, grabbing the pack of cigarettes and finishing his coffee in one big gulp. He stood, barely avoiding tripping over a chair as he stumbled half-blind out of the cafeteria. His shoulders started to relax and it became easier to open his eyes as he passed through dimmer hallways, appreciating the near-silence of the base. Most others were training by now or otherwise doing something productive, but he’d wasted a lot of the morning lying in bed, trying to keep the world from spinning and his stomach from dancing along with it. As much as he wanted to throw himself back on the bed until his head stopped pounding, he could sense Monika’s patience running thin. One miserable hangover didn’t excuse him from his work.

Moist, chill air washed over him as he stepped outside, stopping him short as he shivered against it. By some stroke of luck, the sun was hidden away behind a veil of thick grey clouds, streaked by glimpses of light that mercifully failed to reach him or his stinging eyes. Goosebumps rose in his skin and he shivered against the cold as he stepped off the gravel path. The damp grass reached out and clung to his worn leather boots as he crossed around the side of the building and found a quiet spot to occupy, somewhere no one would spot him and make his headache even worse. Nearby buildings offered a makeshift curtain of privacy, shielding him from anyone traveling down the paths that webbed out across the base. If anyone found him here, it could only be intentional. His fingers wrapped around the warm metal of the lighter in his pocket and he perched a cigarette between his cracked lips as he pulled it out, his thumb rubbing over the worn inscription his brother made when he gave it to him. The metal clicked as he flicked it open and set it alight. The small flame danced strong against the damp breeze. He leaned against the wall, letting the coldness of the stone sink through his clothes and into his back, and tried to remember just how long ago that had been. Twelve years, he realized with a soft chuckle to himself. Cedrick had given it to him on one of their birthdays. He could see vividly his brother’s face now, an imperfect match to his own, that grin cut by deep shadows from the dim orange lights of the bar. That was a good night. One he just barely remembered. 

As he took a long drag of his cigarette, his thoughts wandered back to Elias and their conversation just minutes ago. Kötz was always curious and eager about the fresh meat, but this was the first time in a while that he’d bothered to bring them to Dominic’s attention. The last time he’d done something like that, it was because Elias had fallen head over heels for Tarantula. He’d kept Dom up well into the night, gushing about the Argentine, until Dom convinced him to talk to Monika about it instead. As much as he was glad to see his friend happy, there was only so much romantic bullshit that he could handle.

So why had he bothered to mention this latest group? The question lingered. A deep sigh escaped him and he ran a hand through his short dirty blonde hair, his nose creasing as he tried to wrestle down the curiosity that was building. Whatever his friend had been getting at, he wasn’t interested. But then that damn smile flashed across his memory, that mischievous look reserved for when Elias knew something he didn’t. Dominic worked his cigarette down to the nub and tossed it to the grass, cursing himself as he stomped it out. As much as he tried to tell himself he didn’t care, that nagging need to know had dwarfed even his liquor-induced headache.

Whatever it was that made Elias bring up those whelps, he was going to find out.

___________________________________

The new recruits were running through the obstacle course that morning, and by the time Dominic got to them, they were already looking half-dead. One man was sprawled out on the grass at the end of the course, his grey t-shirt soaked in sweat, and a woman sat nearby with her back against a wall, her eyes closed, and her mouth half-open like she had already passed through the pearly gates. Two were still standing that he could see, but both were doubled over and struggling to catch their breath. Valkyrie stood off to the side, scribbling something on a clipboard with an expression that could cut through stone. Her lips were pursed in something close to disappointment, twitching at the corners with each firm strike of the pen. Her blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun that hung lopsided at the back of her skull, like it was trying to escape her displeasure.

“Are you trying to kill them?” The man called as he approached. The pounding in his temple had finally started to subside, but now his muscles had grown stiff and sore. He was sure that if he tried to do the course in this state as many times as they had, he’d be laying in the dirt too.

Valkyrie glanced at him over her shoulder. “Bandit,” she greeted, unable to hide the edge of surprise in her voice. Amusement flashed across her face. “I heard you met your match last night.”

“Yeah,” he huffed, rolling his eyes. “It was a real party.”

She shook her head and lowered her clipboard, sweeping her gaze across the four recruits in front of her. “They’re just getting started. This is all part of the evaluations. It might as well be the warm-up.”

The recruit sprawled out on the lawn lifted his head just enough to look at the two operators with round eyes. “‘S one hell of a warm-up,” he groaned loudly. Valkyrie shot him a dry look, and his head dropped to avoid her gaze. 

Bandit stifled a laugh. He almost felt bad for him. Almost.

“Anyway,” she continued. “They can handle it. They’re bitching and moaning, but they weren’t called here for no reason.” The American folded her arms across her chest and glanced back toward the building behind them as if watching for something. Then, she turned toward him, tilting her head in a way that reminded him of her interrogations. “It’s not like you to check in on the recruits before the real training starts. And I know you’re not out here on a stroll. What kind of trouble are you up to?”

