#to use a solid colored fabric with it lol

[tj-crochets]

This quilt is my current couch quilt and I love it

The quilt is done!!!!!!

[justnatoka]

Wild creatures

Paul x Fem! Reader

A/n: This was so therapeutic to write, you have no idea. I adore this man so much! Fun fact: the idea for this fic came to me as I was dancing around in my kitchen, drinking wine, listening to Red Wine Supernova by Chapell Roan for the first time.

Word count: 4.6k

Warning: canon typical violence, blood, one douchebag who can't take no for an answer, mention of weed use, nsfw themes (minors dni!), light smut (nothing too explicit), skinny dipping, lots of fluff, LOTS of sexual tension lol

Prompt: "All that blood looks good on you. It really brings out your eyes."

Summary: You and your boyfriend have a wild night out on the boardwalk.

The first thing your brain registered was soft breathing against the back of your neck, then the arm wrapped tight around your waist, holding you close, your back pressed against a solid chest. As your eyes fluttered open, you took in the darkness of the cave, your gaze sweeping over the colorful mess of pillows, blankets and different fabrics draped all over the little nook your boyfriend affectionately called your nest. He took to sleeping here with you after you joined the pack, saying he didn’t want to be apart from you for even one night. Not that you were complaining.

Speaking of Paul, his arm squeezed you in his sleep, a soft snore escaping him. You smiled to yourself as you slowly wiggled your way around to face him. You discovered a slight frown on his handsome features, his hand gripping your waist tighter, and you wondered what he was dreaming about. Inching closer, you laid a gentle kiss right between his eyebrows, and his features smoothed out instantly, his grip loosening but not letting go, never letting go. He brought you closer, snuggling his face into the crook of your neck and breathing in your sweet scent. He draped his leg over yours, tangling them together and clinging to you like a koala. Damn, you loved this man.

You loved his loud and silly personality, the constant flirting, his need to always be near you, always touching you, even if it meant just linking your pinkies together. You loved all the little ways he showed you affection, like bringing you small gifts: a shiny rock or a pretty shell he found on the beach, a plushie he won at a game stall on the boardwalk, a pin for your growing collection covering your jacket. The same jacket the boys got you as a welcome present when you joined the gang, and one you adored with all your heart. You loved how expressive he was, his face lighting up every time he saw you, smiling bright when you were happy, but also crying with you when you weren’t. You enjoyed every moment you spent with him, be it annoying Marko, making out in public while ignoring the loud teasing of his brothers or getting high at the cave and blasting songs of his favorite bands on the boombox, playing on imaginary guitars, headbanging together and giggling when you got dizzy. But it was quiet moments like this one when you really had the time to think about and appreciate the life you had with him. Feeling warm and content, you sank deeper into his embrace.

Your peace was interrupted however, as you heard the others starting to wake up further in the cave. You were reluctant to disrupt Paul’s sleep, but you knew if you didn’t move, one of the boys would soon come looking for you. Marko in particular really enjoyed barging in and throwing pillows at you to wake you up. This earned him a few shots back every time, and he was even chased out by Paul before, not like it had any effect. You really weren’t in the mood for that whole chaos now, so you took matters into your own hands.

You started peppering kisses on the top of his head and softly calling his name. When it didn’t have any effect, you decided to go for his weak spot and started lightly scratching your nails along his neck. He let out a muffled groan and you had to bite your lower lip not to do the same. Your hands worked their way along his back, dipping under his shirt at his waist and gently stroking his skin, making him press his hips against your thigh with a needy whine. Warmth started pooling in your lower region, and if the hardness against your thigh was anything to go by, he must have felt good too. You knew he was awake at this point, felt him smiling against your skin, but pretended in the hopes that you continue with your touching. So you moved your hands lower and squeezed his ass.

“God, babe, don’t stop.”

You chuckled at his sleepy voice and pressed another kiss against his temple.

“I’m not sure the others would appreciate if we made them wait. Marko might appear in the door.”

“I want to see him try.”

“Oh, I’m sure he will.”

With another groan he finally lifted his head, resting his chin against your chest, his hair a tousled mess which you affectionately patted down. You looked into his brilliant blue eyes, and your heart swelled.

“Morning, handsome,” you whispered.

“Morning, beautiful,” he whispered back with a dopey grin on his face. He loved it when you used pet names for him. He leaned in to lay soft kisses against your lips, each one getting longer and hungrier. Just to make you remember his predicament, he grinded his hips into yours again, causing you to moan into his mouth. He used the opportunity to deepen the kiss, his hands exploring your curves.

“Hey, lovebirds! We can hear you making out all the way over here! Get up already, don’t make me go in there!” Marko’s voice broke the moment, and you let out a frustrated groan, now just as fired up as Paul.

“Marko, if you don’t shut the hell up, I’ll beat your ass!” you yelled back, and you heard David and Dwayne laugh, all of them knowing full well that you would try.

“My hero,” Paul chuckled and pressed one long kiss against your lips before finally getting up from the bed. While you put on your clothes, the heated glances he sent you held the promise that you’ll continue what you started later.

You made your way out to the others who were already waiting by the bikes, ready to go. Marko sent you two a cheeky grin, which earned him a not so serious glare from you. David and Dwayne just shared a knowing look. Getting up behind Paul, you wrapped your arms around him, squeezing tight as you took off.

Riding with them was always exhilarating, and you didn’t hold back your screams of excitement, squeezing your arms around him tighter when you heard your boyfriend’s high pitched laughter. You sometimes wondered if you sounded like a pack of wolves with all the howling as you crossed the woods.

Bursting out from between the trees to the beach, your field of vision was filled with the familiar picture of the busy boardwalk with its bright lights and bustling noise. Your skin was practically buzzing with energy. It was a place full of potential for people looking for a fun time, and that’s exactly what you were, even if your definition of ‘fun’ was a bit different in some aspects.

You parked near the entrance, your arrival bringing a lot of attention. You were used to strangers ogling at you, you couldn’t really blame them. Your group was certainly a sight to behold, their loud bikes and good looks were a magnet to the eyes. After getting off from behind Paul, you slowly stretched out your muscles, the movement accentuating your figure, making your shirt ride up to show a bit of skin, then casually threw your hair over your shoulder. The effect was instantaneous, as you felt multiple eyes on you all at once, and when you lazily surveyed the surrounding crowd, you noticed a good few heads suddenly turning the other way.

You felt Paul’s arm sneaking around your shoulder, yours encircling his waist on instinct.

“I thought showing you off was my job,” he smirked at you.

“I can’t help it that I’m this good-looking,” you joked. “Besides, I want to show you off too,” you pecked his cheek, giggling when he leaned in for more.

Someone cleared their throat, and you turned to the boys who were all waiting for you, again. David raised one eyebrow with an amused smile playing on his lips.

“Sorry boys, but this is where we separate from you for tonight,” you stated, their expression turning from light confusion to teasing smiles in a second.

“Why? Tired of us already?”

“You, Marko? Always.”

He played the wounded soul quite convincingly until the corner of his lips started curling upwards.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” the leader spoke up next.

“What, you don’t trust us, David?” you asked cheekily.

“Why would I?” he smirked.

“Okay, fair point.”

He snorted before turning to saunter away into the crowd.

“Have fun,” Dwayne added with a smile and a wink.

“Thanks, Dwayne.” Then he too joined the others.

Now that it was just the two of you, you looked up at Paul.

“What do you wanna do first?”

He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a joint.

“Let’s start with the appetizer.”

You threw yourselves headfirst into fun; getting onto several rides and screaming your lungs out, then having a heavy makeout session on the Ferris wheel, which resulted in the attendant kicking you out because you were too distracted with each other to notice the ride was over. After eating yourselves full of sweets, and urged on by the sugar high, you proceeded to visit all of the game stalls, trying to beat each other at shooting games and both failing miserably cause you made each other laugh too much, both of you giggling like stupid teenagers. Paul made it his mission to win you a purple teddy bear he saw at one of the stalls, and was heartbroken when he didn’t get it. He pouted all the way to the food vendors, grumbling about how it was rigged for sure.