He shook his head and raised his hands in the air in a gesture of innocence. “Just curious, that’s all.”

Valkyrie gave him a once over before sighing and turning away, once again glancing toward the building. “Well, if you keep poking around, I’ll make you take the notes.”

“I can’t write in English,” he said dryly.

“You’re full of shit.”

“I might just forget how to speak it, too.”

She brought a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re insufferable.”

Bandit dipped his head. “Danke,” he muttered. “I’m just following up on a comment from Blitz. He acted like this crowd was something special.” Looking over the four recruits once more, he got the impression that his skepticism would be vindicated.

Valkyrie raised a brow, a realization passing over her face. “Oh yeah, Kötz. He greeted them yesterday. Wasted a hell of a lot of time talking to them. Canary convinced one of the guys to challenge him in arm wrestling. Poor bastard nearly got flipped over the table.” She smiled a little, nodding towards one of the men. A glance at him was enough to know that he wasn’t a match for a powerhouse like Blitz in a test of pure strength.

“Now, that’s funny,” he chuckled, shaking his head. He looked over the recruits, paying a little more attention now. “Which one’s Canary?”

“Harry called her to his office twenty minutes ago,” she replied, jamming her thumb towards the building.

He scoffed. “Packing her things already?”

A smirk tugged at one corner of Valkyrie’s mouth as she let her arms fall to her side, one hand coming to rest on her hip as the other held the clipboard loosely by her thigh. “That’s not likely. She’s not stupid enough to get herself kicked out in the first week. My guess is, it’s just paperwork.”

“Interrupting physical evals for paperwork? Sure doesn’t sound like the Harry I know.”

She raised the clipboard, pushing the far end into his chest. “Take a look.”

There were five names on the sheet in front of him, each beside a string of letters and numbers assigned to each recruit when they arrived. The chart listed a series of fifteen passes through the obstacle course, each with a time to completion and rating for success in clearing the obstacles themselves. One name stood out as only having twelve passes scored. Blackburn. Her scores looked a hell of a lot better than the others, and those were nothing to sneeze at to begin with. 

“This,” Valkyrie began, gesturing towards the course. “Is her strong suit. Always has been, if you ask Ash. Harry can have her until we move on to strength evaluations.” At that, the recruits groaned in unison, but were quickly silenced by a sharp look from the two operators. The distant sound of metal creaking barely reached his ears before Valkyrie stepped back and perked up, leaning to look over Bandit’s shoulder. “Well, it’s about time. Speak of the devil.”

Bandit turned, spotting a young woman jogging towards them across the lawn. And oh, what a devil she was. Wild auburn hair caught in the breeze, wrapping around a small, pale oval face and whipping across her eyes. They were blue, he realized as she drew closer, a pale and steely blue that could almost match the clouds that stretched across the sky. But it was her smile that caught him off guard. It was bright and uneven, lopsided in a way that immediately made him wonder what was going on behind those blues of hers. She was smaller than most of the recruits he’d seen come through, slight in build with narrow shoulders and wide hips. As she reached them with an easy stride, he found himself looking down at her. Her head only just cleared the height of his shoulders.

She held his gaze just long enough for him to realize he was staring. Valkyrie cleared her throat, and Bandit looked towards her instead, swallowing hard. The recruit glanced between the two operators as her expression shifted into a polite smile. “Harry sends his apologies,” she said. Her voice was light and calm, reaching his ears with an accent he didn’t quite recognize. Amusement tugged at her lips as she peered around them to look at the other recruits still recovering from their last pass through the course. Then, her gaze shifted to Bandit, looking him up and down in a way that made him suddenly realize how he must look after a long night at the bar and four hours of sleep. His hair ruffled, his beard untrimmed, his blue eyes framed by circles dark enough to be the mask of his namesake. He felt like he should say something, anything. Whether it was the hangover or the mischief in her eyes, Dominic found himself speechless for the first time in years. As if sparing him from his torment, Canary glanced toward Valkyrie, her voice a cheerful tone as she asked, “I didn’t miss all the fun, did I?”

“We’re still warming up,” Valkyrie replied with a smirk. Bandit could’ve sworn he heard one of the other four whimper.

Canary shifted her weight and ran a hand through her thick hair, trying and failing to keep it from flipping back into her face as it caught in the wind. “So, do I just jump back in then?”

The older woman shook her head. “We’re moving on to strength assessments next. You can make up the other two passes later.”

Canary nodded, tucking her hands into the pockets of her black track pants. Her attention shifted back to Bandit. “Is that what you’re here for?” She asked with a tilt of her head. Her eyes met his again and he felt the muscles in his shoulders stiffen. Something about the way she looked at him made his gut twist tight, leaving him unsettled in a way that was almost familiar. 