It was after you both got yourselves some soft drinks when someone tapped you on the shoulder, interrupting the nice time you had going. Turning around, you came face to chest with a guy wearing an obnoxiously open shirt. Now, you didn’t mind it with Dwayne, but this guy’s whole vibe screamed douchebag. Starting with the sunglasses he pushed to the top of his head so he can check you out more openly. Who the heck wears sunglasses at night?

“Hi,” he flashed you a smile that made your skin crawl.

“Uh, hi,” you replied, you tone already less than enthused.

“Can I get you a real drink?” he motioned to your soda.

“No thanks, I’m not interested.”

You moved to turn away, but he grabbed your shoulder this time. Oh hell no. You shot him your nastiest glare, then tore his hand off you, stepping back to put some distance between you two.

“Come on now, don’t be like that,” Sunglasses smirked down at you, trying to keep his composure, but you were having none of it.

“Like I said, I’m not interested,” you answered, emphasizing each word and making a big show of grabbing Paul’s hand.

Sunglasses didn’t take kindly to that, and he turned his growing irritation toward your boyfriend, who he seemingly barely noticed until now.

“You’re seriously into that? You sure have some questionable tastes in men,” he scoffed.

“Dude, chill out, she said no. So why don’t you just fuck off?” Paul decided to finally speak up after just observing the situation. He knew you could take care of yourself, but it seemed like this was slowly getting out of hand, and he just wanted this douche gone.

“Don’t you tell me what to do, freak. I can do whatever the hell I want. And if I want a piece of that,” he jerked his head towards you like you were a piece of meat, “than that’s what I’m gonna get.”

That’s it. Paul could take insults directed at him, but he would sure as hell not take him talking about his girl like that. If this absolute dick wanted to get up all in his face, he wasn’t one to back down. They were ready to throw hands, when both of them froze. Eyes going comically wide, they stared in unison at the big, sticky wet patches forming on the guy’s shirt, the liquid trickling down the side of his head and neck slowly soaking his clothes. Sunglasses turned around, and that’s when Paul spotted you behind his back, your empty glass still in your hand.

You looked up at Sunglasses with big sheepish eyes.

“Oops, I guess my hand slipped.”

Paul burst out laughing. The guy was so dumbfounded he was rendered speechless for a long second, like his brain couldn’t fathom that someone would humiliate him like this. Because people around you were already looking and pointing. But when it did register to him, his face turned to a shade of red you haven’t seen before. He looked like a big angry tomato pumped full of steroids. You finally cracked up, and you cackled as you dodged the arm he swung at you, easily dancing out of his way. You grabbed Paul’s hand and the two of you took off running, the sound of the guy’s loud cursing quickly drowned out by the noise of the crowd.

When you were sure you got far enough, you slowed your pace to an easy stroll. With the laughter barely dying off your lips, you pressed a sloppy kiss on Paul’s cheek.

“My hero,” you giggled.

“Always, babe,” he stated with a happy little smile.

Pushing the incident to the back of your mind, you were determined to have fun, and not let it hinder your mood. So the two of you threw yourselves back into the night.

Somehow you ended up at the stage, surrounded by warm bodies, all bopping and swaying and jumping together to the rhythm. You let yourself completely loose, let the wave of the music and the movement of the crowd around you take you to wherever it wanted, washing away every problem, every little annoyance. It was phenomenal, and you felt your spirit soar high above you with the ocean wind.

A familiar hand wrapped around your own, bringing you back to the ground, and your eyes locked with the most brilliant pair of blue you’ve ever seen, the color and all of its variations already seared into your mind. Right now, they were shining bright, the lights of the stage bringing a playful glint to them that you adored. Your gaze fell to his lips, causing a wide grin to spread across them. The next time you looked up, his eyes were a darker shade, and he was standing a lot closer to you than you realized, the two of you practically pushed together by the people around you, still moving, still dancing.

You don’t know who moved first, but in the next second you were tangled together, hands roaming planes and curves of bodies, fingers coursing through hair, lips hungry against each other. It felt like the beat of the music was running through your veins, reigniting your long dead hearts and willing it to beat again. It was electrifying and intense. That’s just how your love worked. Sometimes it was silly, sometimes it was passionate, but it was always all consuming. You completely gave yourselves to each other, body, soul and all, for as long as you were on this earth. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

You were reluctant to come back to reality, too high off the intensity of the moment to stop, but knowing if you didn’t stop soon, you would commit public indecency. Paul groaned when you finally drew back from him, his lips puffy and his eyes pleading.

“Not here and not now, pretty boy,” you purred against his mouth. He almost started pouting, so you winked at him and threw in a middle ground. “How about you take me out to dinner first? Then you can devour me all you want.”

He seemed pleased with that solution, almost too eager to go.

You barely left the proximity of the stage, Paul’s arm casually thrown around your shoulder, yours around his waist, leisurely strolling away, when you heard a shout from behind you.

“There they are!”

You turned your heads at the same time, and spotted the guy from before. He also brought two friends. They were still further away, but rapidly closing the distance, pushing people out of their way, trying to get to you quicker. You exchanged looks.

“Uh-oh,” you blurted out.

A mischievous grin stretched across Paul’s face.

“You said something about dinner?”

Catching on to what he was implying, you burst out in giggles and grabbed his hand before you both took off running. The yelling and fast stomping from behind you was enough indication that they were indeed in hot pursuit. You weaved in between vendors, dodging people left and right, almost colliding a few times, but never letting go of each other. Indignant yelps sounded behind you as you bumped into people, and curses were thrown at you when you pushed stuff into your chasers way. All around chaos was left in your wake, and you already heard Max’s lecture in your head that you would surely receive when he caught wind of this. Laughter bubbled up your throats from the adrenaline rush and you cackled as you turned towards the beach, all the way down the stair, you laughed and howled like hyenas as your feet hit the sand. A quick glance over your shoulder confirmed that they were not far behind. A small squeeze on your hand made you look over at Paul. He had the widest grin on his face, hair messy and wind-blown, his whole body practically radiating, and when he turned to you, eyes shining bright, his hand tightly wrapped around your own, your heart swelled with joy. Surely, this is what real freedom felt like.

You didn’t stop until you reached the underside of the pier and disappeared between the wooden beams. It wasn’t long until your pursuers caught up. Not seeing you at first, they ventured deeper into the darkness.

“There’s no point in hiding, you little bitch! We’re going to find you and your bitch of a boyfriend and then you’ll be sorry for humiliating me like that!” Sunglasses yelled, puffing out his chest, trying to sound all intimidating.

“Who said I’m trying to hide?” you appeared before them, simply walking out of the shadows.

Your confidence and casual tone seemed to unnerve them. The two goons were shifting anxiously, glancing around for Paul. They were ready to get this fight over with and get out of here. Sunglasses, however, took a step towards you, oblivious to the shift in the air around him.

“You got some nerve, girl, I’ll give you that,” he scoffed, running his tongue along his lower lip. “But you’re a bit too bossy for my taste. Maybe if I took you for a few rounds you would learn your place.”

Your face hardened, eyes becoming impossibly darker, before a predatory smirk slowly stretched across your face.

“You know why we brought you here?” you asked lowly, gesturing around you in a slow motion.

Sunglasses was visibly confused, but the bobbing of his Adam’s apple let you know he finally seemed to realize that something was wrong. You raised up one finger, pointing at the pier above you, the hustle and bustle of the people above audible even down here.

“Because right here no one will hear your screams.” Your voice sounded like ice, and the terror on their faces as you started to change right in front of them only fueled your hunger.  “And for the record, I’m the only one who can call Paulie my bitch. Isn’t that right, babe?”

Their eyes followed your gaze behind their backs, where Paul seemed to materialize out of thin air, his irises glowing yellow from his monstrous face.

“Damn right, dollface.”

They didn’t even have time to react before you descended upon them. And just as you said, their shrieking was drowned out by the screams coming from the roller coaster above. There was no escape, you were too fast, dragging them back into the shadows, fangs tearing into skin, gulping down their warm blood and relishing its taste. You made quick work on the three men, and watching the life drain from their trashing bodies gave you a sick satisfaction. You licked your lips the same way he did when you were finished with them.

You looked up at Paul, chest heaving, with rivulets of blood still running down your face and neck, smearing around your lips, painting them red. He looked no different, with crimson specks stuck in his hair, already back in his human form, but eyes still containing remnants of yellow.

When his gaze met yours, a flirty little smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Look at you, pretty girl! All that blood looks good on you. It really brings out your eyes.”

You flashed him your most charming smile in response. You both burst out in chuckles, giggling to yourselves like schoolgirls as if you didn’t just tear three men apart. The next time you locked eyes, something shifted between you, and you felt a tug in your stomach. You needed to close the distance between you, and if the hasty steps he took towards you was anything to go by, he felt it too. Stepping over bodies, you met in the middle, lips attaching together in an instant, and Paul moaned into your mouth as he tasted the blood on your tongue.

“You said something about devouring you after taking you out to dinner,” he purred, voice silky soft.

“I did. But not here. I don’t want an audience,” you eyed the remnants of your dinner lying at your feet.

“Fair enough, I don’t want to share that sight either,” he wiggled his eyebrows at you, and you snorted.

“Come on, pretty boy, I have an idea.”

He followed you like an eager puppy as you departed from the darkness of the space under the pier and made your way to a secluded section of the beach, a nice little spot you’ve found on one of your midnight wanderings. You knew it would come in handy eventually.

You got a hold of the lapel of his jacket and pulled him back in, already missing his closeness and his lips on yours. He was all too happy to satiate your craving, his hands sneaking into the back pockets of your pants. You could never grow tired of this, your bodies pressed together, taking the time with exploring and getting a good taste of each other, mouths moving together lazily, sloppily, familiarly, knowing exactly what makes the other tingle in pleasure. But this was only the warmup.

Pulling away from him, you looked back up at him through your lashes, your lips curling into a cheeky smile.

“As much as I love seeing you drenched in blood, we still need to go meet up with the boys. And I don’t think David would be happy with us showing up like this on the boardwalk, not after the mess we’ve already created.”

Paul glanced from you to the ocean behind you, the wheels turning in his head, trying to figure out what you were planning.

“Oh yeah? And what do you suggest, babe?”

Your grin grew wider.

“Something you’ll like.”

Then in one fluid motion you pulled off your top and tossed aside. When you met his eyes again, the look he gave you was so full of love and adoration, it genuinely made your heart ache. Because how the hell did you get so lucky to find a guy who looks at you like that, even after seeing you naked a thousand times, who makes you feel this desired and confident in your skin?

A huge grin grew on his lips and he whooped in excitement.

“Hell yeah, now we’re talking!” he cheered as he was already in the process of dropping all his clothes, with yours following right after.

He practically carried you into the ocean, your shrieking laughter cut off as he tossed you into the water. You were on your feet the next second, splashing him and dragging him down with you when you caught a hold of him. It wasn’t long before your playfighting turned into something steamier, and you finally gave into the desire you’ve both been holding back ever since you woke up at the cave in each other’s arms.

With the stars of the summer night sky shining above you, watching over you, the two of you got lost in each other while the balmy breeze caressed your bare skins, your sounds getting lost under the crushing of the waves and the rumble of the boardwalk in the distance. You made love in the water, on the sand, you devoured each other, lips exploring every inch of skin, fingers sinking into soft flesh. He was gentle, then not so much, taking in every sound you made, worshipping your body. Then you took charge, getting on top of him and leaving him a beautiful moaning mess under you. Your passion lasted hours, time blurring together in the overwhelming pleasure.

By the time you made your way back to the bikes, the boys were already there, and morning was fast approaching. Dwayne and David were deep in conversation, the latter periodically taking drags of his cigarette. Marko was the first to notice you, his lips stretching into a cheeky grin when he took in your faces. Ignoring his suggestive stares, you greeted them with a smile.

“You made quite the spectacle tonight,” David remarked. Damn, cutting right to the case.

“You knew you couldn’t trust us with behaving,” you quipped back.

“I did,” he smiled at you, clearly amused. “Max won’t be happy though.”

You shrugged. “Oh well.”

There was a long moment of silence before he spoke up again.

“Did he deserve it?” There was no question about what he meant by that, all of you knowing full well it wasn’t about the drink-throwing or even the chase through the boardwalk. He didn’t have to ask what you did to the guy.

“Hell yes!” you and Paul answered unanimously, and the others chuckled, a comfortable mood settling over your group.

As you all got on your bikes, ready to go home, Marko spotted something that made him guffaw.

“Damn, girl, did you take a bite out of him too?” he motioned towards Paul’s neck. There were undeniable teeth marks and hickeys already forming there.

“I couldn’t help it, he’s too sweet,” you teased, and Paul blew a kiss over his shoulder to you.

Marko made a gagging sound which earned him a swat over the back of the head by Dwayne.

David revved his bike, a clear indication that he was ready to go, reminding you that there was not much time left before daylight took over. The others followed suit, and you took off back to the cave, back to home.

Rewinding the events of the night after you were already snuggled up to Paul in your nest, your mind wandered back to the thoughts you were having just hours ago, when you were lying there in a very similar position. You really were content with your life with the boys. Yes, it was chaotic at times, but that was in your nature. You were wild creatures after all. Living with them granted you a taste of true freedom in a way you haven’t experienced before. You wouldn’t have it any other way.

You pressed a light kiss against Paul’s chest, and he unconsciously tightened his hold on you, his nose buried in your hair, mind already in dreamland. Surrounded by the warmth of your nest and the scent of your lover, you drifted off to sleep just as the sun broke the horizon outside.

Tags: @stinkydove @pandemoniavenus @000-colby @lunarwhitewolf7 @notalwaysa @binightowl

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[bweeeb]

Hi!

I have a request. Based on an interaction I had with my bestie while we were rewatching Civil War. It was something like “first one to simp over Bucky pays for dinner” (I lost ofc lol)

My request would be that reader and Bucky go out for dinner and they agree beforehand that whoever simps for the other one, pays the bill 😏

DIRTY GAME

BUCKY BARNES X READER

Summary: Whoever simped first paid the bill. Turns out Bucky forgot what the limits of simping were — and his hands were only free up to a certain point… which he definitely crossed.

Based on this request. I hope I didn't disappoint you, love. I did what I could.

warnings: silly hands, silly lines, shorttt, broken English (not my first language). It's not obscene but it has a hint of something.

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You and Bucky had agreed on one simple rule before dinner: whoever simps first pays the bill.

A twisted little game for a couple who already knew exactly how to push each other’s buttons.When you arrived at the restaurant, you headed straight for the dark corner where the plush sofas waited — the perfect spot for your little game. Dim lights and heavy shadows gave you privacy, and a couch meant he could sit right next to you, close enough to feel every breath, every heartbeat.

Bucky settled beside you, his arm casually draped over the back of the sofa, his thigh pressing just a little against yours under the low table. He didn’t sit across; no need to pretend distance when you both wanted the heat between you to grow.A waiter brought a bottle of red wine, and you poured two glasses, the deep color matching the fire burning between you.

— “Whoever simps first pays for dinner,” you reminded him, voice low and challenging.He smirked.

— “Deal. But you can pay for the wine and pray I don’t lose.”You laughed, eyes sparkling.

— “Touch me and lose, Barnes. Touching isn’t simping but depending on how your hands are on me, it is .”

His fingers twitched.

— “Ready to lose?” you whispered, biting your lip.

He leaned in, eyes dark and hungry.

— “You started this, doll.”