He rolled his shoulders and straightened his back, holding her gaze despite his urge to look away. “Nah,” he muttered, his voice hoarse. “I was just seeing what all the fuss is about.”

She exhaled in a half-laugh and shrugged. “Not much of a fuss here, I think.”

“Is that right?” He asked, giving her a once over. “We’ll see about that.”

Before she could reply, Valkyrie cleared her throat and put a hand on Canary's shoulder. “Alright, let’s get going. Break’s over.” The young woman leaned towards her and nodded, slipping a hairband from her wrist to tie back her unruly hair. The other recruits gathered themselves with more composure than before, though he didn’t miss the muttered grievances they exchanged as they did so. Valkyrie turned and pointed her pen at his chest like a weapon. “You should get out of here before I make you take those notes. I don’t make empty threats, Brunsmeier.”

“Ok, ok. Easy now,” he sighed as he took a big step backwards, as if she might actually lunge at him with a ballpoint. “I’ve got training of my own to get to anyway.” He started to turn away slowly, his focus lingering on that particular recruit, just for a heartbeat.

As if sensing his gaze, Canary glanced back at him, her pale pink lips quirking in curiosity before she spoke up. “Brunsmeier, was it?” She asked.

Bandit stopped and turned back towards her. He considered the question for a moment longer than he should have as the sound of her voice saying his name sank into his mind, lingering there like a catchy song. “Most just call me Bandit.”

“Bandit,” she echoed, a smile stretching over her face.“Yeah, that suits you.”

“Blackburn,” Valkyrie’s sharp voice interjected before Bandit could figure out what she meant, pulling her attention away. “We’re moving.” The other recruits were already making their way down the gravel path, leaving Canary to linger behind. With one final glance at the German man, she jogged down the path to catch up, her messy ponytail flipping side to side with each step.

Bandit watched them disappear around the corner of a building, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket to pull it closed against the chill in the air. Elias’s grin flashed across his vision again and he quickly shoved the thought away, unwilling to admit that his friend might be right. But as he stood there, staring at the corner that Canary had disappeared around, something stirred in his chest, making him draw a sharp, pained breath. Finally, he tore himself away with a sharp jerk of his head to one side and then the other, forcing his neck to crack as he spun around to escape. The brief interaction rolled over and over again in his head, her eyes looking straight into his own, her voice settling into his mind like it had always belonged there. He sneered at himself. Something about her made every inch of him itch and his insides twist into a knot. It made his fingers twitch and the goosebumps on his skin quiver in anticipation. It was a nervous feeling, and it brought a lump to his throat that he couldn’t force down no matter how hard he swallowed. Anger bubbled up like second nature in response, bucking against the feeling.

Bandit exhaled slowly, forcefully through his nose, letting that rebellious anger leave him like steam from a teapot. Blitz was wrong, he told himself. There was nothing about this crop of recruits to fuss about.

Bandit’s tongue was more than comfortable rolling out lies, but this one tasted sickeningly sweet.

Maybe that was the hangover, too.

[the-red-thread-that-strangles]

Akai is going to be the death of him.

This has been a long-time conviction of Rei's, and yet of all the ways that could go, this really is not how he pictured it.

Leading contender for cause of death: irregular blood flow, leaving him without the oxygen necessary for higher brain functions.

Where has it gone? Mostly to his cheeks. And the tips of his ears. They're burning.

(And some of it may have gone further south, pooling warmly in his stomach).

Akai's wearing the sweater Rei made and it's so oversized he's got cute little sweater paws covering his hands. Rei would like to faint now, please. Please. Please?

He closes his eyes in hopes this is all just a hallucination caused by lack of sleep (ignoring the fact Akai just woke him up, actually feeling well-rested for once). But when he opens them again, Akai's still there, eyebrow raised. Lit in the warm colours of a new dawn, and covered in a sweater Rei knows is incredibly soft, because he picked the wool himself. Holding a steaming cup of something.

Hm. It smells like sencha.

Temptation itself, in the morning cool.

Rei curses, resigns himself to the new reality he gets to enjoy now. Okiya Subaru is one thing, the identity deliberately crafted to be harmless and cozy, but Akai Shuichi should not be looking this adorable. Maybe Rei did suffer that concussion, after all.

.

There's some overlap in their watch cycle, so Rei busies himself trying to get the excess energy out and make breakfast. He's definitely not ignoring Akai. Which would be difficult anyways in the one room apartment they're using to lay low.

It's going to be bland, even with his best efforts. There's barely any spices in stock, just lots and lots of dried and pickled foods, stuff that keeps. Not that Rei's expected anything more from Akai - okay, maybe a little, considering he's trying (and failing) to learn how to cook. Then again, he probably didn't figure he'd actually have to use the safehouse, and they've had worse. That weekend in Rikubetsu comes to mind. It still sends shivers down his spine.