Your wine glass circled slowly in your hand as he leaned in, his gaze locked on the slit in your dress, sliding over the bare skin beneath.

— " You don't have a chance, soldier. "

— “That slit should be illegal,” he muttered.

You met his eyes, slow and deliberate.

— “If you want a better view, feel free to touch, only if you wanna lose of course. I’m not wearing anything under it.”

His jaw tightened. His hand moved — warm, solid — sliding up your thigh under the table.

— “You’re playing with fire,” he warned.

— “You started it,” you whispered back, voice low and teasing.

His fingers brushed higher, grazing the sensitive skin of your inner thigh.

— " That doesn't make me lose yet, does it?"

You didn’t pull away; instead, you crossed your legs a little wider, inviting him in.

— “ Now you won't answer me, doll? You always this wet at dinner? I haven't even touched you yet but I feel your warmth from here. ” he teased, voice husky. You leaned close, lips brushing his ear.

— “Only when your hand’s almost where I want it.”

His breath hitched, fingers tracing slow, teasing circles on your skin.

— “Keep talking like that, and I’m dragging you into the bathroom.”

— “Wouldn’t be the first time,” you purred. His hand edged closer to where you needed him most, fingers pressing through the thin fabric. You gasped, grabbing his wrist.

— “We’re in public, James.”

— “Then stop moaning like that,” he growled. “Sit still.”

You smirked, voice trembling with desire:

— “Make me.”

He slid two fingers slowly along your slick folds, barely there, enough to make your body shiver. You squeezed your thighs together, trapping his hand.— “Fuck, baby, you’re gonna make me pay with my whole damn soul.”

��� “I’m paying. Fuck the game.”

You looked into his eyes, dark and dangerous.— “Wallet. Now. Before I ride your fingers right here and embarrass us both.”

He cursed under his breath, yanked his hand back, and tossed his card on the table.

You laughed, breathless and victorious.

— “Well, looks like you simp��ed first. Game over.”

He leaned in, lips brushing your neck, teeth grazing your skin.—

“You haven’t even started playing dirty yet. But when we get home? That’s when the real game begins.”

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@buckyismysafehaven Thanks for the request, I totally appreciate it ♥︎

[tj-crochets]

I love this quilt! Such a good way to use those Kaffe Fassett fabrics, which I love but also are so much I sometimes have difficulty getting them to work with other fabrics

a quilt i was hesitant to post 😅 i made the top over a year ago and i just feel it isn't reflective of my current skill level. i definitely learned a lot of things with this one. but i really like the final look of it so 🫡

[strange-kaleidoscope-sewing]

Just wanted to share a hanfu I completed recently!

It consists of four pieces: a long overcoat, a sheer pink inner coat, a solid pink top inside the inner coat, and a black mamianqun (pleated skirt). The overcoat has patterned cuffs and a patterned collar made out of the same fabric as the mamianqun (if you look closely, you can see the pattern on the collar and sleeve cuffs on the mamianqun itself). On the back of the coat, I hand-painted a dragon and phoenix that was based on the design of the front panel of the mamianqun. (I do Chinese painting and calligraphy, so I just used fabric paint and some Chinese painting techniques.) The sheer inner coat is made of a sheer pink fabric with blue bias tape finishings on its collar and sleeves. The pink top inside the collar has an embroidered collar (jiaolingyouren, closes on right as per traditional Chinese garments) and ties on the inside and outside (not visible here because they are covered by the skirt and by the shirt itself). The mamianqun arguably took me the longest to complete: it has seven front-facing pleats and seven back-facing pleats on each side, which took me way too long to iron lol. It has ties that wrap around the back and tie in the front. All fabric except from the pink and blue solid colors is from Taobao, and the bias tape is from Joanns.

This is a pretty untraditional combination of garments; I've seen the mamianqun worn primarily with a square-neck top (not sure what this is called, but I think it was from the Ming dynasty period?), and never with a top with a jiaolingyouren. I modified patterns from the book "Traditional and Modernized Hanfu Pattern Making" by TT Duong, which I highly recommend :) The entire project took a total of 30-40 hours (conservative estimate) and the fabric painting took 7 hours.

Overall I'm really proud of the entire project! I created this so that I could enter it into the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards under Fashion (I'm a high schooler) and I had a lot of fun making it :) I'm thinking of making a green one next!

[mayakern]

hiiii it's me! devin! ur favorite!

maya is still banned from doing big business things on social media while she takes time to rest and detoxify from the poison that is running social media full time for ten years. everybody clap! yay!

i'm here to share some info on our button-up shirt and dress preorders!

as many of you already know, i lost my anti-preorder campaign due to the high minimum per design. there's been some confusion and uncertainty. carsyn's doing her best but preorders are overwhelming and i have some time today

SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS:

how close are you to hitting the minimum goal for the button-up shirts and dresses?

not close lol. as of 4/26 we're at about 8% funded. i refuse to panic until after may 3rd

why the funeral design?

the funeral design won our design poll

initially we were going to run preorders for two designs: funeral as well as astronauts. when we got news that the minimum would be 400 garments per design (we're able to spread that across the button-up shirts and dresses) we decided to cut back to one design. we're really not big enough to expect 800 orders on an $80-90 item

why not another design?

another design did not win the design poll

what would have been chosen other than funeral or astronaut?

deadly florals, hiss from a rose, microorganisms, and hands were all the top placers in the design poll after funeral

can you do solid color?

yes

why didn't you do solid color?

you can buy a solid color button-up shirt or dress from anywhere. the plan has always been to introduce these garments in solid color after their initial introduction

...so can you do solid color?

we will consider doing solid color preorders if these preorders bomb

how much would solid color cost?

probably the same. it's not much cheaper. it's faster to make tho

how much would the ecovero viscose cost instead of cotton?

maybe like $10 cheaper

it's really soft tbh but it's a different weave from the viscose for the skirts. it's my number one fabric for the button-ups but alas the cotton fandom won for now

what happens if preorders bomb?

we cancel and refund all preorders.

maybe we'll try again with a different design or with fewer features after we have some time to decompress from the nightmare that is running preorders (can you tell i hate preorders). if they bomb bad enough we may completely nix patterned button-up shirts and dresses. we don't know yet!

does that affect the picnic top?

the picnic top is completely separate. since it's made out of a different fabric it has its own minimum, so it will not be affected by button-up shirt and dress preorders

and like, to be totally honest, it's way cheaper to produce. we can eat some of the cost and just make them. they're small enough to store easily and they're at a lower price point so we can expect to sell them after we receive them, like the wrap tops

btw, we have other ready-to-ship things already in production. we've been working on a whole secret project. surprise!

why did you launch preorders for the button-up shirt/dress at the same time as the picnic top?

the picnic top sample came in with the button-up dress sample and it needed very little alteration. also maya liked it. also we may be developing an entire line inspired by the picnic top so keep an eye out for that next spring

why is the new button-up shirt more expensive than the old button-up shirt?

it's more expensive to make

why is it more expensive to make?

this is a different factory from the one we used before. it's more expensive because they pay their staff a higher wage and likely have other costs

this is a different fabric from the one we used before. it's a stretch cotton with a GOTS certification

this is imported from a different country from the one we used before. turkey has much higher import fees to the US

what is a GOTS certification?

the short version is the fabric itself is more environmentally friendly and produced with more fair labor practices than standard cotton

you can read the long version here here

can you do fulfillment from somewhere other than the US?

we're working on it. it probably won't lower prices tho, since fulfillment centers also cost money

anyway...

none of this is to shame someone for not preordering. groceries are expensive and things are tight, plus it kinda sucks to spend on a tight budget and not get what you ordered for a few months

(can you tell i hate preorders)

i think there's a lot of surprise since we've never done preorders on a single design before, and that's fair! we debated on doing a kickstarter but a) i hate doing kickstarters b) kickstarter takes a percentage of sales and our profit margin on these is already lower than we'd like it to be

i'm tired and i can't remember anything else i wanted to say. i may answer any additional questions from my own tumblr (@punchyemblem and now i'm gonna get a notification that i'm gonna be jumpscared by) but carsyn will be handling most questions

also don't worry, when you say nice things we still show maya. also she's fine, she's just in her (forced and highly necessary and possibly permanent) limited social media era

[marzipanandminutiae]

You don’t like 1920s, 1940s AND 1950s fashion? Damn what did the mid-century do to you lol. K but seriously why not the 50s? The skirts had volume and were long-ish (at least in high fashion) and blouses were well structured and fitted and often had embroidery or embellishments.