Besides, the food isn't actually the problem - though they'll need to be conservative with it. No, the real issue is the shitty insulation. And terrible heating. Rei shivers in his sweater and huddles closer to the stove. It's not like they can call a HVAC repairman without drawing attention to themselves. Who thought it was a good idea to do this sting in the winter?

Whatever. They'll only need to stay here for a couple of days, until their allies have finished the witch-hunt, and then they can leave this safehouse behind them.

.

An uneventful breakfast and several hours later it's Akai's turn to sleep. He's mostly been sitting quiet and unobtrusive in the corner chair, keeping an eye on the street below. Rei knows the look, has seen it many times. Mostly on Rye, back in Osaka. Perching on the place with the best view, making as little noise and movement as possible. Coiled up and ready to bolt. The apartment isn't safe, and the mission isn't over. Akai won't rest, not really, until the all-clear. Idiot. As if he's not injured, doesn't need to recover.

"Akai. Your turn." He tries, and is roundly ignored. Akai must've heard him - there's nothing to listen to, in here. If he's somewhere else, mentally, well. Rei's never been good at quitting. Or alright with being denied attention.

"Akai." When the sniper still doesn't react, Rei walks up to him. Grabs a hold of his chin, tipping it up, forcing the other to look up at him. There's no resistance; either Akai is too tired to object, or he actively allows the touch. Rei's not sure which is worse. He feels Akai flinch as he straightens - must be the strain on his injured ribs. The sniper stares up at him, jade eyes dull and lifeless. The shadows under his eyes are deep enough to blot out the sun. Where's his stupid mirth, the barely concealed amusement? This won't do.

"Go lie down. Even if you can't sleep, your body still needs the rest. You're useless like this." How long has it been since he last slept?

"I can still-" Akai starts to object, eyes flicking to the window, to the street below.

"No. I've got this." Akai's so close, and so painfully tense, and Rei really doesn't know how to get his message through Akai's thick skull. So he tries for the closest approximation. He leans down that last little bit, until their noses touch, their foreheads rest together. Akai's skin burns against his own. "Rest." A single word, too gentle to be a command, but Akai still obeys. Long, soft lashes flutter against Rei's cheek, feather-light, as green eyes slip shut. The ghost of a sigh brushes against his lips. The pressure against him increases as Shuichi loosens into his touch.

Rei allows himself to indulge in the warmth of their shared space for a few shared breaths. It shouldn't be this hard to pull away. "Not here, idiot. The bed."

It's unclear whether Akai actually needs the help, or if he just likes to force Rei to do extra work, but he finds himself supporting the sniper to the bed. Helps lower Akai to the mattress as he settles in, careful not to aggravate his wounds. Cocoons him in the blanket. And if he's being a little too considerate, well, Akai looks about ready to pass out, so it's likely he won't notice or remember.

.

Rei finds himself checking in every once in a while, making sure Akai's still breathing. The man can be eerily quiet when he wants, and in slumber he almost seems dead. The first couple of times Rei saw him asleep, he found it disconcerting. By now, he knows how to spot Akai's signs of life, the faint rise and fall of his chest.

Of all the things that happened in the last 48 hours, Rei's mind returns to the most harmless offense - Akai in a too-large sweater.

How could that happen? He knows Akai's features by heart, by touch and measurement, and he's pretty sure he's counted out the rows and numbers correctly. Okay, fine, he might have picked out the design and worked on it in a hazy fugue state, but that is only slightly worse than his usual operating conditions. The result shouldn't be such a disaster. Maybe elder Tsuruyama will know where he went wrong.

(Because he did go wrong. No amount of stupid, heady pride at seeing Akai wear what Rei made for him with his own two hands can dissuade him from that. Rei tries to shove down the satisfaction spreading warmth throughout his body, right down to his toes. But the feeling has been building for weeks now, and is getting harder to ignore each day. Rei pretends he doesn't see the signs, doesn't know what they mean. They can't afford the distraction.)

Thankfully, his musings are interrupted by a sharp intake of breath, followed by a series of shallow gasps. He scans the room, wondering if Akai's noticed something he missed, when, with a quiet thud, the thick blanket slides to the floor. Akai's twisting and turning on the bed. Oh, great, the genius wants to agitate his wounds and freeze in one go.

Rei abandons his watch uneasily. But it's the middle of the day, and anyone coming after them right now would have to be stupidly brazen. Besides, he'd probably not notice attackers anyways. Akai's panting and thrashing is way too distracting.

Night (well, day in this case) terrors are not unusual for people in their profession, and if they are a regular issue for Akai, that might explain his general reluctance to get to bed, as well as the permanent bags under his eyes. But at this rate, Rei will need to intervene, or Akai will further injure himself.

"Don't go inside-" Akai's words, low and sharp, stop Rei dead in his tracks. Oh. They should've done a debrief before heading to bed. He's willing to bet he can guess pretty accurately what holds Akai in its grasp. It takes him a deep breath and a conscious effort of will to shake off the image of the abandoned factory, the smell of dust and mildew. The echo of a gunshot.

"Akai?" Rei continues his slow approach, gentle, non-threatening. Though Akai's eyes are wide open, staring at the ceiling, Rei doubts he can see him.

"At least wait for backup-", Akai pleads, unsteady. He's reaching out, grabbing at empty air. Grinding his teeth in agitation.

Alright. What did Hiro say? Considering Akai's taller, and loathe as Rei is to admit it, a better fighter, trying to wake him is most certainly a bad idea. Even if he weren't stronger, there's a gun on the bedside table, and Rei's not keen to learn what Akai's instincts look like if he wakes up disoriented and with too much adrenaline in his system.

So. Soothing might or might not be possible, but he has to try. "Akai. Shhh, it's all right. You got to me in time. We made it out. I'm here. I'm safe."

'Because you took a bullet for me', he doesn't say. Bulletproof vest or not, Akai's carrying the reminder of his actions on his chest, in cracked ribs, tender skin, and colourful bruises. It's grating to be in his debt, yet again. The first time might have been accidental, more about Scotch than Bourbon, but there's no doubt that this time, it was all about Rei. Who has the sickening suspicion Akai would've acted no differently, had he not been wearing body armour.

It makes no sense why he would go this far. There's people waiting for him - his siblings, his coworkers, the Kudos. Besides, he's the Silver Bullet, meant to take down the organisation. And here he is, throwing it all away for nothing. Who really cares whether Rei survives? He's long resigned himself to the fact he might not.

Hiro comes to mind, and Rei immediately rejects the notion. Maybe it's uncharitable. Things surely were difficult for Hiro, but the longer Rei has to think about it, the less he can forgive him. If he truly had cared about Rei, he would've found a way to let him know he made it. It's been three years, after all, easily enough time to settle into his cover. It shouldn't have fallen to Akai, perceived threat and even enemy at the time, to bring this revelation.

Rei's glad Hiro is safe, make no mistake. But there's years of grief and guilt between them, the loneliness growing roots so deep it's isolated him from the one person that mattered the most. The betrayal of the trust he thought they shared stings every time he thinks about his best friend. If he can even be called that, these days.

Akai thrashes, and Rei barely manages to grab a hold of his arm before he's decked in the face. Stupid. Here he is, getting lost in his own issues, while the other agent needs his support. He owes him that much, if not more.

Making sure he keeps Akai's arms in view, Rei puts the gun into the bedside table's drawer to avoid any accidents. He sits himself down at the corner of the bed, next to the agent's head. The stupid knit cap has slid off, revealing sweat-slick curls of dark hair. Rye's hair used to be so fine, smoothed out by its length, obviously well taken care of. The texture now, as Rei cards his fingers through steadily, is wet and oily - Akai should wash it tomorrow. With all that sweat, he'll need to shower anyways, though the motion might be straining his injuries. It might be good to offer to help - with the hair, that is.

"Not you too, not so soon-" Akai still seems agitated, but the repetitive stroking of his hair grounds them both, little by little. At least he's not kicking out anymore. "Akai, listen. You're not getting rid of me that easily, all right? And they're not getting you, either. You're here, with me, safe and sound. We're both here." And freezing, he notices. Akai's shivering beneath him, seeking his touch, his warmth. Rei feels like an idiot. He really should've grabbed the blanket first. Then again, Akai probably would've just shaken it off again. He'll fetch it when Akai's calmed down a bit more.

He scooches closer. Rubs circles into Akai's shoulder and upper arm, trying to create warmth through friction. Running his hand along, he's glad to feel the mohair he picked is as soft as he had hoped.

"No, please, Rei-" A stupid slip-up, inappropriate not just because it happened in front of the enemy. And yet the PSB agent can't bring himself to be too mad about it. It's not like Aperol lived to tell the tale. Rei had taken the shot in the window of opportunity Akai had bought him, and, well. He might have cared more about dispatching Aperol quickly so he could focus on a downed Akai. He's already mourned Akai once before; he'd rather not do so again, in the foreseeable future.

"Shhh. I'm with you." He squeezes Akai's shoulders, trying to make sure the other knows. He shouldn't indulge like this. Can't encourage Akai's behaviour. But duty demanded he go into that warehouse, and he's really not sure he would've walked back out without Akai.

Either Bourbon's cover is blown, or Rum has decided it's time to clean house and deal with loose ends. Whatever the case may be, killing Aperol will have burnt any goodwill he might have had, if it existed at all. He can't go back.

Except, it hits him: it doesn't matter. If the Kudos' plan worked, there's no place to go back to. He's survived Gin's distrust and Vermouth's games. Rum's relentless chase. He's still standing. Because of skill and luck and the allies Edogawa Conan has collected. Five long years undercover. They're finally over. He doesn't believe in miracles, but this comes pretty damn close.