Obviously I don't hate ALL of it; no era is a monolith. But there are a few things these eras have in common that I hate:

The rise of synthetic fabrics, AKA Using Plastic To Make Clothing. We're now at a place in terms of clothing where its actively harder and more expensive to wear natural fibers than to wear clothing made entirely of a substance that leaches into our water, holds odors, makes us sweat more, doesn't generally last as long or admit as much repair over time as most natural textiles, and just Kind of Sucks all around except for a few very specific purposes. Synthetics weren't invented in the 1920s, and natural fibers were common in all of these eras than they are today, but it was definitely increasing amounts of "BUY THESE NEW EXCITING PROGRESSIVE MODERN FABRICS!!!" throughout the early and mid-20th century. Which pisses me off in principle.

Less practical garments unless you lived a very specific lifestyle- namely, access to washing machines and a willingness to launder clothing after just one wear. Modern clothing is just not great unless you have access to very frequent washing (see above re: holding odors more than many natural fibers) and barrier garments to keep sweat away from them and stretch the time between washes aren't a thing anymore for most people. In the eras mentioned, everyone was getting so excited about machine laundry capabilities- and who wouldn't? washing machines ARE a huge boon! no denying that! -that they shifted away from modes of dress designed to minimize the necessity of laundering outer clothes. Except now, with concerns about the aforementioned microplastic leaching from washing machines draining into municipal sewers and less mendable clothing- washing is a huge strain on garments, and wears them out faster if you do it too often -we need to be getting back to the system of having fewer but higher quality garments and washing them less often. Except we can't. Because some idiot in the 1920s said "whoopee nobody will ever need linen combinations or chemises that actually serve a purpose anymore!" and the subsequent decades continued it.

The silhouettes generally do not spark joy for me. 1920s actively makes me fly into a rage and scream into pillows, with the exception of robes de style MAYBE. 1940s...well, let's say there was a reason the New Look was so popular, and that's "no more boxy utility wartime clothes." I will give 1940s the hair prize here, though, because I like it better than any other decade 1920s-50s. I actually DO like the New Look! ...but not its combination with the bullet bra; yikes. This is highly subjective.

Some of the textiles, patterns, colors, and common embellishments used are just not my thing. I don't go in for Bold And Graphic And Geometric anything, usually. With a very very small number of exceptions. Polka dots and florals are also not my thing (unless the florals are on a dark background). Plastic jewelry? Hard pass. ~Fun~ motifs like fruit (except pomegranates which have Goth Appeal), the poodles on a poodle skirt, household objects, transportation, etc? No thank you; reads too Kindergarten Teacher for me. Again, not universal or exclusive to those eras- witness the 1880s chicken-print dress I saw an illustration of once -but more prevalent, to my eyes.

Hair. 1920s bobs make most people's heads look blocks. I love a good bob, but those are not Good in my opinion. 1920s Up Hair is usually meant to mimic a bob. 1930s was only a little bit better. 1940s, as I've said, was skirting the line for me and marginally acceptable. 1950s took us right back to a solid Nope with either short poodle cuts or pageboys as the main options for adult women. An occasional chignon maybe, but nothing else that appeals to me personally. just not great all around.

All of these eras were holier-than-thou about the Victorians and their fashion, which I love, so I'm petty about it. Yes please tell me more about how your plastic bullet bras or potato sack dresses are inherently superior to Grandma's elegant and comfortable long wool skirts with the perfect center back pleating. Oh, the 1860s were the ugliest fashion period ever in your opinion? Fascinating. I am setting your car on fire.

I actually DO like the New Look...which is heavily inspired by mid-19th century fashion, so that's not really any big surprise. Still has the issues with synthetic materials and the end of practical undergarments, though. Also, why stop at mid-calf for everyday skirts? Instep Or Bust You Cowards.

[sonicenvy]

So this project is continuing to be complex and detailed, but I'm having a good time. If you haven't seen my original post, this is an image that I pulled from the book of Kells on folio 27v. The full page contains four figures: the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle. The four figures represent the four gospels. This figure is the eagle, and it represents the book of John, St. John the Evangelist and the ascension of Christ into heaven. I am not religious (though I was raised Irish Catholic), so I picked this design because I love the art in medieval manuscripts and in the Book of Kells specifically.

So, how'd I get here? (an extremely detailed step-by-step)

Downloaded the full size image of Folio 27v

Cut St. John out of the image using the pen tool in Photoshop and moved it to a new document with a clear background.

Pasted St. John into a blank high res procreate document.

Did a rough digital tracing of the image in procreate with my iPad and Apple Pencil.

Opened tracing in Illustrator and made it into a vector. Took forever because I fucked up my procreate settings RIP.

Turned Vector into live paint object.

Opened original image in PS, and used eyedropper tool to select colors in original document. Compared those colors to the colors that I had in my stash (wanted to use mostly if not all from my stash rather than buying new floss).

Used threadcolors.com to get the hex codes for the selected threads. Made a spreadsheet of the selected colors for my reference. Printed out spreadsheet.

Colored the image using the paint bucket tool (and recolor artwork options) with the colors corresponding to selected threads. Saved Illustrator document.

Opened illustrator document in PS, gave it a solid white background and exported it as PDF.

Printed out initial copy of PDF image on blank printer paper to see if it was the right size. It wasn’t lol, so I made it bigger (super easy with vector images!) Printed test copy #2 and it was the right size.

Iron chosen fabric and stretch in Phillips head screw tightened hoop.

Printed the PDF image on Sulky Fabri-solvy, cut to size, and adhere to the surface of the stretched fabric.

Stitch, all single stranded….

 

What's new?

Since the last time I posted, I've mostly completed the head. It's comprised of a mixture of satin stitches, long and short stitches, chain stitches, and some other stitch I can't remember the name of. The other new feature is very, very, tiny orange and red glass beads.

When I was considering how I wanted to render the dots in the circle behind the head and the three tears of blood, I initially considered doing french knots for the dots and bullion knots for the blood tears. To make a decision about this, I did some tests on scrap fabric. At the end of the test stitching I found that I was not completely satisfied with what I had come up with. As I stared at it, I was hit with the sudden vision of using seed beads of some kind for these two areas. This idea completely possessed me (lol), and I made a trip to my delightful local beading store the next day, hoop in hand.

The old ladies who run the bead store helpfully showed me to a bunch of interesting beads and got me all set up with them. I also purchased some size 11 beading needles, which are barely large enough to stick a single strand of embroidery floss through. At the time, I didn't know whether or not the embroidery floss would even go through the needle or the beads, so I purchased some tiny beading thread, but ended up not needing it. The eyes of those needles are SO tiny that they were extremely difficult to thread, but I managed it eventually. They were also, interesting very, very bendy. I ended up liking the stitching experience with them so much I continued using them to stitch other, non-beaded sections of the piece.

The other consideration that I had to make while putting this section together was whether or not I wanted to render that yellow ring around the head in golden yellow thread or gold, gold metallic thread, as in the original image that section appears to potentially be illuminated with gold leaf. However, my hatred of metallic thread (Satan's embroidery supply) won in the end so I went with the gold yellow thread, leaving the crosses as the only metallic gold element. I don't know that I'll end up using any other metallic gold, but I obviously can't rule it out.

Anyhow, looking forward to continuing this project and to what new challenges I'll end up having to figure out as it goes along.