Of course the job is not over, not by a long shot. There's stragglers to round up, witnesses to interrogate, statements to give. Evidence to submit and analyse. Going up against the Karasuma corporation means their case needs to be airtight, or they'll wiggle out of it with good attorneys. In all likelihood, everyone involved in this operation will need to sleep with one eye open for the rest of their lives.

But the fact remains that it looks like there will be a future, after all.

And it doesn't look terribly bleak.

Three years ago, he'd thought his world had ended. But he'd kept going, hanging on for duty - and the need to corner Akai for answers.

It just might have been worth it.

For late-night talks, shared cigarettes and stolen sweaters. For this beautiful, brave, reckless idiot, lost in fitful sleep beside him. For the hope of a better future, forgotten and rekindled.

He can't bring himself to say it, not even when Akai's asleep in his arms, unpleasant memories barely kept. But he knows it all the same.

'Thank you for keeping me alive to see this day.'

.

Sweater weather AU masterpost

[sergeantsporks]

Hi sporks! This is kiiinda a weird ask but do you have any ideas/resources for beginners learning to sew?

I know you've been at it for awhile, and idk where else to look lol

Oooo, okay, so I have Resources for Free Patterns

CholyKnight has a bunch of free patterns, and they're also rated by difficulty, so you can find ones that work for your skill level. There's also some explanations of how to do sewing stuff like darts and whatnot. Definitely great for beginners.

Mood Sewcity, more free patterns

Free Sewing, Patterns, these you can adjust with your measurements

Fleece Fun, these are relatively simple. It's where I got my cloak pattern. You do have to sign up for emails, but lots of patterns for free, and fleece is relatively inexpensive. Fleece is pretty good for starters, too, because it's a relatively strong fabric that doesn't fray but isn't too thick to sew through

As far as actual resources for learning, I don't really have much because I was taught to sew by my older sister and my mom, and I figured most other stuff out on my own. So I made some short things of basic stitching stuff

This one is called a running stitch. It's the first one I learned, and is really easy. Just back and forth through the fabric. I made the stitches pretty big here and in opposite colors from the cloth for visual reasons, but you want to pick thread closer to your cloth color, and the smaller your stitches are, the stronger they'll be. There is an exception to this, it's called "basting" and it's basically doing the running stitch but really big and loose. It's supposed to be temporary and just holds pieces in place until you do something else

This is just a way to anchor your running stitch with a knot. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do this, but I'm paranoid about my stitches coming out, and when you're doing it by hand as a beginner, they probably WILL come out, so. Yeah.

This one's called a "whip stitch" (I learned recently. I've been doing it for ages, didn't know the name). You're basically popping the edges together and sewing in little circles around them.

This one is a ladder stitch/slip stitch/invisible stitch, and I'm doing it kind of messily here, but the objective is to make your stitch invisible when you pull it tight. You're sort of sewing on the "inside" of the fabric, folding it over and making the thread go behind the fold so it's hidden, then pulling it over to the other side. I use this one to close up my plushies mostly.

Other Random Tips and Stuff:

A "seam allowance" is how much extra cloth you can put on the other side of the seam

You don't need a special cutting board/table for your fabric, I literally just use the floor or the kitchen table

Tacky glue is great for tiny pieces you don't want to sew, like eye shines. It does take some time to dry, though. I put books on top of the fabric to press it together. It will wash out, though, so don't use it on things you intend to throw in the wash

Get pretty good at hand sewing before you try messing with a sewing machine

Fabric scissors really do make a difference in cutting from regular scissors

If you look up "free fabric samples" a lot of cloth places will send you a few little squares of fabric. These are great for practicing and also figuring out different materials, and you don't have to pay for them

Felt is also pretty inexpensive and you can get it at most craft stores, even if they don't sell fabric by the yard. It's also good for details on plushies, like eyes. It is scratchy, though.

Pins are very helpful, but watch out because they will stab you

Little details and things are usually easier to sew by hand rather than machine, especially if there's curves on it. It's just not worth the hassle.

If you're making a plushie, pull the stuffing apart before you stuff it, or the stuffing isn't as soft/it clumps up.

Don't start with a huge major sewing clothes project. My first sewing stuff was making dresses for my barbies when I was 10 and they were literally just tubes with straps on them. I was pleased with this. Trying a big project first will probably just be frustrating, so get used to basic sewing stuff first.

Yeah, I think that's most of it! Let me know if you have any other questions or let me know what you end up making! Other sewing people feel free to add on

[snekdood]

i have compiled some native plant gardening tips for those of whom are new to it based on my own experiences and trials and errors, so here goes:

if you're germinating seeds, dont use coco coir. it sucks. ignore anyone who tells you to use it. it doesnt hold moisture well at all and doesnt decompose well. look for a "seed starter" soil instead, it will have a bunch of beneficial nutrients n such to get the seeds and their roots going. if you're concerned about peat, there are plenty out there that don't have any, coast of maine comes to mind. I used to think I needed to grow them in a sterile env, mostly to prevent mold, but I find that nearly impossible to avoid, so on to my next tip:

you're better off trying to start your native seeds outside. even if you wanna use cell trays, thats fine (bring them in when it freezes though), but preventing mold when germinating inside, especially in your fridge with all your food you sometimes forget is there and gets moldy, i've found to be nearly impossible. granted, mold isnt always a bad thing, it can help eat the seed coating so the roots can grow, but this obviously isnt true for all seeds and especially not small seeds. outside is your best bet, I just find less mold grows out there. might be good to make a mini green house of sorts to keep your seed trays in, obviously thats unnecessary if you're growing them in the ground.

if you're like me and have no real ground space and only have a patio or balcony and have to grow everything in pots, I have a couple tips for you actually, but for now lets focus on winter protecting your plants. most suggest burying them under ground... im assuming like me that isn't really an option for you, so we're gonna come up with another solution. you're probably going to need to invest a good amount of money into this, depending on if you have the material around or not. but to start off:

huddle all your pots together. they can help insulate eachother better and keep eachother warm. i try to put the least cold hardy ones in the center, if you can, put them all together in a larger container like a bucket or something and cover it with lots of mulch. water sparingly and lightly, enough to wet the soil but not enough to drip through the bottom of the pot. you should be sparingly watering anyways in winter, but especially so here since they'll probably be in a container that doesnt drain unless you want to drill in holes on the bottom. try to make sure the pots dont touch the sides of the containers if they're plastic and fill in the gaps with mulch or something, plastic isnt the best material to use for pots regardless, unfortunately its the cheapest and most readily available and comes in varying sizes so I cant get mad at you for using it.

heavily mulch your plants. maybe put some straw on top of the mulch too if you have any. I used to think leaves were enough but there's too much airy space between them, you want to make the insulation as compact as possible. if you're wanting to make a place for bumblebees to hibernate i'd suggest making an entirely different leaf pile or something unrelated to your plants. (obv doesnt apply to ppl growing stuff in the ground bc you have the privilege of being able to sprinkle leaves wherever you want. bastard.)

invest in some burlap fabric and some cheap towels or blankets for even more insulation, the fuzzier the blanket the better imo, but it should be fine whatever you choose, just try not to get too thin of a fabric. the burlap and blanket/towel might not be necessary to use every day but definitely on days where its below freezing. these also will last you every year, assuming you take care of them right. cover the tops of pots but also wrap around the sides of them and maybe put a layer or two of burlap down on the ground under them, esp if they're on cold hard concrete.

if you have any plants with tuberous roots, they are more vulnerable to freezing if they're in a pot and will need extra protection or to be brought inside during a freeze, to not shock it with a temperature shift try putting the pot in the fridge if you can, otherwise again it might be good to try to make a mini green house of sorts, maybe turn one of those plastic window well covers into one? or put it in a garage if you have something like that. they also, maybe obviously but just in case, dont need to be watered as often since they have lots of water stored in themselves.

putting your pots really close to the walls of your house can also help keep them warm. not sure if its enough to prevent them from freezing but combined with everything else? well, it's survived many of my plants over the last couple years (though i didnt know about the tuber thing until recently and it explains so much why certain plants didnt make it >_>)

ok moving on from winter. lets go back to talking about pots, bc seriously if you can get your hands on ANYTHING besides a plastic pot, jump on it. they suck universally. they suck in winter and in summer. their only benefit is providing some humidity but that's not really something I personally need as someone in a temperate climate. also, the lighter the pot the better. dark plastic pots can cook the roots of your plants in the sun in summer so you have to be extra careful. also, the deeper the pot the better for native plants.

because you're growing native plants in pots, they're going to need a lot more extra care. native plants in the ground can pretty much be neglected since nature takes care of it all, but you have to provide the water, soil, fertilizer, etc. so lets talk about that:

you dont need to water every day necessarily, the old trick of watering when the top 1-2 inches is dry is your best method to go by. if you live in the midwest or northeast or anywhere it gets heavy rain, it would be good to give them a deep watering every now and then, I try to follow what the rain does and water at the same frequency as it. it would be good to water daily (maybe only a small amount if the soil is still somehow wet) on really hot days even though you dont have to water every day, like on days above 90 degrees. also the best time to water, especially in summer, is early in the morning, ideally some time before 8, 9 is ok but 8 is better imo bc it gives the roots more time to absorb the water before the sun evaporates it, and around 10 is when that starts happening. if you have to water at night, water early at night and try to avoid watering the leaves if you can as water left over on them overnight can cause mold, mildew or other diseases. if you have to water mid day, at least wait until the sun isnt directly on the plants so they can actually absorb some of the water.