[guy-with-the-sleeping-princess]

Scarf Complete!

Thanks to the help of my sister (damn you sewing machine not taking fleeces) I was finally able to put all the pieces in the pattern I cut out together to get the finished scarf! The measurements came out a bit short (We went with the suggested 2 meters so if you want more accuracy maybe go over that) so if I wanted to go for a more accurate look I would just sling it over the back of my shoulders vs wrapping my neck like in the actual game. (trying to wrap it puts the pattern right at my back and actually covers it up a bit with the collar part) But of course either way it is actually pretty comfy as a standalone scarf give or take my area's heat so if I get any blue outfits it could fit lmao

Okay so before I go back to pacing back and forth with it let me add where it differs from the pattern: -We did the steps differently due to how it was constructed! we put the details on the blue before putting the orange on -We also closed off the ends of the orange vs closing off at the start where it meets the blue due to the canon scarf having a solid piece of orange vs the pattern's fringe -The pattern used heat n bond but i didn't want to deal with the iron so I wanted to machine stitch on before helping my sister with sewing by hand -A big actually is that the pattern used red for the orange parts, when we went to get fabric I had an image of HW Link open on my phone (multiple actually until I found one that had a good enough scarf view) and found that the fabric "pumpkin orange" fit more color wise

Also! I want to thank @hyruledwarriorr for giving me the pattern as it gave me both something to work on (before the whole sewing machine mess, fuckin fleece betrayed me) and something to add to my frankenstein of a cosplay! which is always fun when you can use it's parts for multiple things, trust me I've used it's corset and belt for s o many things already lol

[elviraaxen]

elvira, i am begging and pleading for a tutorial on a how you jUST MADE THAT NEEDLE-FELT ALBIN (or recommendations on tutorials elsewhere, no actual pressure, im just being dramatic and silly lol) HOLY SHIT, YOU DID SO GOOD, CONGRATULATIONS!!

AIUUGH I should've read this earlier I just started on Donna and am almost finished with her face, and didn't take any progress pics!! 😫

I'm really flattered you like my Albin!!! Unfortunately I made Albin like I do most things; sorta dive head first and figure it out as I go so unfortunately I don't have much to offer besides looking up basic tutorials on needle felting :'D

BUT apart from that, I have learned these things on my own:

ARMATURE:

- use thick aluminum wire for the base and stainless steel to hold it together and for the fingers.

- if you're making a skinny guy like Albin, make the arms, legs, and neck only one wire thick, or else it'll be bumpy.

- make the limbs longer than you think you'll need, you can always cut them down to make them shorter

- Sculpt the head, hands and shoes separately and add thembto the body once finished! It's too hard to do them all on one doll.

FELTING:

- The head takes the longest bc shaping the ball just takes... Ages...., and if you're making lots of little details like eyebrows, eyes, nose, and ears, it's easier to sculpt them seperately and attach onto the head

- use a heat gun to melt down little stray fibres if you want a smoother look

- to get the little needle holes out after felting, rub the surface or wet felt it. Caution as it may shrink if you do!

- I wet felted almost anything that was small. Albins hair tufts are wet felted and then glued onto bent pins and stuck into his head. His hands are also wet felted directly over the hand armature.

- Once you've finished felting, you can dilute Elmer's glue with one part water and lightly brush a thin layer all over the doll, it'll prevent fibres from unraveling and is great for keeping hair styles in place! (Albin's hair is so much glue it's basically a helmet lmao)

CLOTHES:

- make mockups.... Like four or five different ones.... And you will still mess up

- if you're gluing, use contact cement or e6000 (toxic! Use respirator, gloves, and open window!!), not hot glue or all purpose glue... It doesn't work 🥺

- stretch polyester fabric is your friend!! You can scorch the edges to keep it from fraying and stretched fabrics are more easily put over the doll.

- for shoes and accessories I recommend making a clay called cold porcelain. I used polymer clay and it was really hard to get details down and it cracked! Cold porcelain you might already have the materials for if you have corn starch and Elmer's glue.

- for impossibly small clothing details, you can sculpt them instead using watered down glue and cotton balls!! Use a paint brush with glue on it to pick up a piece of cotton and smooth it down onto the figure. Once dried you have a somewhat moveable but solid piece of clothing that can even be painted! I'm thinking of doing this for Ricky's hat for example!

THINGS I WANT TO TRY:

- twist ties for fingers! Idk I just think they might work well 🤔 free, easily bent but never breaks (?) and protected from moisture!

- dyeing wool with fabric dye, I don't have colors for any of the other characters!! I need to try!

- plush bodies for the bigger dolls (Ricky and Lune, bc felting THAT much will kill my hands

[tj-crochets]

I just read my own tags and I wrote them wrong lol The rainbow isn't scrap from my first baby quilt, it's scraps from my first twin-sized quilt, which is currently my couch quilt

So I was cutting scrap fabric down to usable sizes (like these 2.5” strips) because I want to start using my smaller scraps for a scrappy triangle quilt (which would mean I’d have two scrap quilts going at once, like a reasonable person) and I found these and got side tracked and now I’m making a baby quilt!

It’ll be the rainbow staggered a bit in the center, surrounded by black, and will end up about three feet square

[anamelessfool]

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

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

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

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

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

So I just sort of pet him. For hours.

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

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

[enthusiastic-naps]

Hii!

Sorry if you already said it and I just missed it, but what color do you use for your shirt linoprints? And how do you press them?

They look amazing:)

I've loved doing linocut in school and would like to try again, but idk what I actually need (besides linoleum sheets and carving knife) and the linocut sets are pricy af lol

Howdyyyy I don't use anything fancy! I use speedball permanent fabric inks, apply ink to my print with a brayer, and I press them with just my hands.

Here are some more specific instructions if you wanted

1. I put a piece of water color paper inside the shirt where I'm going to print

2. Slightly dampen the area with water in a spray bottle

3. Prime my print a few times by printing on some paper and then roll a somewhat thick layer of ink onto it

4. Lay the print onto the fabric and press it down hard I just put a heavy book on top of it for this step

5. Then I remove the book and use a round Elmer's glue stick to rolling pin over the print (while holding it still with 1 hand) you can use any small rounded objects to burnish the print onto the shirt. FOCUS on any small details or large areas of ink you want solid

6. Hold the print down and carefully lift a corner at the top and bottom to check if you're happy with the application

7. Remove it and let it cure for however long your ink takes

🎉🎉🎉

[hanlimz]

[hanlimz's 200 event!: sunghoon + 3 (hugs) and 14 (kisses)]

synopsis: forbidden relationship, dangerous consequences, and tender love. / for my love @nyxvrse <3 mwah love u sm ! hope u enjoy~ pairing: knight!y/n x prince!sunghoon genre/warnings: fluff, angst if you squint / some mention of death (no one dies tho), poor historically accurate dialogue ㅠㅠ, maybe ooc sunghoon (?), idk a descriptive kiss? wc: ~1.7k (OOPS LOL) a/n: why is it always Not my biases that i write the longest fic for ? like? my hee fic is staring at me with over 6k words rn n my need to write for sunjaywon is off the CHARTS but my brain won't let me LMAO ㅠㅠ / anyways, this is a part of my 200 followers event! feel free to request!

sunghoon is urging you forward with a solid hand encircling your wrist. his touch tethers you to reality, and the clarity you experience in his presence is addicting; colors are more vibrant, every new rush of adrenaline echoes throughout your entire body, and the crisp, morning air burns as it finds its way down to your lungs. sunghoon's fingers press into your flesh in the same way he has been etched into your heart. as you run, dewdrops bead on the worn leather of your work boots—the remnants of the night's storm having not yet been victim to the summer sun. the loose fitting linen of sunghoon's casual attire ripples in the breeze, and you find yourself mesmerized by it. mesmerized by him.

under the canopy of a large willow tree, sunghoon stops. his breathing is heavy and labored, and he has to lean against the damp bark of the tree to chase after it. still entranced by his natural beauty and hidden away from the rest of the world by the billowing branches, you take a hesitant step closer to sunghoon; he glances up at you and allows a hint of mischief to swim in his gaze. even through his fatigue, his lips manage to quirk up at the corners, and his grin sends a wave of heat flowing over your body. however, his playfulness and your susceptibility are both dangerous. there are rules to follow, and there are consequences for breaking them. fraternizing outside of kingdom-sanctioned duties is strictly forbidden, and a mistake could cost you your life.

a knight is never meant to fall in love with royalty, and you are no exception.

as sunghoon skirts his hand to rest at the taper of your waist, he bunches the fabric of your training blouse betwixt his slender fingers and tugs you into his lean frame. the tip of his nose brushes against the side of yours, and his mouth ghosts over your cupid's bow. prince sunghoon is poised, graceful, and positively hypnotizing. like the pied piper, his song has enchanted your very being; he's taken your heart in his hands and flipped your world of order and rigidity on its head. however, a phantom of doubt haunts your thoughts, forcing you to pull away and leave him wanting.