since you have to provide your own water and cant rely on rain, you also have to provide your own fertilizer. I mean you already did before, but I mean liquid fertilizer. rain transfers all kinds of vitamins and minerals to the plants that receive it, but you're likely not getting nearly as much in your tap, and since your pots likely aren't being shat in by various woodland creatures, they're getting even less fertilizer. so you have to provide the fertilizers, both slow and liquid. I thought I could just get by with slow release but the plants seem to do better with liquid too, especially when in bloom. if you use slow release you dont need to use the liquid fertilizer as often, and you also likely dont have to use the liquid as frequently as it says on the bottle, since native plants generally require less nutrients to begin with, but of course this is something you'll probably have to test on your own to see how much your plants want and tolerate. I have a whole feeding schedule I can share if you want. some brands I've been using for liquid fertilizer are foxfarm (they have good soil too), microlife, and maxsea (technically a powder but you mix it with water) and for slow release is foxfarm again, jobe's organics, and lilly miller's. I'm trying to use as organic of materials as I can since I'm growing the plants for native wildlife and pollinators and I dont want to negatively effect them as much as possible. if anyone wants to know what products I use specifically hmu or leave a reply.

I trust you're able to figure out your soil situation on your own, but here's some tips just in case: try to avoid brands like miracle grow since I'm pretty sure it has inorganic materials in it, generally I'd aim for the most organic thing you can find, assuming you're growing native plants for the same reason I am, for nature. also, take those messages about well-draining soil seriously, you can use perlite but also some soils are just lighter than others, I find foxfarms is pretty light and drains well.

during winter, leave the plants as they are, dont cut them down. lots of bugs and animals have made nests or homes or have cocoons n such in there. you can cut it down in the spring when frost is nor longer a concern, but dont throw it in the trash either bc the bugs might still be sleeping in them but will be less vulnerable now that winter is gone.

ok that's all I can think of for now, I'll add on to this if I think of anything else, but hopefully this is helpful for someone out there :]

[larsthefishoil]

For the well of knowledge known as "Something something write what you know but you cant know everything so ask someone with experience" - if there's a specific tag for this someone please tell me so I can add it BUT!

are you ever writing a fic with a bartender? And you don't really know how that works? well I work as a barback at a bar so here's some advice!

1- bartenders/barbacks are rarely snarky over drinks or orders. We'll only make fun of you if you're being an ass (and that also depends on the character of the bartender/barback), but if someone orders another round? Great, they're more drunk now so they'll probably tip better. Bartenders and barbacks are pretty much always going to act like either a stoic, focused worker or your best friend; our proficiency of work and ability to make people happy directly affects our take home pay so specifically not being an asshole is important.

2- carding: at my place honestly, we don't card much cause it's more the vibes someone gives and what they're ordering that gives off their age. (like if you look like you're in some vague 20s that one can't put their finger on, but you order a screwdriver, the bartender will absolutely raise their brow at you in suspicion and ask for id.(cause screwdrivers taste foul and only inexperienced drinkers ask for it)) But carding is really important! Realistically, it's just not feasible to handle fixing up five drinks while chatting with a customer and also making sure you ID the guy who looks like he's in his late 20s. There's kind of a split between bars with "won't card" reputations and normal bars full of adults getting off of work to chill. If, by chance, your character is under 21 and is looking for a bar to sneak into without getting carded, it's painfully easy to ask around and people who frequently check out bars will tell you to your face straight up. mostly because these adults are trying to avoid these bars; they are filled with horny, poor, stressed out college students new to drinking, bars without the "won't card" reputation aren't swarmed with kids. (btw always have your id on you its just safer in general)

3- If you've never worked at a place with a liquor license, then just a heads up that we're liable for any death/harm that comes to drunk customers/ people they may hurt under the influence. so if we serve someone too much and they go and get in their car and run someone over, then the worker that physically handed the drinks to the customer could go to jail. that being said, most inebriated people are accompanied by someone who will obviously drive them home, and I've seen some of the guys I work with bring drunks out of the bar to the street and order an uber for them.

4- size, age, sex, and sometimes ethnicity can contribute to how fast someone gets drunk to their ratio of drinks. I one time watched a guy drink 6 margaritas in a row, stand up, and walk out of the bar like he was sober. He absolutely wasn't, but these things are just hard to ping sometimes. Folks from East Asia, for example, have a genetic disposition to not be able to handle hard liquor as much as say, a Russian. Countries like Korea and Japan still have massive drinking problems, but that's a whole other thing. So there's genetics, tolerance, other smaller factors, but the main factor to drinking to drunk ratio is the size of the drinker but I think everyone's aware of that.

TERMS!

that little cap that we shove in the bottles that's metal and silver - quick pour.

small measuring tools with a small 1oz cup connected to a 2oz cup that you can flip over. Used for exact measures when making drinks - jiggers

metal cups we use to shake the drinks - tin

Stick we use to smash mint/fruit rinds to bring out the oils plus other stuff- muddler

(if someone thinks of something else and describes it I can probably name it)

Feel free to ask questions and I'll answer to the best of my ability! <3