"your majesty—"

"please, [y/n] ... i've told you how i want you to address me—how much i loathe that ridiculous title escaping your lips," he cuts you off, reaching up to cup your cheek. the warmth of his hand blossoms against your face, and you like to think that the lines of his palms foretell stories of a shared future, a joint destiny. "call me by my name."

"sunghoon ..." you protest in spite of his seemingly magnetic pull, "you know the punishment for this is severe. if we're found out here, together ... it would spell danger for the both of us."

he simpers, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, "well, it's good that i have you to protect me, then. don't you agree?"

"you know that's not what i meant."

"i know," he replies, attempting to hold you infinitely closer. the tantalizing scent of jasmine and citrus mixes with the mint leaf he had been chewing on earlier, and you have to stop yourself from falling even deeper under his allure. "but, tell me then what i should do? what should i do when i'm in love with someone who i'm unable to love freely? tell me, [y/n]—what danger is greater than the threat of a life where i am left without you?"

sunghoon is greeted with an obtrusive silence. in the quiet, you can feel his beautifully deep eyes searching your face for any semblance of fear or reluctance. his calm seas of umber seep through the cracks in your stony facade like the natural stream that had made its way past the castle walls. when you glance up at him, the familiar hint of mischief in his gaze is replaced by two pools of sincerity and assurance. sunghoon's certainty frightens you; his willingness to pour out his heart and allow it to lay bare is enough to leave you dazed.

"you are who i want, [y/n]. you are who i need," he declares, pressing his forehead against yours. "in every life after this one—i know i will love you all the same."

his words are reminiscent of ice water cascading down the plains and valleys of your body. his love is a foreign concept to you, and the raw emotion in his voice is almost too much for you to handle. sunghoon's passion glows through his royal attire; it warms the tips of your fingers that had gone numb with nerves. hot tears welling up behind your eyes appear pearlescent as they catch the emerging sunlight. sunghoon has let you into his soul, and—by doing so—has taught your caged heart the intricacies of pure adoration.

desperate to feel him against you once more, you let your wet eyelashes ghost over the apples of his cheeks. "i'm taken by you, prince sunghoon," you whisper, "you're like nothing i've ever had the pleasure of indulging in before ... soft skin, kind heart, gentle hands. every part of me is rough—jagged and sharp." as you inhale, sunghoon records the bridge of your nose under the pad of his thumb. a fond smile graces his delicately charming features, and you find yourself compelled to tell him the truth.

"i don't want to hurt you, sunghoon," you confess, attempting to ignore the urge to succumb to the methodical swipe of his fingers against your cheekbone. "i want to be able to be tender with you—to cook dinner with you, to hang your laundry next to mine on the line, to call for you when the sun sets so we could watch it side by side. i want to hold you in my arms and keep you in my heart, but i'm afraid of what my love might look like—what it might do to you."

sunghoon is still smiling after you finish; his hands are still mapping the way your body feels beneath them, and the unadulterated devotion in his eyes has yet to waver. "you won't hurt me, [y/n]," he says, a fiery gleam of determination blazing in his gaze. "you could never hurt me."

"how can you be so sure, sunghoon?"

"because, i know you," he says, simply.

"you know me?" you reply, unconvinced.

"i know the way you love, [y/n]," sunghoon urges. "i saw you scrub floorboards and mop the marble when my sister's lady in waiting had fallen ill. i watch when you go into town to play quoits with the children. i know you sneak some of your leftover dinner for mister kwon when he works late nights in the marker. and, i've woken up to see your head resting on your folded arms at the foot of my bed more times than i'm able to count." he chuckles and glances at the grass, "you're already tender and soft and sweet, and i find it absurd that you don't believe so yourself."

blood boils under your cheeks, "well, those were—"

"let me show you," sunghoon proposes, and you're thrown off by the severity of his tone. leaning in, he brings his mouth to brush over yours, "will you let me show you how tender you are?"

air is punched from your lungs with the weight of his question. you know exactly what his words imply, you are all too familiar with the peril that lurks deep beneath them. darkness looms over you; it overtakes your vision for a moment as you consider the conflicting emotions warring within, but sunghoon is patient. each of his movements reflects the slow ascent of the sun in the late morning sky; he coaxes you from your cocoon to bask in his light, bathed in all of the warmth he knows you deserve. it feels good. it feels like silken bedclothes and summer fruit and muffled laughter. it feels right.

"show me," you murmur.

and within seconds, sunghoon is kissing you.

it begins like two feathers tickling your lips; in this manner, his mellow nature is not lost on you. his hands are star-crossed spirits dancing up and down the length of your torso. sunghoon lingers everywhere he can reach, committing the way your body thrums in his palms to memory. though, like a series of symphonic movements, a newfound vigor awakens in him; greed and hunger flow together with all the love he has for you, and sunghoon charges forward. he hums into your mouth as his fingers curl into the stifling cotton of your day clothes. you push back, splaying a fervent hand across the expanse of his neck and pulling the hair at the nape of his neck. stumbling in a wonderfully disordered waltz and swaying like the branches above your heads, the two of you kiss until you run out of breath to share.

when you pull away, sunghoon starts to laugh. the sound is rich and full, a resurgent melody before the conclusion of a piece. inhaling proves to be difficult as the both of you recover from going without oxygen for so long, but you deem it trivial. your heaving chest, your pounding heart, your trembling legs—they make you feel like more than just a cog in the kingdom's machine. they make you feel human. they make you feel alive.

pressing your forehead to sunghoon's, your labored breaths mingle once more. "i'm taken by you, prince sunghoon," you say again.

his amusement turns boyish, and sunghoon cannot contain the bout of giggles that escape from past his lips. in a flash, his grip tightens at your waist; slender fingers dig into your flesh, and you almost yelp until the surprise melts away. in sunghoon's arms, you experience flight for the first time in your life. he turns with you in his hold, various hues and shapes bleed together as the world is likened to a watercolor painting, and you swear a pair of wings sprouts from between your shoulder blades. they seem remain even as your feet touch the ground, manifesting in the form of your heart fluttering with untamed freedom and fierce love.

"and i, you, [y/n]." sunghoon replies, "my knight in cotton armor."

you chuckle at his silly response, and in this moment, the world seems incredibly small. enamored with one another, two dewdrops meet at the conclave of their respective blades of grass. joining together, indulging in the quiet, becoming one beneath the decades old willow tree—they have not yet fallen victim to the summer sun, and it feels good. it feels right.

[moongothic]

So after I finished my orange-black blanket I had just a smidge of the yarn left from that project. And I spent a good little while just trying to figure out what to do with it, eventually deciding that fingerless gloves would make for a quick side/scrap project

So I very carefully divided my leftover yarn evenly so I'd have two balls of each color for each glove. I was worried I wouldn't have enough yarn for the project and wanted to be sure I'd be able to make two evenly sized gloves without having to unravel anything etc, so dividing the yarn ahead of time felt like a good place to start. I was worried for nothing though, because I ended up having leftovers anyways, it just be like that sometimes But I got to knitting, and because I was worried of running out of yarn, I chose to knit them top-to-bottom. That way if I'd be able to make them as long as I wanted on the wrist when I got there, instead of having to figure out how long I wanted the cuffs to be and then praying I'd have enough yarn for the rest, y'know? (Again, this ended up being unnecessary but hell if I knew when I started)

Knitting these top-to-bottom did make figuring out how to attach the thumb a bit tricky though, definitely required some futzing around but I figured it out eventually (though, admitedly it's been so many months since I made these at this point that I don't even remember what I did and how to attach the thumbs lmao, this photo is all you got) (I do remember fucking it up the first time though, the seam being visible on the outside, so I had to detach the thumb and then reattach it the other way around lol)

Now, two things about the knitting process: First, I couldn't tell this at the time while I was knitting, but I later did realize the leftover Tynn Linen (cotton/linen/viscose blend) was not a great pick for these gloves. Because while the gloves did fit perfectly while I was knitting, after they were done and I had gotten to try them on a few times, they started stretching pretty bad

This would've been easy to fix, just frog the whole thing and start over. But. I just could not muster the energy, for the life of me, to unravel these fingerless gloves. This was supposed to be a quick sideproject to use scrap yarn, this was not like "a big, important thing". I just didn't want to give them that much effort. (Especially because I would've had to unravel them entirely (thumbs aside), since the size issue starts at how big my cast-on was to begin with) (But to be fair, these were fairly fast and easy to knit so it's not like it would've taken a lot of time to reknit them at all. Again, I just did not feel like it)

Forgot to take photos, but here's what I did to "fix" the issue; I folded the excess fabric inside and sewed it down on the inside. (And I added some elastic thread to the top of the glove so it cinches in)

Like so (but sewn down in orange so it isn't visible)

But yeah this yarn may have been a piss poor choise for this project. You live and you learn

Now the second issue I had was that. Like.

I did not like the solid orange. Ideally, these would have been striped gloves, but because I was so worried about not having enough yarn I could not bring myself to commit to trying to do stripes. Indeed, in the end I totally could've done stripes, but I did not know that while knitting these. But the solid orange still BOTHERED me. Like it just didn't look good, it needed something extra to it to break up the solid color

Now I had recently come across duplicate stitching, and I figured, why not give that a shot and see if I could add like, somekinda detail on the gloves that way. Couldn't really think of what to add though so I figured a funky cross-looking thing could be fun and uh

Yeah the first try turned out quite stumpy lmao. (Sidenote, this wasn't intentional at all but the cross glove does give D. Gray-Man lmao, that's a happy accident right there) Fortunately it was quite easy to add to the top and bottom tips to make it more even. But yeah I did have to learn that knit fabrics don't make perfect square grids the hard way. I chose to do a moon on the other glove and I did try to compensate for the ratio on it ahead of time and it kinda backfired but it's fiiiiiine, I could not bring myself to really care anymore, again. This was supposed to be a small side-project

But uh yeah, they certainly turned out. An absolute trainwreck of a quick sideproject but they're done and kinda cute in their own right!

(You can see how much better my duplicate stitch technique got when I got to the right glove tho lol, the inside is much neater)

[your-unfriendlyghost]

How'd you end up discovering your art style?

Well, it wasn’t much of a discovery- it’s just how I draw, I guess! It evolves over time and changes based on what artists I’m looking up to and what styles I’m into

But I can give ya a (recent-ish) evolution of my style/a break-down on all its influences over the past two years if ya wanna see how it all happened!

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Some stuff from July-October of 2022

Two-three-ish years ago, for instance, it was more classical painting inspired. I was real into Over the Garden Wall and also just…general American history back then don’t judge I was coming off of my first American history class since elementary school and I thought it was so cool So my art had more of like…that going on yk? It wasn’t as good as my stuff now at all, because I’ve since improved my anatomy skills, learned how to draw fabric folds (sorta), and learned a bit of color theory lol. But they’re ok for what they are, I guess.

I think my main problem back then was the fact that I did not fully know how to use references- and a lotta my references were like. Cartoons. And stuff that was very much not meant to be painted in the amount of detail I aimed for at the time.

(Even here, you can tell I was dissatisfied, because they all look pretty different from each other yk?) (and you can see how hardly any of the fabric has folds and how little I understood lighting 😭)

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January-March ‘23

Anyhow, after this, in uhh early 2023, I had a 80s-90s comic book/pop art phase, which was a pretty drastic swing in the opposite direction. I still rendered things sometimes, but things were less soft/warm. BUT I was starting to use real photos as references which was vital

I was also watching a lotta tmnt with my kid brother, which is what I blame for why the proportions got so stylized- folks in the 2012 version of that show were just kinda built funny, which I think subconsciously impacted my art. My posing did get a bit stronger in this time as I practiced more, and I think things got less stiff

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June-August ‘23

Next, as the summer months came, I had a lotta changes in inspo and also just in life lol. I had temporarily moved to my neighbor’s place, and I didn’t have a car yet/any friends who I liked enough to hang around with, so all summer long I rewatched a lotta 80s movies, fell in love with the first season of Stranger Things (not the others as much tho 😭), skateboarded, and watched a lotta art tutorials online. (I specifically remember Jackie Droujko’s yt shorts saving my assss- I loved her stuff so much. Definitely check ‘em out she explains things real well)

I improved slowly, but I DID IMPROVE a HELLUVA LOT. I focused a lot on trying to draw people who looked recognizably like themselves, but also stylized because realism (usually) bores me. I also got better at coloring- the first two here ain’t great in terms of colors, but I was learning. Plus, back then I was very into oddly saturated color schemes. (I mean it is a solid vibe. I may not do this a ton anymore but I can dig it still)

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October-November ‘23

As autumn came, I was pretty enamored with all the like…✨fall vibes✨ that time around. My life was goin’ well, so I had a lotta optimism and a re-ignited love for nature, forests, and fantasy. Plus I was dating this girl who was really into vintage-y Wes Anderson stuff so I think some of that uhhh twee-ness rubbed off on me lol

My influences here were mainly old storybooks, a hint of Lord of the Rings (as you can probably tell by the hobbit), and a decent amount of Fantastic Mr. Fox. And for faces I was mainly using the Laurenillusrated Brushpack at the time I think? I don’t use the “Sketchy” brush in it as often anymore as I did then, but I should. It’s a great brush, and I actually am really liking all the little sketchy lines. It adds a nice touch.

also don’t look at my goddamn long hair in that self portrait on the left. I hated it on me then and I hate it now too. I cannot believe I ever let it get that long it was really bad

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December ‘23-April ‘24

I honestly did like a total of like. Seven drawings in these four months. As opposed to my usual…uhhh I wanna say 25 every four months. Idk what was up- art just wasn’t fun at the time. I mean, it was also just a lousy few months in general, so I’m sure that’s a part of it lol, but yk. This style is pretty close to my current one- my inspiration just came from x-files-ish sci-fi and American gothic stories/images as opposed to nowadays’ Beat generation and greaser inspo.

May-Now (October) ‘24

The Outsiders kinda dragged me back into enjoying drawing again honestly. I’d read and loved it back in 2023, but upon rereading it/watching the movie in February of 2024, it just sorta…entered my headspace and stayed this time. (Still, I didn’t really draw any Outsiders/greaser-y things till May)

Lately, I take artistic inspiration in 2d animated films, like the ones by Disney with the real nicely drawn fabric folds. And also just a lotta inspo from real life. I also do a lot of black and white comics, because I find that I generally have a “Go big or go home” mentality about most things- which can be a LOT of pressure! By allowing myself to draw simpler doodle-y things, I’ve regained that love for drawing. I think for a while it just felt like work, but in letting myself take it easy, art’s become a good time again :))